Worthless or Worthy: How Do You See Yourself?

Today's blog comes from Joyce Meyer Ministries. It's important to love yourself before you expect someone else to love and accept you.

Do you like yourself? After years of trying to help people emotionally, mentally, spiritually and socially, it was a major breakthrough when I discovered that most people really don't like themselves. Some of them know it, while others don't even have a clue that this is probably the root of so many other problems in their lives.

God wants us to have great relationships, but self-rejection and even self-hatred are the roots of many relationship problems. In fact, I've found the Bible to be a book about relationships, providing valuable advice about my relationship with God, other people and even myself.

How are the relationships with other people in your life? What about your relationship with God…and even with yourself?

Did it ever occur to you that you have a relationship with yourself? While I've never given it much thought, I spend more time with myself than with anyone, and it's vital to get along well with me. Remember, you are the one person you never get away from.

We all know how agonizing it is to work day after day with someone we don't get along with, but at least that person doesn't come home with us at night. We can't get away from ourselves, not even for one second, so it's of the utmost importance that we have peace with ourselves.

Many of us fall prey to self-rejection because we feel that nobody really loves us or accepts us. We figure that if nobody else loves us, then why should we love ourselves? Because we think others don't love us, we feel that we must not be worth loving. But that's a LIE we've believed for way too long!

We should love ourselves—not in a selfish, self-centered way that produces a lifestyle of self-indulgence, but in a balanced, godly way that affirms God's creation as essentially good and right. We may be flawed by unfortunate experiences we've gone through, but that doesn't mean we're worthless and good-for-nothing.

We must have the kind of love for ourselves that says, "I know God loves me, so I can love what God chooses to love. I don't love everything I do, but I accept myself because God accepts me." We must develop the kind of mature love that says, "I know I need to change, and I want to change. In fact, I believe God is changing me daily, but during this process, I will not reject what God accepts. I'll accept myself as I am right now, knowing that I will not always remain this way."

Many times people who reject themselves do so because they can't see themselves as good, proper, or right. They fail to see themselves the way God sees them—as precious children He dearly loves.

As you begin to see yourself through God's eyes—someone who's loved and cherished—your view of yourself will begin to change. You'll begin to see yourself not as rejected, but as loved and accepted…unique and beautiful in His sight.

~ Linda
Cache' Connections

Are You "Failing To Follow"?

This title is a headline from a chapter taken from Joyce Meyer's book, Never Give Up!  It isn't a book about being single, but it's focused around overcoming adversity to live the life and purpose God has created for us.  As I was reading the book, I found it interesting that she talked about singles under this subtitle, "Failing to Follow."  Here's what Joyce Meyer had to say:

"Sometimes we pray for something but aren't willing to follow the Holy Spirit even when He tries to lead us into the answer to our prayer.  For example, I know of people who refuse to attend singles groups at church because they don't want to go by themselves.  They want to date and eventually get married, but they want God to work on their terms.  I can understand where it might take some courage to go alone, but doing the difficult thing is often good for us.  It stretches our faith and often leads us into the very thing we are looking for.  We must be careful that we are not planning and praying that our plan will work, when we should be praying first and then following God's plan."

Joyce even goes on to say that her daughter Sandra met her husband by attending a church function that she went to by herself.  I have found personally that if I go to a social outing by myself, even though it is hard to do, it forces me to be more social and meet more people. 

So, if you've been putting off attending a Cache' Connections event alone or some other event, whether it be in your church or somewhere else, maybe it's time to set a goal to give this a try.  Even if you don't meet someone special, you'll feel like you have accomplished a goal and will feel more confident going somewhere alone in the future.

~Kim
Cache' Connections

Do you need "Mental Floss?"

Kim and I took a little break the past two days and attended the Joyce Meyer "Love Live" Conference in St. Louis. What a spectacular event that was! Approximately 16,900 women and 100 men from 50 states and 20-some countries traveled to hear inspiring worship and life-changing messages from Joyce Meyer, John C. Maxwell, and more.

Friday morning we were blessed to hear from John C. Maxwell on the power of our attitudes. John says that the greatest gap between successful people and unsuccessful people is how you think. Just like we use dental floss to take the junk out of our teeth, most of us need "mental floss" to take the junk out of our minds.

John pointed out 4 things we need in order to have a good attitude:

1. We need to possess a teachable spirit. John regaled us with a great story of how, when he was a senior pastor, he wrote a sermon that was intended to "shake a finger" at his congregation, who had begun murmuring against him after a quick decision he had made. He was very excited to preach it and quipped, "sometimes you don't even need God's help to write a sermon," and, "this can't wait for Sunday." When he shared his sermon with his wife, however, she said, "that sermon is for you." He preached the sermon the best he could, and then the leaders of his church laid hands on him and peace was restored to his church family. John said that although he absolutely loves teaching on leadership, he is the hardest person to lead. We need to allow God and others to speak into our lives -we need to receive and apply instruction.

2. We need to take responsibility for our attitude. It's no one else's job. John said that motivation does not strike like lightening, but it is a byproduct of "just doing it." We need to act ourselves into feeling like we want to feel.

3. We need to travel the high road. This means to think on good things as Philippians 4:8 instructs us to do, and treat each other as Christ would. There are three roads we can take:

a.) The low road, where we treat others worse than we would treat ourselves
b.) The middle road, where we treat others the same as we would treat ourselves
c.) the high road, where we treat others better than we treat ourselves.

4. We need to understand the value of every attitude. Good or bad, it really makes an impact on EVERY aspect of your life. If your mind is full of "stinkin thinkin," the chances are you are not going to find the results you desire in life. If you have a positive, hopeful attitude, you just might be surprised how it impacts your relationships, present and future ones, that is!

CLICK HERE to watch part of John C. Maxwell's message.

~ Linda
Cache' Connections

more than conquerors

don't you just love it when your scripture or devotional reading serves just like salve on a painful wound? today i read just what the doctor ordered in my "new day new you" devotional written by joyce meyer. Romans 8:37 "Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us." joyce begins by stating that we need to have a sense of triumph. believing we are more than conquerors (man, that is hard to spell!) gives us confidence. i confess to hearing the enemy lately throwing doubts my way about cache's future. joyce says we must take a step of faith and decide to be confident in all things. kim and i have taken that step of faith; now it is just a matter of maintaining the confidence and continuing with what God has planted in our hearts. it is not easy stepping out of the boat... into the deep waters. we must keep our eyes on Jesus lest we slip back into the dark waters of doubt and complacency. joyce says "confident people get the job done; they have the ministries that are making a difference in the world today. they are fulfilled because they are succeeding at being themselves." my itching ears needed to hear that today :)
peace.