Confidence is something that I don't think hits you all at once. I didn't wake up one day and say "Wow I'm confident!" It happened (and is still happening) very slowly. I used to be entirely obsessed with the idea that I could not leave the house without putting makeup on and a cute shirt or so. I was also obsessed with the way I looked in all of my clothes, to probably an unhealthy level. Currently, this green sweater is my absolute favorite top that I own. Does it make me look skinny? Probably not. But does it make my eyes sparkle? You BET. Does this sweater make me extremely happy because of how soft it is? YES. I love this sweater. I love wearing it. I love the way I look in it. This sweater makes me feel so great about myself, and I feel so good in it.
I think everyone needs one piece of clothing that makes them feel this way- or all of their clothes should make them feel this way. Being confident (in my opinion) is being comfortable in who you are. I think getting a breast reduction skyrocketed my confidence by 250% for sure, but that was only the beginning.Treating my anxiety was the other half of the equation. Anxiety caused me to be in a constant state of panic and worry. Especially panicking about what everyone else thought about me. The constant question was "Am I good enough?" or "Am I pretty enough?" Now, I know the answers to those questions are "HECK YES" and the answer isn't even from the people around me- it's from my Heavenly Father. He says:
"Sweet child, you are loved and you are enough. You are SO enough that I sent my son to die for you, and nothing that you do will change that. There's no mountain I won't climb up coming after you. Everything good comes from Me, and when those anxious thoughts start to come, know that they aren't from me."
I've had to learn that all GOOD things are from our Creator. Because when he created the world, he saw what he had made and it was good. He is good. All good things are from Him, and all good things are through Him. My confidence started to appear after my breast reduction, but now continues and grows because I know that I am loved. I know that I am loved by Him and the people that He has placed into my life. I'm learning and have been discovering that Jesus reveals himself to us through His people, and I have been consistently praying for God to reveal himself to my two roommates. I know He's here, but I want my roommates to know it too and rejoice about it with me.I think sometimes Christians come across as pushy and extremely hypocritical. I don't want to be a "pushy" Christian. I think all we're called to do is love people. The Ten Commandments can be summarized into two missions: Love God & Love People. Nowhere does God say to shove his love down people's throats and nowhere in the Bible does it say to condemn those who do not love Him. If we constantly condemn people, what does that say about our God? If He constantly condemned us, I don't know how much I'd want to spend time with Him. I'm not saying that He approves of all of our decisions, but we're not chained to punishment for them either.
This blog post kind of went everywhere, but I am confident because I am loved.
"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake, we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:31-39
