I recently went to lunch with friends and we got talking about how hard we are on ourselves. How we constantly beat ourselves up for every little thing that we do wrong. And yet if our children or friends were to fall, or fail at something, we are the first to come to the rescue to pick them up, console them and to build them back up.
Why is it that we are so hard ourselves? Especially us women (men too but not to the extremes we see in women)?
It’s funny because sometimes I run across the same message in several different ways when I am trying to decide what to share. And that’s when I know that it is one that the Lord wants me to share. Today this message seemed to be everywhere. I listened to a podcast this morning that talked about how to give grace to ourselves for all of the short falls that we might have or mistakes we may have made in the past. To learn to live in our feelings of not being perfect, that it’s ok, expected and normal NOT to be perfect.
When I returned from lunch and checked on social media I found this message from our Prophet, Russel M. Nelson.
Great power lies in learning who you really are. Please take time to think prayerfully about these facts:
•You are an elect son or daughter of God.
•You were created in His image.
•You were taught in the spirit world to prepare you for anything and everything you would encounter during this latter part of these latter days. That teaching endures within you!Learn for yourselves who you really are. Ask your Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, how He feels about you and your mission here on earth. If you ask with real intent, over time the Spirit will whisper the life-changing truth to you. Record those impressions and review them often, and follow through with exactness.
I promise you that when you begin to catch even a glimpse of how your Heavenly Father sees you and what He is counting on you to do for Him, your life will never be the same!
— Russell M. Nelson (@NelsonRussellM) September 11, 2019
Ladies (and guys), The Lord loves us and we should love us too. After all we are created in his image.
Think about how awful it makes you feel when your child is down on themselves. When they are saying how stupid they are and what a mess of things they’ve made, or how ugly they are. It breaks your heart and all you want to do is take all that pain that they are feeling away. So think how our Heavenly Father (and mother) feel when we are constantly filling our own minds with negative self talk and self loathing. It must break their hearts and fill their eyes with tears.
Gratefully, this is not something we have to figure out on our own. As in the statement above we can ask our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ and He will let us know exactly how he feels about us. And that should make a difference in how we feel about ourselves. If given the opportunity, I’m sure they would wrap their spirit around us in a big hug of comfort, peace and love. Can you even imagine the great love they have for us?
Oh my dear sisters, (for thats what I believe we all are), if only you could see yourself the way God sees you! What would change in your life if you knew, really knew, how special you are?
One of my friends shared this idea for a practice that we could start that may help and I thought it was such a good idea. I think I will get a new pretty journal just for this! 😉
So the idea is to learn to love yourself and recognize all that you do and are that is good. So every night, you will write down 3 things that you liked about yourself that day. Then in the morning when you wake up, you read over those three things again. Then that night you repeat the process with 3 more things (different things) that you liked about yourself that day. And then the next morning you read over again the things from the night before. You continue this process daily. As the days progress you will learn to love yourself and all that you are. You will begin to see in yourself all of the good that everyone else and especially the Lord sees. You will remember who you are and your life will be changed!
I see you my dear sisters. I see you. And you are more beautiful and loved than you can imagine!
XO Wendy
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Pointing Toward Hope 