In my final post on mental health I wanted to take some time to explore a topic that's not considered a mental health issue medically but it is quite common.  Don't let the title of this post trick you into thinking I'm posting about unresolved Daddy issues because I'm not.  It's something that we all struggle with at some point in life or another... self-esteem.

Whether you're a man, child, woman, or confused about which.. at some point your self esteem will waver.  There will be some days where you feel too fat or too skinny, too tall or too short, not smart enough, not pretty enough, not fine enough, or just plain old not good enough.  We all have those moments, but for some people it's their constant reality.  They feel like they never measure up.  The problem isn't that they're measuring, the problem is who's standard they're using.   If I constantly compare myself to the next person, the media's ideal beauties, the world's standards of success, and "they, them, and their" I'll never be good enough.

Why is this such a big deal??I'm so glad you asked!  When a person doesn't feel good about themselves it can bleed over into so many areas. A person with low self-esteem may settle for anything in a relationship or partner.  If you don't love yourself and feel like you deserve the best you won't demand it, in any relationship. At home, at work, with friends, co-workers... any group should be able to see that you're confident in yourself, your abilities, and your gifts & talents.  When they don't see this, sometimes they take that as a sign that they can walk all over you, take advantage of your kindness, use you, abuse you, or that you're weak.

I worked in addictions for a while and one of the things that really broke my heart was hearing the stories of how they ended up in treatment.  So many ladies told me how they'd been led down a path of destruction because they didn't feel good about themselves.  Many of them had self esteem issues and stayed in verbally and physically abusive relationships because they felt that's all they could get, or that they were not worthy of anything else. Many of them had good self esteem at one time but allowed what they thought was love to tear it down to rubble.  Love builds, covers, protects, heals and creates... if your so called "love' is tearing you down.. it's not real love.

Another area where I've seen self esteem wreak havoc is among young people.  As early as the playground children are made to feel less than because they have a certain length of hair, certain complexion, a certain weight, height, or because they wear glasses.  As the school years progress it only gets worse.  They're made fun of over shoes, name brands, hair styles, backpacks, neighborhoods, educational abilities, and everything in between. If we don't start while they're young and give our babies a sense of pride, self-worth, and teach them how to have great self esteem we're setting them up to fail.

If you have great self-esteem you get freed from the opinions of others a lot faster because you realize that you're great in your own right.  Who are we not to be?  We're made in the likeness and image of an amazing father!!  We are His reflection in the earth realm, we can do what he did, even greater works and we're fearfully and wonderfully made ( Gen 1:27, John 14:12, Psalm 139:14).  Not only should we celebrate because of those things, He also said we're set apart, we're chosen, we're royalty and we're His in 1 Peter 2:9. So for every reason not to belong, not to fit in, not to be accepted or feel good about ourselves God's given us so many reasons to feel great about who we are.  He didn't even stop there, He went on to say in Deut. 28 that if we listen to Him and do what he says, we're the head, we're lenders, we're above, we're blessed when we come and when we go, our bodies are blessed, what we produce is blessed, and even our enemies would be scattered.

If you're struggling with self esteem try starting with some positive affirmations and declarations.  Keep repeating them until they sink in and you believe it.  You are amazing!  You are beautiful!  You are smart!  You are intelligent!  You are successful!  You are a winner!  You are prosperous!  You are not your past!  You are not your mistakes!  You are victorious!  You are a leader! You are redeemed!  You are not your mother/father!  You are unique and special! You are loved!  I pray that every negative and damaging word that's been spoken over you be broken and fall to the ground in the name of Jesus!

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