| Trash & Treasure Building God Esteem |
Words can hurt. Our mind has the ability to remember words, and play them over and
over in our mind. Ultimately affecting our heart causing us pain, influencing our
thoughts, and burdening our soul. A careless word can crush our self esteem, and scar us
for life. But that is not what God wants. In His love letter, the Bible, He tells us over and
over again that:
1. He loves us - "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
2. That he wants the best for us - "For I know the plans I have for you", declares the
Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11
3. And that he wants us to be free - free from sin, free from condemnation, and free to
receive his blessings. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus..." Romans 8:1
In order to live his best for our life I believe we truly must surrender all our baggage, all
those hurtful words, all that negative self talk to him on a daily basis. And that in turn
allows us to love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind, live His purpose for our lives with
passion and clarity, and it frees us to love and accept others.
What is the first step to building God esteem? I call this exercise trash and treasure.
Begin by writing down the trash (the lies, the hurtful words, the negative thoughts) that
we believe about ourselves and surrender it to God. We then replace the trash with the
treasure, God's truth about who we are. The only truth that matters is found in one place,
God's love letter. In these precious pages, we find verse after verse, and page after page
of how much we matter to God. For every lie the world tells us, we can find truth after
truth to refute it. I have included a link to a page called the Treasure Trove that lists over
40 amazing verses that teach us about our value and our worth.
Here is how I practice trash and treasure. I pull out some paper or a few index cards and
begin by writing down things that someone said to me that were hurtful, and that stuck
with me. For example, I have battled low self esteem. One of the first things that would
automatically come to mind for me would be the question of worth or value. My trash card
would read, "I feel as if I don't have any worth or value". Next, I need to ask myself is
that really true? What am I basing that opinion on? It's not true because according to
Jesus in Matthew 10:30, I have so much value that, "...even the very hairs of your head
are all numbered."
You could also look at it this way, someone loved me so much that he was willing to die for
me, "For God so loved the world, (that includes me), that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.", John 3:16. I'm a
mother and I can tell you that I would NEVER sacrifice one of my children for the love of
anyone. Yet God loved each and every one of us so much, that he was willing to give up all
he loved to gain our love. That is amazing!
This can be done with our past experiences too. For example, many of us have done things
in our life that we look back and think, "boy, I wish I would not have done that", right..I
know I can't be alone. For some of us, guilt over the past can prevent us from moving
forward. Well, if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your savior, your sins are forgiven. I
love this verse in Isaiah 44:22:
"I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to
me for I have redeemed you."
Morning mist evaporates, there is no evidence that it was ever there and that, Beloved, is
how the Lord sees you. That is an amazing truth!
Here is another example of trash; "I don't like my body. It bothers me because it does
not look the way I wish it did". Although our feelings may be real and therefore be truth
in our lives, the feelings are based on the thought that our bodies must look a certain way
in order to be beautiful or valuable. That is a lie. The truth is our bodies are works of art,
designed by the most creative and inspiring artist ever! "For you created my inmost
being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully
and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful." Psalm 139:13-14. We are hand made
by the creator...the one who hung the stars in place, designed you to be exactly who you
are!
You see ladies, we can take all those things that hold us back, that hurt us and throw
them in the trash. We can then replace every thought with the truth found in God's love
letter. Tape verses to your mirrors, on your refrigerator, write them on cards and carry
them in your purse, make them your screen saver until that truth has sunk deep into
your soul. Healing you and freeing you from wrong beliefs. Romans 12:2 says this:
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind."
How do we renew our mind...
"Finally, brothers (sisters), whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy-think about such things." Philippians 4:8
What things should be we think about - God's truth! Do you see? Everything that we
believe about ourselves, if based on anything other than the Bible is false. And if we judge
ourselves by what a fallen world says is important, we will always fall short.
After you have written down the things that come to mind easily, dig deeper. Pray and ask
God to show you other area's where your thinking and His truth don't line up. He will, a
little at a time, expose the area's that He wants to renew.
