Encourage Yourself

Talk to yourself how you talk to other people

I heard a sermon today where the preacher said watch your self talk. It really struck me. You would never talk to other people how you talk to yourself. We beat ourselves down with self doubt, self pity, and a host of other terrible things to keep us from living our best lives. If a friend came to you and said they had a great idea about something, even it is seemed a little outlandish, you would still encourage them right? I encourage people all the time. I typically am a glass half full person, but not when it comes to my own hopes and dreams. Its very easy to talk myself out of things.

Why don’t we talk to ourselves like that? Why are we are own worst critic? Remember that we are made in Gods image. He knit you together before you were born. Is that a hard concept to understand? Sounds good in practice but hard to do in real life. I used to do that, still do, build other people up but tear myself down with worry, doubt and insecurity. Then I decided to start telling myself all the things I say to other people. I’m the bomb.com, I can do anything I put my mind too, people want to hear what I have to say. I also went back and read who God is. I reminded myself that I was his child, made in His image, He certainly had enough power to help me if I tapped into it. How often do we rely on our own power and not on God’s and then wonder why our plans don’t succeed? Its not because we suck or it was never going to happen, but because we forged ahead without Him. So if you are reading this and want to stop downing yourself remember that you are a child of God and He wants nothing but for you to be happy, successful, content. You don’t have to beat yourself up there are enough people in the world to do that, the media, the president, don’t do it to yourself. Every time a negative thought pops in your head, replace it with a positive one. Put positive affirmations on your bathroom mirror, your screen saver on your phone, your desk at work, anyplace that you will see it. Only play music that builds you up, same thing with the tv shows and movies you watch. Change your thought life, change your real life. Joyce Meyer wrote a book Battlefield of the Mind. It helps deal with negative self talk. Joyce can be a bit wordy but she makes some excellent points. Some of my favorites are “The mind is the leader or forerunner of all actions.” “If our thoughts are going to affect what we become, then it should certainly be a priority that we think right thoughts.

Try to make sure you always build yourself up, you are the only one who truly has to deal with you. The only person you need to impress is yourself. God made you so He already knows how great you are, and nobody else really matters.

 

Is everything ok?

I get that question a lot. My husband probably asks me that, at least once a day, just to check in. Sure, I’m OK. Google dictionary lists the definition of OK as satisfactory but not exceptionally or especially good. Sounds decent right? No one is opposed to be ok. If you asked someone how they were doing and they responded ok, you probably wouldn’t probe further. OK suggests satisfaction.

Yes it is but I want better than ok. What’s better than be ok? I’m not great but I’m lot closer… I want to feel great everyday and I don’t every day but I’m close. With God I feel great everyday and that’s why I started this blog. He doesn’t seem so far away. He doesn’t seem like I need help as much like I’m drowning. I am still in disbelief, because I don’t feel like I’m working hard enough for his blessings, but you don’t have to work hard for blessing. I didn’t know that before we weren’t friends. He was my father but he wasn’t my friend. There is definitely a difference. I can remember conversations we had when I was struggling. If I couldn’t remember what He said I could go back to it cause I wrote it down. Its really the reason that I started writing. I wanted to make sure that I was hearing God’s voice and not my own. Reading the bible is truly the easiest way to hear Gods voice. I was searching all over in books. Getting advice from other people. Best advice that works exactly for you is to just spend with God. Read the bible, listen to gospel music, meditate, be still.  This seems contradictory to everything I essentially thought I wanted to blog. That’s why God wouldn’t let me put it out before. There wasn’t enough Dominique. I hadn’t spent enough time with Him to be a true representation of Him and the message he wanted me to convey and the way he wanted to convey. It wasn’t from God that’s why it was going to fail.

The more time I spent with God the better person I’m becoming. Less scared. Less concerned about what people think about me. More concerned what He thinks about me. If God is in it, it will not fail. He will lead you exactly where He wants you to go. I’m excited to see where my writing will take me. Whether its read by 1 person or 100 people, hopefully it will encourage someone.

32 is here

My birthday has come and gone. It was a great day. Only thing that would have made it nicer was if it wasn’t raining. Im not tripping about the rain though, you need a little rain to appreciate the sunshine. Thanking God in advance that 32 will not be like 31. 31 was the hardest year of my life and I thought 30 was hard. Lol. I did things last year that I never thought I would do, survived hurts I never thought I would get over. That year made a better person. More emphatic, less judgmental. More flexible, less rooted to one idea and more willingly to learn and explore in ways I haven’t before. I learned how to lean on God more and me less. That I don’t have to meet this standard of perfection that I set for myself. That there is more than one way to so something. Perfection or close as possible is not what God wanted me to be. He wanted me the way he made me. He doesn’t care about my flaws because He wanted me to lean on him.

32 is going to be a challenge but this time versus other years I’m not plotting and worrying about how I am going to work things out. I am not trying to plan every moment of my life. I am truly living day by day, not worrying about tomorrow. Not thinking so much about each step but enjoying each moment. I will count my blessings not my problems. I’m excited to see what 32 brings. With God the possibilities are endless.

Introduction

I will be 32 years old soon. I gave my life to Christ when I was a senior in college. I recently discovered my passion even though its been sitting right in my face most of my life.

I started this blog because I wanted to help people but bigger than that, I wanted to give people a perspective that I didn’t really see out there. I hope that I am able to walk the line between secular and gospel, and give you the reader; practical, realistic insight that will help you make the most of every situation that life throws at you.