It was good to see our friends Frank & Lana Centonze pictured here and also meet Gerard, Lana's brother and their friend, Winston all visiting from New York.Self-care is so important it is actually part of the commandments Jesus summarized.
Love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.
Too many of us don't even like ourselves. We don't like who we have become so it becomes difficult to love anyone else.
One of the major causes of depression in women if not the number one reason is low self-esteem. Men also suffer from a negative self-image usually acquired during the formative years.
Too many marriages suffer from one or both spouses carrying this low self-image into the marriage. It usually starts with the thought that maybe this person I'm marrying will make me happy. That is too much pressure for anyone to carry. We give them the tremendous task of being responsible for our happiness.
The key is to see ourselves through the eyes of the Lord. To begin to love ourselves as he loves us. True self-care does not begin with a manicure or a round of golf with the boys but rather it begins in our minds with what we are telling ourselves. How we see ourselves makes a powerful impact on how others see us.
Here are a few things to help us on the road to a good self-image.
1. Read what God thinks about you in the New Testament. The list is extensive. John 3:16; Romans 8, etc.
2. Learn to forgive yourself. If I have asked God to forgive me then I also need to forgive myself.
3. Give yourself room and permission to make mistakes, it's human.
4. Accept yourself with all your idiosyncrasies. You are unique and special. There is no one like you.
5. Realize that you are on a journey of becoming conformed into the image of Christ. It does not happen overnight. It is a process.
6. Enjoy the journey and where you are now knowing that you are growing in Christ.
7. Don't take yourself too seriously, learn to laugh at yourself. Laugh more, laugh often, enjoy life.
As we begin to have a better self-image we also begin to think better of others, are more forgiving, more patient with them and we take away the burden of expecting them to make us happy. We find we are only truly happy in Christ.
When we love ourselves as God loves us then we are able to truly love others especially our spouse.
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4 comments:
Frank and Lana you guys look amazing!!!!
This is kind of funny, but I used to HATE my nose as a teenager. Friends would say to me "you have the BIG Boudreaux nose". I so hated that. But now as I am more mature I LOVE my nose I truly do. The way I see it now; this is how God made me and he saw my nose as beauitful. So,that is the way I see all of me now.
I can identify with that Chenoa. But really your nose is perfect. Not only did I think that I had a big nose, but I was told by my dad all my life that I had a big mouth. Many, many years later, (when the big lips thing was in), I realized that he wasn't talking about the size of my mouth (because I have skinny chicken lips), but how vocal I was. The first thing that changed my opinion about myself, was asking Jesus into my heart. The second thing was going through a class called "The Search For Significance", by Robert S. McGee. A friend of mine gave the book to me and insisted that I take the class. I still have the book. There is a lot of deliverance issues delt with in this book (it takes you step by step), which helped me to get past a great deal pain and shame from childhood. The bottom line was that our significance is not who we are, or what we look like. It is who is in us and who we represent. It is our spiritual personality (our inner light). I remember praying that God would give me a meek and gentle spirit. When I didn't see results, I asked God and He said; "I gave you a meek and gentle spirit. It is your personality that needs work." Isn't He wonderful, to have such a great sense of humor. God really does love each of us as if there were only one of us. He also sees us all as beautiful (females) or macho (men). Bless U, Susan
Frank and Lana it was such a pleasure to have you both,Lana's brother and friend all visiting Faith Assembly this past sunday. What a day that will be when you guys move to League city and join our church family. Love your wedding photo. You both look so happy in love.
Great blog today Pastor Dan! Thanks Susan for the book title too. Susan wrote a fantastic commentary to Today's Word For The Day. I am going to quote what she said since it goes so well with Pastor's blog today.
Susan said,"Our worth is what God says about us. "Then God looked over all He made, and it was excellent in every way. Genesis 1:31 TLB God formed us! God prepared us! God said we are excellent in every way." Think about it! Are we so wise that we can contradict God?"
It's not that we think we are so wise to contradict God but like Chenoa and Susan stated sometimes we hear things from peers or where ever growing up about our selves and we tend to hang on to those memories way into adulthood. (My siblings loved to make fun of my big lips back in the day...etc.) I am so glad that I am learning to see my self as God sees me and to love everything about myself and who I am. Pastor, thanks for preaching the Word and for making your sermons so practical. I always feel as though I'm constantly learning and applying the word to my life. My goal for every sunday is to walk out changed or somehow different than when I walked in. Your preaching allows me to do just that.
Hey, the new black and white background color looks great against Franknlana's black and white picture.
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