by Aleta Kay
Maybe you’re like me. Maybe your mom told you the whole time you were growing up that you couldn’t do anything right. Maybe your dad repeatedly told you you were dumb. Maybe your peers laughed at you and picked on you every day like mine did. So you grew up believing you were a loser and always would be. You didn’t think you would ever amount to anything, ever accomplish anything. You feel like a big zero and the only purpose in life is frustration.
Most days I like myself okay. Most days I am content with my life. I have a home (travel trailer) that is paid for. The truck is finally paid off. My husband and I both have jobs (high stress though they are) and we have a small nest egg set aside for retirement in two years. When we retire we will have to be very careful with our spending but we will be okay.
Yesterday I came home from work feeling like the biggest failure in the world. I felt like the BIGGEST LOSER. I told myself that the only thing I’m good at is failing. I have written two novels, neither of which is in stores. I have a hard time finishing any project I start because I already know it isn’t going to be very good.
If you, like me, give yourself these negative messages you have already determined to fail. The failure is in giving up. I’ve met people who have said, “If someone tells me I can’t do something, they’d better watch because I will show them that I will do whatever they say I can’t.”
There was a 17-year-old girl highlighted in the news last night and she made me ashamed of my attitude. She is homeless. Both of her parents died in a car accident just a few months ago. There is no family to take her in. There were some health issues she had to overcome. I can’t remember everything that was reported but what did stick with me is that, in spite of all these obstacles, she is a runner up for a $100,000 scholarship award in science for some research she is doing. Here is a young woman, a junior in high school, with very few resources, who keeps going, refusing to give up. I don’t remember her name but I will remember her face. I can’t wait to see what the Lord does with her life! If she can accomplish that, what can you and I accomplish if we keep persevering, keep trying, refuse to give up?
Don’t listen to those voices in your head that say you are stupid, worthless, a big zero, a loser. You are what you tell yourself. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” (Luke 6:45) “The devil, as a roaring lion, roameth about, seeking whom he may devour.” (I Peter 5:8) So tell that devil to shut up. Tell him he’s a liar. Tell yourself you are smart. You are capable. You can accomplish whatever you set your mind to. You can achieve success. You just have to be willing to KEEP WORKING AT IT. (Me too.) Have a wonderful, joyful day. Don’t let anyone drag you down. Be your own cheerleader. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13.) “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5, 6.)
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