Love is in the air…It’s February, the month of Love, and I am thrilled to be taking over My Journey of Faith for Faith Post Friday this month!
Hi!! My name is Sarah, and I am going to be your looooove coach! Not relationship love, though we’ll cover some of that too. I’m talking about God’s Love! Specifically, how to use love to drown out hate as a woman of Faith. And we’re going to start with YOU!!!
I don’t know about you, but I struggle with making time for self-love. I feel like we, as women, are pressured by society to always be on our A-game, to take care of an entire household while making Instagram worthy, Vegan/Keto/(insert your current eating plan) approved meals AND to wear heels while we do it. Why do we torture ourselves to live up to society’s standards? The short answer…approval. We compare ourselves to our “friends” and care more about the approval of a stranger than the approval of God.
Stop hating on yourself!!! You are not here to please anyone but Him.
You’ve heard the safety instructions that flight attendants give before every flight… “put the mask on yourself first before you help others.” Why do they say that? I think they know that we ladies tend to help, help, help until we’re left gasping for air while we try to find the mental, emotional and physical strength to keep on keeping on. Guess what…you can’t pour from an empty cup.
He made your beautiful body. He made your beautiful mind. He made your beautiful heart.
And it makes Him proud to see you use those incredible gifts for His honor and glory. In the same way, I think it would make any father sad, earthly or heavenly, to see their child struggling with self-love. So, we’re going to go over a couple of things I’ve learned during my season of restoration and see if we can move closer to the approval of Him, than the approval of “them.”
~Rest~
And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
Mark 4: 39
Put down the phone, turn off the TV, get quiet and still and just breathe. Yes, right now…I’ll wait.
Take a deep breath.
Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.
And again… (don’t worry, I’ll still be here when you get back from your nap.)
Feel better?
There’s actually scientific proof that deep breathing releases endorphins which help reduce stress in the body, bring on calmness and decrease levels of pain. It’s the same reason why you learn breathing exercises for labor and delivery. So when you find yourself stressed to the max, take a few deep breaths and give God a chance to calm the winds in your life.
~Get rid of that stinkin’ thinkin’~
I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.
Matthew 12: 36-37
Did you know that the voice you hear most from birth to death is your own. Mind. Blown.
What do you think when you look in the mirror?
What do you say to yourself when you see something you wish you could change?
A couple years ago, I wanted to make a change and decided to be brave and dye my hair dark auburn. Just to give you a mental picture, I’m blonde and have been my entire life, but I thought it would be fun to try something new. The day came for me to go to the salon and I was confident and excited, looking forward to a change. My stylist turned me around to see the finished product and my jaw dropped! I loved it!!! It made my green eyes pop and I felt like a princess. The next day, I took the new me out for a test drive and a Negative Nancy in my life nicknamed me “Morticia”. Nothing against the mom from the Addam’s Family, but it wasn’t exactly what I was going for. From that day forward, every time I looked in the mirror, that’s what I saw. My confidence plummeted and it took me almost a year of salon visits to get back to blonde.
Did you know it takes five positives to out-weigh one negative comment? In my case, it took a complete physical overhaul and I told myself I will never have dark hair again. Isn’t it sad that I let one insignificant person’s comment do so much damage? What they said to me became what I saw in myself because I replayed their words over and over again in my head. It took me rediscovering my truth and figuring out that it’s not about what’s on the outside that matters…it’s about who you are and Whose you are.
I want you to do something with me. It may feel a little silly at first, and that’s ok…
Do it anyway.
Go and look at yourself in the mirror. Look in your eyes and repeat these truths:
(Say your name), You are beautiful because He made you in His image.
(Say your name), You are strong because He is your rock.
(Say your name), You are a daughter of the King.
CHALLENGE:
Here’s your love challenge for the week!
#1 – Set an alarm on your phone once a day with the word “Breathe”.
When the alarm goes off, take the time to do what it says!
#2 – Start and end your day with the affirmations above….You are beautiful because He made you in His image, you are strong because He is your rock, you are a daughter of the King.
I’ve even included a printable below if you want to print off these affirmations and hang them on your bathroom mirror!
Do these two things everyday from now until next Friday and report back. I can’t wait to hear how God has poured into your life over the next seven days and uplifted you!!! Have a great week….see you next Friday!!
Sarah K. Heer is the newlywed wife of Paul, a dog-mom of 3, a speaker, storyteller and a champion for women. You can’t have the testimony without the test….Sarah believes, after a life-changing domestic violence incident, that God wasn’t quite finished with her yet and she was given a story to help others dig their way out of the mud. Miraculously, God restored a shattered soul into a woman of resilience and fire and grit. Since that day, Sarah has learned that resiliency can be taught, fire can be harnessed and grit is found when God’s grace rubs off the rough edges.