So Long, Insecurity!

I am the type of person that over-analyzes everything.  My mind never stops thinking.  A lot of things have happened in the past year with my family, friends, and relationship to keep my mind in overdrive.  Some were good things, but a lot of them were bad things..or at least they seemed like bad things at the time.  Looking back, I realize that the main problem with a lot of these things was most likely my stubbornness and negative outlook that kept me from being happy about them.

Needless to say, I lost a lot of sleep at night, because my mind doesn't have an "off" switch.  Once I realized that I might be the problem, I started re-evaluating a lot of things - my attitude, behavior, values, beliefs, etc.  I started questioning everything about me: Why am I the way that I am?  Why do I do the things that I do?  Why do I react to things the way that I do?  What is God trying to teach me?

Luckily, I recently found a book that has helped put a few things into perspective.  I started reading So Long, Insecurity: You've Been a Bad Friend to Us by Beth Moore a few days ago.

I haven't finished the book yet, but I wanted to post a few (or more like quite a few) quotes from it to serve as reminders and/or words of encouragement to myself:

"Studies have long since proven that much of what we fear is fueled by our imagination, and in fact, most of what we fear never even happens."

"Attitude is everything when it comes to limitations, and the way you view yourself will acutely shape how others view you."

"The insecure person creates a situation in which being disappointed and hurt in relationships is almost inevitable.  Ironically, although insecure people are easily and frequently hurt, they are usually unaware of how they are unwitting accomplices in creating their own misery."

"Making assumptions about who struggles with insecurity and who doesn't based on what they appear to have going for them suggests how little we understand the nature of insecurity and what feeds it."

"A man is infinitely more attracted to a secure woman than to an emotional wreck who insists he could complete her."

"The enemy of your soul  has a tremendous amount to gain if you don't deal with your insecurities.  Don't let him have that kind of victory."

"The gender of the person who originally made us feel defenseless will often continue to make us feel either defenseless or inordinately defensive until we are restored."

"One way we can detect insecurity is by our knee-jerk reaction to any level of change in a relationship, particularly if we perceive that the focus has shifted away from us.  The more easily threatened we are, the more insecure we are."

"Pride lives on the defensive against anyone and anything that tries to subtract from its self-sustained worth.  Confidence, on the other hand, is driven by the certainty of God-given identity and the conviction that nothing can take that identity away."

"Recognition is the first step toward letting God get to an issue and healing it.  Get some things up there on the surface, and let God validate your challenges."

"Be careful not to give too much credence to the old adage that time heals.  Mark my word.  It's God that heals.  Time only tells."

If you're feeling down or a little lost, I would recommend reading this book.  I'm not even half-way through it, but I already feel a little better after reading as far as I have!  It's been comforting being able to read Moore's words and dig down to the root of some of my personal issues and struggles.  Hopefully when I am finished, I will be much more secure about who I am and who God intended me to be.

In closing, I thought I'd wrap this up with the Serenity Prayer:

God, grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change, 

courage to change the things I can,

and wisdom to know the difference.

Amen.