Have you ever been challenged with ambitions and goals but have been plagued with insecurity that paralyzes you into fear or doubt? Moreover have you ever been challenged with insecurity that distracts you from seeing your true potential, that you are misled into thinking or believing that someone else can do it better then you? Or have you been distracted into thinking that you are never good enough, never pretty enough, never smart enough, or never worthy enough? Then you are not alone in this. Then know you are not alone when insecurity distracts you from seeing your potential through God's eyes. Know that you are not alone when fear try's paralyzes you from seeing the beauty of trusting that God has made you enough through Jesus Christ. However, this is much easier said then done. There are days that seem like you can just barely get by because I have been there myself. Where everything seems cloudy or hazy but there is hope to come just around the corner. There is a great quote by Jennie Allen that fits perfectly, she says "We are often dragged along in the darkness, unable to save ourselves from our thoughts and from our shame and from our mistakes. We try to slap self-esteem tactics on our fears, but they don't stick because, well... it is true. We are not enough. It would be terribly depressing thought-if we weren't followed by the most freeing truth in all of eternity. God knew we would never be enough. So He became enough for us. Jesus is our enough." (Allen, pg.67, 2017). Even if the battle of insecurity seems like it is never ending and will go on forever. It does not have to keep us captive, and we can live free. The question lies in will we keep laying at the feet of Jesus. Will we ask him to remove this obstacle from us?
The challenge of getting past insecurity may never go away completely, but that does not mean we cannot be free from it. Our ambitions and goals do not have to remain empty or unfulfilled because of insecurity. Christine Caine, makes a great statement about living shame free and choosing to move forward, "In Caine’s book she states, “The enemy always wants us to believe that we need to stop hurting before we can more. What a lie! We must forward even if its painful. The freedom on the other side is what we need and want.” (Caine, pg.92, 2016).
This is where the trap and snare of insecurity try's to trap us into believing a lie, it sneaks in posing as truth or trying to appear as a truth but it is not. The point is to escape from the snare of insecurity we must place it before the feet of Jesus while we are hurting because otherwise we may stay distracted by the lies of insecurity. We have to move forward to get to the freedom we need or want from Jesus. To be completely honest there are days that I struggle with insecurity that it distracts me from seeing myself through God's eyes, that it is hard to see the truth and hard to see hope. Yet, when I step back and ask for clarity, for God to open my eyes to the truth, then I am able to see myself from God's perspective and not my limited view. It is then that my empty ambitions do not seem empty anymore. It is there where I can move forward and see that, my ambitions and the view of myself is completely different through God's eyes. It is there that I can see that I am made perfect through Jesus Christ. It is there that ambitions are fulfilled and goals are no longer empty but being overflowed with grace and hope. It is there that insecurity is silenced and fear is no longer paralyzing but freedom is found in truth.
References:
Allen, Jennie,(2017) Nothing To Prove, Why We Can Stop Trying so Hard, WaterBrook Publishing, NY,NY.
Caine, Christine, (2016), Unashamed, Drop the Baggage, Pick up Your Freedom, Fulfill your Destiny, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Photo Credit (2017) wix.com