This morning I posted on Facebook an acknowledgement of being in an unpleasant and extremely uncomfortable place, knowing that it was for my good. I confirmed that I would grow from the process and thus, I embrace the process.
Quite often we feel like uncomfortable places serve as a place or source of pain and therefore it must be "evil." However, I see the opportunity in the place where I am right now. I see God pruning me and teaching me to see myself clearly outside of the noise in my head as well as outside sources that try to bring me to a lower thinking of my self-worth.
Yesterday, I enjoyed the awesome pleasure of listening to and learning from my Pastor, Randy Rainwater and my brothers and sisters in Christ at Grace New Hope, about value. We discovered that we often place our value in things instead of realizing God made us valuable from the time we were born.
Not that I had not heard these words before, but yesterday, they resonated within my being. In that moment I decided that for as much as we give of ourselves in the ministry of family, community, church, in our jobs (or however we give); we must not allow our withdrawals to reduce us to a place of emptiness. Emptiness clutters our minds and clouds our vision of SELF. We begin to feed on lies of things such as; success and failure, rejection and pain, low times and high times, are our source of value.
So today, I pour back into myself first by asking God to renew my mind and cleanse my heart. Then I deposit powerful, positive WORDS into my mind by speaking out loud:
Today, I encourage you to pour into YOURSELF FIRST! That is not a selfish act, in fact, it is an act of love for God, yourself, and others God calls you to serve.I am enough! I am valuable! I am useful! I am helpful! I am amazing! I am beautifully and wonderfully made! My Father loves me! I love me! I am deserving of love and I receive love from those around me! I represent love! I am right where I am supposed to be and that is enough for me!
Embrace the Pouring! Embrace self-love! Embrace Yourself!
I love you! Have a magnificent day!
Stacie J. Whitaker-Harris
Thanks Stacie, this is great, and I learn much from you.
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