In search of confidence!

Allow me a moment to brag on Emily, who makes my every visit to her salon a relaxing yet fun and don't-want-it-to-end experience.

During my appointment last week, I asked Emily if she was ever nervous about cutting someone's hair.  She gave me an emphatic no and said she is completely confident in cutting hair.   She told me her confidence comes right behind her salon chair.   

I wanted to know more, so I asked!  She told me that after a bad relationship and trying to rebuild her life, she read an article that challenged her to think of where she felt most confident.  She called it, "a place where nobody could break my smile!"  

Emily is exact in knowing her confidence is found right behind the chair, as well as her time spent with her little girl, Ellee.  She further told me that standing behind her chair, she could talk to anyone as plain as day, tell them anything on her mind & hear what was on their mind too - not thinking twice about the conversation.  No shuddering and no second guessing she said!

God has given each of you a gift.  Use it to help each other. This will show God’s loving-favor. 1 Peter 4:10 NLV

It thrills me to meet someone who knows that place…the place of confidence.  I understand it's their gift from God! I then began to laugh as I pictured Emily carrying around her chair outside of the salon and people asking her, 'Why are you carrying around a chair?"  She would simply say, "Sit down and let's talk!" ha ha

Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ.  

1 Peter 4:11 NLV

Do you recognize a confidence inside of you?  A confidence to be just who God made you to be.  The living gift you can give to others....it comes easy, you love to give your attention to it and where you feel most fulfilled.  It's something you give to others, and in turn, fills you.

Ultimately, true confidence is found in a relationship with the One who knows you best - Jesus!  He died on the cross to pay the penalty of the sin of mankind.  If you want to know Him today, choose to turn from your self-will of doing your life your way, and ask Him to take control and direct your life.

It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.  

Psalm 118:8 NKJV

Chasing the carrot

What does carrot dangling mean?  "It's a false bait to take advantage of you.  A carrot dangler is someone who promises something to help you out, to give you something, to introduce you to someone…and never comes through.  When you try to collect on the promise, there is always some reason why they can't give it to you right then."

- unknown

Have you ever chased a carrot, only to be let down?  

Sure, there are many outward things we can pursue and obtain in this life.  I wanted to include love & joy in the obtaining, but realized that love & joy can only be known fully through a missing link.  This link makes it pure and complete. 

No carrot dangling here!  No state of uncertainty with this promise, but a sure thing.  Here is a promise of love & joy perfected.

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love…these things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.  John 15:10-11

This is not a fleeting love or joy but one that is a continual discovery.  A love & joy that can be known through the one who IS love & joy in totality.  

The link to this promise is found through Jesus who paid the ultimate price of death on the cross, to pay the penalty for the sin of humanity.  

If you do not know Him yet, repent (choose to turn from your sin) and ask Him to come into your heart and be your everything.  To lose your life is to gain it!  The promise of His joy & peace is for those who believe in Him. 

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God... John 17:3 

Don't be like them!

Wisdom?  

Mom has given me a few one-liners of wisdom that have stuck with me & helped in many circumstances of life. Hope it will be helpful to you too :)

Some years ago while I was in bible school, I was sharing an apartment with a friend.  I wanted to show her my gratitude by words and my actions, always looking for the opportunity to help her in whatever she needed. 

This particular day, I was stuck at the mall and called my friend for a simple ride from the mall to our home.  Her behavior proved to be quite odd as she rudely rejected me for thinking I would ask such a thing of her.  Stunned by her attitude, I chose not to retaliate.

I eventually made it home and immediately called my Mom because I wanted to express my hurt from what seemed like harsh words spoken to the innocent (me!).  It was as though my mother did not even hear my complaint and said to me, "Don't YOU be like them."  Imagine! "Don't YOU be like them" is what I got.  She didn't try to make me feel better, but instead was telling me that I was going to have to choose the...well you know, the 'high road' (the hard road).  YES! The hard road, which is difficult but leads to LIFE.

Just recently, while reading a scrippy, I found the very words she spoke to me and did a little inside dance over it, knowing it to be true!

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.  Matt. 6:8 NIV

If He is telling us to not be like 'them', then 'who' is He telling us to be like?  Imitators of HIM!

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do.  Ephesians 5:1 NLT

For those who have decided to follow Jesus, we are to be imitators of Him and not those who choose to follow their own ways of decisions.  They only have the dim light of their nature to guide them.  It would be shameful for us to do as they do when we have a divine revelation for direction from above.