Her Essence is Confident

After talking to some amazing young women in Christ I realized a few things. One, that even though these young women love Christ more than their own life they still struggle with confidence in Christ. Secondly, that confidence can be almost looked on as a negative quality in a young women. Lastly, I wanted to reassure and encourage some of these young women of their value and confidence in the Lord.

God calls us to a life of faith--- faith that He is God and we are not, and that he offers all we need to be complete and satisfied. It is this confidence that creates a mystery about you that others will notice. However I believe there a difference between self-confidence and God- confidence. Self-confidence scares others off. Before God called me to abide in Him I held all of my confidence upon myself and was overly assertive in my interactions and conversations. But once I made the gradual change from focusing on confidence in myself to focusing on confidence in who God is, I became more comfortable with who I was, more comfortable to be around. I needed to be seen and heard only by my God and not by those around me.

You were made for a very great purpose: to love and serve the Lord of lords. Confidence is being convinced that "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength." (Mark 12:30). You must know that the Creator didn't make a mistake when he made you. You may have moments when you think he did things wrong when he got to you, but God never messes up. Everything about you is made divinely in His image. The cut of your nose, the family you were born into, and the longings and hopes and dreams in your heart were all initiated by God himself, and all it takes to make the world see the beauty in you is trust-- not in yourself but in the God who created you. We all have weaknesses and areas in our lives where we are lacking, but God helps us work with those things, bringing them into line with his Word. He promises to burn off the impurities and leave only the finest gold in their place.

All of us as women have something we could choose to be unhappy about when it comes to our bodies, personalities, and life circumstances. But the secret is acceptance of things we can't change which manifests itself in contentment. Contentment is simply a steady knowledge that God is ultimately in control of everything that has been given to us. "Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession" (James 1:17-18). And because you are his prized possession---his love and creation---he knows what is best for you. Acceptance understands this and takes everything that comes as a gift and not a trail. It is this confidence that changes everything about you and your essence within Christ.