If you haven’t felt insecure at least one time in your life, I would seriously question whether or not you were human.

Do you have certain things about yourself you would like to change? Do you constantly think horrible things about yourself? Do you believe you are not worth it? I am here to tell you otherwise.

I am not going to tell you I have never felt insecure. I used to struggle a lot with thinking whether or not I was likable or good enough, and this led me to fall into some serious people pleasing. However, I was never satisfied. I knew I needed to know my worth, because my thoughts about myself were doing me way more harm than good. I knew I had to start seeing myself differently.

I think we all at one point in our lives have to choose to love ourselves. Every day we can choose to look at ourselves and accept or to hit decline.

Hitting decline is a faulty foundation for living your life. If you are constantly feeling insecure, you are going to live a life of stress and sadness.

Some people who are insecure try to put on different masks, trying to be a different person for different people. But the truth is, you can’t be anyone else but you. All of the intimidation will lead you to a dead end.

Those who are insecure constantly compare themselves to the girl next to them, they say yes to everyone for fear they will be rejected, and they certainly do not care if a boy treats them terribly. They tend to take crap from everyone and never stand up for themselves. They also crave positions of power, for they think that will solve all of their problems.

I want to tell you a boy will not make you feel better about yourself, a position will only be temporary, and people pleasing will not make those negative thoughts go away. What will make you feel better about yourself is knowing you were crafted uniquely and wonderfully for a greater purpose.

You were not made to reject yourself. Instead, it is your duty to see yourself as God sees you. He sees you as perfect in every way, valuable, even more precious than the most beautiful of rubies. You were made with certain gifts and these gifts are not there out of random, instead they are there for you to do great work on earth.

A reminder of how God sees you.

You have to choose to believe you were made in a beautiful image. Even if you don’t feel like you are worthy, remember that the world’s standards are not God’s. You have to choose to believe in His work, because He looks at you and is in absolute awe of you.

God is also a God of purpose. When you let insecurity take over your self image, the wonderful plans for your life are put on halt. Rejection will keep you from achieving the purpose set out for you.

But if you start to live confidently in how you were made, and believe in the work you can do, you will be amazed at how God uses you to change the world for the better.

You might be thinking, Ashley I do not want to be prideful. But I think believing in yourself and having confidence in who God made you is healthy. It is unhealthy to think poor things about yourself, and you will never be able to be happy with this thinking.

Maybe it is your personality you don’t like because someone told you in fifth grade that you were annoying. Maybe you feel your eyes are too far apart because the guy who had your first crush on told you so. Maybe you compared your thigh gap to another girl’s and figured that since yours didn’t look the same, you were less.

I aspire you to push those thoughts away. Temptation to think you are not good enough is the worst temptation you could fall into. Do not let that person who insulted you win, do not let them keep you from fulfilling the purpose God set out for you in this world.

Just because a sorority didn’t call you back doesn’t mean you are unlikable. Just because you got a bad grade on a test doesn’t mean you are dumb. You have to reject these statements, for they are lies.

The truth is, you were hand crafted in a special way. The gifts you have are not a mistake.

Are you going to live your whole life feeling terrible about yourself, or are you going to put an end to this?

I dare you to choose to love yourself today and every day, and to start seeing yourself how God sees you.

You deserve more than you think. You deserve to chase after what you love, no matter how capable others see you as. You deserve a man who will treat you wonderfully, instead of settling for less because you feel you can’t get anything better.

When you start to have faith in how you were made, you are on your way to a breakthrough.

And something you can cling onto is that God will not leave you to fight this battle alone. He will be with you and he will fight for you. The Holy Spirit can lead you to think wonderful things about yourself instead of horrible things. You are never alone.

I want to leave you with three tips on breaking through insecurity.

1. Know the source of your insecurity

Insecurity always comes from some outside source. Whether someone told you that you needed to be a certain way and you failed to achieve that, or someone insulted you at a young age, it is important you pinpoint where these feelings stem from. This way, you can have more understanding and approach this in a healthy way.

2. Focus on loving yourself

When you know the source of these insecurities, you can start loving those aspects. Start diving into the word and have faith in how God made you. Faith means believing in something you don’t see. With enduring faith, you will start to believe that you are beautiful, that you have purpose that can’t be taken away from you.

3. Understand that even your weaknesses can be used

Your weaknesses can be your greatest ministry in the world. Do not be ashamed of them, instead you can ask God to reveal how he is going to use them to fulfill His purposes in the world.

4. Treat others how you would like to be treated

Love should be our motivation in all things. If we are not treating ourselves well, how are we supposed to treat people with kindness? When you start loving yourself, your love for others will truly grow as well.

5. Focus on your gifts

Don’t fall into believing you aren’t worth it, or you are a rejection. You are accepted by the one true King! You are missing out on so much of life by believing these lies the enemy is telling you. Start taking control of your life, and start believing in the gifts He has given you. If you can’t find a single one, ask those close to you to pinpoint what you are best at. Believe in these gifts, and start using them. When you shift your attitude to gratitude in what God has given you, you will soon have a victory that cannot be taken away from you.

When you believe in yourself, you will find it is much easier to love people. People will be drawn to you as well because you are confident in who you are. You will respect yourself and you will know that you deserve much more than what you have been putting up with.

When you start to have faith in your beautiful, unique, and one-of-a-kind self, you’ll be surprised at the blessings that come your way.

All you have to do is believe in the beauty. You matter and you are more capable than you think.

Xoxo,

Ash