… yourself?

Yep. You read that question correctly.

I’ll ask it again, and this time, let every distraction fade into the background and allow yourself to answer honestly.

Do you love yourself?

If you answered that question with any of the following responses, this article is a MUST READ for you.

“Maybe.”

“Sometimes.”

“Yeah, but …”

“I don’t know.”

“Not really.”

Show of hands, who literally had any of these answers pop into your mind in response to the question?

I know, I can’t see you right now, but you can go on ahead and raise that hand. Put it on up there!

It seems like a relatively simple question to answer.

In reality, it is one of the most challenging questions Christian women have to face.

You spend your days working hard to model the Proverbs 31 woman.

You wake up earlier than the rest of the family to take care of some tidying up before the chaos begins.

Clothes have to be laid...

So you shouldn't either.

How many times have you called yourself fat in the last week?  Last month?  Last year?

How many times have you made “joking” remarks about how fat or disgusting you look to your friends or husband?

When you look in the mirror every morning, what do you say to yourself?

How about after an evening of overeating?

What are you telling yourself, even if it’s just in your head?

If it has anything to do with how disgusting and fat you are, you have a BIG problem.

 Let me back up here for a minute. Let’s talk about the word fat.

Fat is adipose tissue in your body.  It’s also a macronutrient. 

But what it’s NOT is an identity.

You are NOT fat.  You may have extra fat on your body, but that is NOT WHO YOU ARE.

Why is this such an important distinction to make?

BECAUSE WE LIVE INTO WHO WE IDENTIFY AS.

If you think you’re fat, guess, what?  You’ll take action to be fat.

You may...

“Ugh! I hate the holidays.  I eat and eat and eat.  There is so much good stuff.  I just can’t help myself.  Of course, I gain like 10 lbs.  No, seriously.  I will step on the scale after a party and be up 5.  Then, I just think to myself, ‘who cares now’, and keep eating.”

I remember complaining this exact way a few years ago. 

The holidays were a time I DREADED. 

It was hard enough to lose weight during any normal time of the year, but then you stacked up three sugar-laden holidays back-to-back and I believed there was NO hope for fitting into those skinny jeans.

Now, as a coach, I hear this ALLLLLLL the time.  Most women struggling with weight are either terrified, frustrated or dreading what is supposed to be a joyous time.

No, you don’t just come out and say this or even maybe realize it.  That’s because you have become really good at pushing it away.  It’s much...

What if you never feared what other people thought about you?

What if you had no problem with anyone judging you?

What if you were totally OK with them being wrong about you?

What if you took all criticism and negative remarks about yourself and learned from them?

How would you feel?

How would you act? 

Who would you be?

Take a minute. Really think about this.  

My guess, if you're anything like me, that your life would look drastically different.

Here are a few things I came up with if I could truly live this way.

• I would be more honest and authentic.
• I would take more time and slow down. 
• I would walk with my head held high and my shoulders back.
• There would be less doubt, so my focus could be on Jesus Christ more, not people's opinions. That means more praying, learning, and teaching. 
• I would be happier and feel the freedom of being me.

I would be more confident in who God...

Can you relate to this situation?

You eat healthy all week.  Then on the weekend you go overboard allowing anything to go into your mouth.

By Sunday evening you’re saying,

“Ugh. You just keep messing up.  You are such a failure. Just forget it.  Who cares anyway?”

Typical thoughts from a typical human brain.  

But what’s not typical, the women that choose NOT to believe these lies.

The women the dismiss this thinking are the ones that confident and just magnetic to be around.

How you talk to yourself determines how you feel about yourself. How your feel about yourself will determine how you will treat yourself AND others.

Two weeks ago, I explained why it’s vital that Christian women build their self-confidence.

This week, let’s dive into a tool to building self-confidence…having an AMAZING opinion of yourself.

You alone created my inner being. You knitted me together...

“I am cutting out all carbs, drinking 100 oz of water a day, exercising for an hour 7 days a week, and adding in 30 minutes of meditation.”

This often the answer I get when I ask clients what they want to start working on.

This is not an exaggeration either.

Can you start implementing all of these at once along with your busy life?

Yeah, me neither.

To top it all off, in the past we’ve tried to change everything all at once.

We failed. 

Then we made it mean we aren’t good at the things we tried.  Or that we aren’t meant to lose weight and keep it off.

Two weeks ago I told you the “secret” to losing weight and keeping it off…

SELF-CONFIDENCE.

Last week, I outlined the very first and most important step to building self-confidence…

TRUSTING GOD.

Trusting God really is the only step you need.  Because if you trust God, you’ll start and you’ll keep going no matter what failures.

...

Last week’s I wrote about the MOST important thing I think most Christian women are lacking:

SELF-CONFIDENCE

You can find that post here.  You don’t have to read that post before reading this one, but it will help.

And, if you've been wondering how in the world you are you going to increase your self-confidence, I’ve got you. That’s what we are covering today and the next couple of weeks.

The hope is to start building your self-confidence muscle so you can show up as your true self, the one God created.

Let’s dive in.

Building self-confidence is all about BUILDING TRUST.

Trusting yourself is a vital piece of self-confidence.

But to do that, you need to build your trust in God first.

Do you believe that God is the ultimate, perfect creator?

At the same time, do you believe that you’re not good enough?

How do those two work together?

If God made you, then he made you perfect for your place in this...

I use to be jealous of a particular “breed” of girls.

These girls aren’t usually what others would call the “prettiest” or even the “smartest”.

Nope.

The girls that I was jealous of were the ones that could get ANYONE talking and made everyone feel included.  The ones that would stand up in front of a group and give a quick talk and would skip the part where their hands shake and voice cracks.  The ones that could hop out on the dance floor and have the time of their life WITHOUT any liquid courage.

You know those girls, right?

The ones with…

SELF-CONFIDENCE

Have you ever longed for self-confidence? 

There are so many misconceptions about self-confidence that I’d like to clear some up. 

What is self-confidence?

It’s the state of being secure in yourself and your abilities.

Put it in the Christian perspective; it’s the state of...

I think Jesus loved simple.

This is just my thought, but there is some evidence to back this.

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3 KJV

Paul writes about how the gospel is simple, easy and it’s the enemy that makes it hard, complicated.

Also, Jesus condenses all the laws and commandments into TWO! (Matthew 22: 37-40)

 “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” 1 Corinthians 14:33e 

So why do we get caught up in the confusion of complicating things?

The enemy KNOWS it trips us up.

What does this have to do with weight loss? 

EVERYTHING.

The majority of my time is spent simplifying things for my clients.

They (like I used to be) are so resistant to letting go and embracing the simpler way!

But, really ponder on this question… How can simple living be a benefit?

Believe...

Skepticism is NOT rational thinking.

It’s doubt.

And it’s limiting what God can do through you and in you.

You don’t think you can lose weight and keep it off because you’ve never been able to do it in the past.

That is doubting God’s ability and distrusting yourself.

Who do you spend the most time with?

God and yourself.

Do you really want to spend the majority of your time doubting and distrusting who you spend the most time with?

Look what happens when you do this.  

You become overweight, unhappy, anxious and feeling out of control.

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

I can do ALL things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 (emphasis mine)

If God put the desire on your heart to lose weight and care for that temple, he’s already given you the way to do it.

Cut the skepticism.

It’s...