5 steps to the solution to insecurity

"Anybody can be like everybody else.   Only those who are exceptional choose to believe the possible over the probable.   You, beloved, were created to be exceptional."

                                                            ---------Beth Moore

 Can you imagine that there is a God that actually knows the number of hairs on our head and knows us by name?   We were fearfully and wonderfully made.   And we were bought with a price.

We are exceptional.  

Why do we so often feel inferior?   Less important.   Less needed.  So insecure.

It starts so young.   And steals so much from us --- Our  Joy.  Love.   Relationships.  Friendships.  The list could go on forever.

Listen to this story.   It's scary how much I can relate.

A girl was trying to be faithful to her early-morning quite time.   She tells a story about listening to the Bible on tape while she worked out on her treadmill.

In between verses, my mind would wander to other things, like my flabby arms.   I began to scold myself for not being more diligent with exercise.  Then I followed my thoughts down a path of how disappointed I was that I let my weigh fluctuate.  I would veer off my miserable mental path every few seconds to tune back into the Bible that was still reading in my ear.  I remember distinctively tuning in just in time to hear Psalm 84:1.

How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty!

Wow!  That is sooooooo me!!!  Can you relate?!

So how can we start helping each other out?  How can we be a part of the solution to insecurity?

In her book, So Long Insecurity, Beth Moore suggests these steps:::

1.) Stop Making Comparisons
The nature of our competition depends to a large extent on what we tend to value.  If appearance is a personal premium, we have the tendency to rate ourselves according to the looks of those in eyeshot.

 2.) Start Personalizing Other Women
If she got the guy we wanted, we don't see her in terms of a multilayered life of ups and downs, self-doubts, and second guesses.  We depersonalize her into a manipulator or a relationship wrecker.  It's easier to despise her that way.

3.) Don't Trip Another Woman's Insecurity Switch
If you have a fabulous figure, you don't always have to wear a skimpy bathing suit when you and your husband are going boating or to the beach with several other couples.  By all means, wear it for him in a less public place, but take caution before you parade it in front of all the other husbands and their wives.

4.) We Must Be Examples of Secure Women
Most women will likewise never believe that a secure woman is a real, live possibility until they see one face-to-face.  Problem-to-problem.  Theat-to-threat.  Chase-to-grace.  If you'll become the first example in your sphere of influence, you won't be the last.

And one more that is not in her list but that she talks about in detail:::

: Money/Status/Things will NOT make you more secure.
We are all so very tempted to think that financial solidity would make us secure.  No amount of stuff and no amount of money can soothe the savage beast of insecurity within us all.   Our world system has made financial promises it can't keep...and it's finally admitting it.  We had all better get serious about making wiser financial  decisions and learning the science of saving and saying "no" to our WANTS.
 source
                                                                                  
The insecurity equation can play out in any number of ways.   These are a few:::

• I tried to talk to her + she seemed really distracted = she hates me.
• She's really gorgeous + she gets a lot of attention that I don't = she must be really conceited.
• She's got this + she's got that = I've got nothing.
• She doesn't have this problem + I've got that problem = she doesn't have a care in the world.
• Look what she's got on + look what I've got on = I have the fashion taste of a tsetse fly.

Do any of those sound vaguely familiar?  I mean she hits it right on!!!

I know that all of us have different issues.   And I'll be perfectly honest.  Before I started reading this book, I truly did not think I had any trouble with insecurity.  Now, almost finished with the book, I realize I do have struggles that I would have never identified had I not read her book.   Since I can identify those insecurities, I can now know how to recognize them, fight against them, and move on from them. 

All women are insecure.

If I could recommend any book in the world to women of all ages, this would be the one!!!

"Take your dignity back no matter where you've been or what has happened to you.   Hold on to your security for all you're worth.  It is yours.  Nothing and no one can take it from you." ---Beth Moore

I wish for you a weekend of love, joy, and memories!

Now get out there and take hold of your security!!!   And then pass it on to your fellow girls!

All info. comes from Beth Moore's book So Long, Insecurity.