I don't know about you but I would much rather have a treasure trove than a trash heap!
over in our mind. Ultimately affecting our heart causing us pain, influencing our
thoughts, and burdening our soul. A careless word can crush our self esteem, and scar us
for life. But that is not what God wants. In His love letter, the Bible, He tells us over and
over again that:
1. He loves us - "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
2. That he wants the best for us - "For I know the plans I have for you", declares the
Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11
3. And that he wants us to be free - free from sin, free from condemnation, and free to
receive his blessings. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus..." Romans 8:1
In order to live his best for our life I believe we truly must surrender all our baggage, all
those hurtful words, all that negative self talk to him on a daily basis. And that in turn
allows us to love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind, live His purpose for our lives with
passion and clarity, and it frees us to love and accept others.
What is the first step to building God esteem? I call this exercise trash and treasure.
Begin by writing down the trash (the lies, the hurtful words, the negative thoughts) that
we believe about ourselves and surrender it to God. We then replace the trash with the
treasure, God's truth about who we are. The only truth that matters is found in one place,
God's love letter. In these precious pages, we find verse after verse, and page after page
of how much we matter to God. For every lie the world tells us, we can find truth after
truth to refute it. I have included a link to a page called the Treasure Trove that lists over
40 amazing verses that teach us about our value and our worth.
Here is how I practice trash and treasure. I pull out some paper or a few index cards and
begin by writing down things that someone said to me that were hurtful, and that stuck
with me. For example, I have battled low self esteem. One of the first things that would
automatically come to mind for me would be the question of worth or value. My trash card
would read, "I feel as if I don't have any worth or value". Next, I need to ask myself is
that really true? What am I basing that opinion on? It's not true because according to
Jesus in Matthew 10:30, I have so much value that, "...even the very hairs of your head
are all numbered."
You could also look at it this way, someone loved me so much that he was willing to die for
me, "For God so loved the world, (that includes me), that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.", John 3:16. I'm a
mother and I can tell you that I would NEVER sacrifice one of my children for the love of
anyone. Yet God loved each and every one of us so much, that he was willing to give up all
he loved to gain our love. That is amazing!
This can be done with our past experiences too. For example, many of us have done things
in our life that we look back and think, "boy, I wish I would not have done that", right..I
know I can't be alone. For some of us, guilt over the past can prevent us from moving
forward. Well, if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your savior, your sins are forgiven. I
love this verse in Isaiah 44:22:
"I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to
me for I have redeemed you."
Morning mist evaporates, there is no evidence that it was ever there and that, Beloved, is
how the Lord sees you. That is an amazing truth!
Here is another example of trash; "I don't like my body. It bothers me because it does
not look the way I wish it did". Although our feelings may be real and therefore be truth
in our lives, the feelings are based on the thought that our bodies must look a certain way
in order to be beautiful or valuable. That is a lie. The truth is our bodies are works of art,
designed by the most creative and inspiring artist ever! "For you created my inmost
being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully
and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful." Psalm 139:13-14. We are hand made
by the creator...the one who hung the stars in place, designed you to be exactly who you
are!
You see ladies, we can take all those things that hold us back, that hurt us and throw
them in the trash. We can then replace every thought with the truth found in God's love
letter. Tape verses to your mirrors, on your refrigerator, write them on cards and carry
them in your purse, make them your screen saver until that truth has sunk deep into
your soul. Healing you and freeing you from wrong beliefs. Romans 12:2 says this:
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind."
How do we renew our mind...
"Finally, brothers (sisters), whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy-think about such things." Philippians 4:8
What things should be we think about - God's truth! Do you see? Everything that we
believe about ourselves, if based on anything other than the Bible is false. And if we judge
ourselves by what a fallen world says is important, we will always fall short.
After you have written down the things that come to mind easily, dig deeper. Pray and ask
God to show you other area's where your thinking and His truth don't line up. He will, a
little at a time, expose the area's that He wants to renew.
I don't know about you but I would much rather have a treasure trove than a trash heap!
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