What do you expect your government to do for you?

I have never expected them to see to it that I have a job…or health care benefits…or to loan me money when I need it.

I’ll admit there was a financially tough time in my life when I used the “WIC” program. While I appreciated it for a short time, never once did I EXPECT  government to take care of me.  When we qualified for a FHA mortgage and took advantage of it, we never EXPECTED government to have such a program. Whenever I needed a job, I got out there and found one! If my husband lost his job today, we would not EXPECT government to reimburse him, or to “find” him another job!

Let’s blow the cobwebs off our brains for a minute: Way back in American History class, didn’t we learn what our government’s job is? Didn’t we learn that what we should expect from our elected officials in Washington is to keep our borders and our liberties safe,  and to empower each state to exercise it’s own right to govern it’s own people? That’s what it is.

So where did this new ideology come from? You know, the one that some Americans are demanding today: That government “better do something” to fix the unemployment rate; or that they want government to provide our health care benefits? Our Constitution never said that was their job!

Pursuing the “American Dream” is what’s brought millions of immigrants to America since the days of Columbus. We want to work the job of our choice. We want to make as much money as we can;  And we want to spend and invest it as we see fit.  We want to invent things. We want to run our own businesses. We want to choose the education best for our own children.  These are the liberties we expect our government to protect, and not to interfere with!

How do we combat that mentality? Can we admit that government acting like a big “sugar daddy to the rescue” is not best for our country in the long run? 

Sure. Take a look at how they’ve handled our Social Security money (they’ve squandered it all away) Or, consider how good they’re  managing our public schools  (add up the amount of money they dump into each one, and compare it to the graduation rates and levels of illeratacy in America.) How then, could you trust them to find you a job? Or provide your health care?

Do you really want government involved so intimately in your life? I sure don’t!

~Sandra

Self Confidence is probably one of the biggest struggles we as women have. Many women suffer from approval addiction, have a poor self image or simply don’t value themselves as a woman. Perhaps there has been some sort of abuse as a child that has caused this or someone told them once that they weren’t pretty or that they were stupid. Has this happened to you? I know for a fact that being sexually abused as a child destroyed my self esteem and it has followed me into my adult years.

Now that I am an adult, I have overcome many of my struggles with my self confidence, though some areas I’m still working on.

As a child, I was pretty shy and withdrawn because I didn’t want people to know what my step-dad was doing to me. I didn’t make friends easily, although I wanted to and didn’t feel shy inside. But, now, looking back, I can see the marks the sexual abuse left on me.

I also suffered a very poor self image. I always thought I was fat even though I when I graduated I only weighed 125 pounds which was a great weight for my height and stature. Friends also influenced the poor self image in me. My two best friends were thinner than I. One of them struggled to gain weight and the other worked out constantly and was very self conscious about her weight. If she gained 1 pound, she would be out running it off.

Lack of self confidence is not only an issue about how we look, but it also affects our speech, writing, how we present ourselves in social situations and other areas of life. So, how do we overcome a low self esteem or lack of self confidence?

I’m going to give you some of the tools I’ve used to help me over come my struggles with low self esteem and low self confidence.

The first one is God’s Word. The Scriptures are so full of God’s love for us and when we know how God views us and how much He loves us, we no longer need approval from humans. So start reading God’s Word daily and learn how he sees you. One amazing scripture to help you with this is the 139th Psalm. One of my daily devotions encourages women to read it everyday for a month and I want to encourage you to do the same. Doing this one simple act can really change the way you see yourself because you will begin to see yourself as God sees you.

The next tool is The Confident Woman by Joyce Meyer. In The Confident Woman, Joyce teaches us how to overcome low self confidence by using God’s Word.

Captivating by Staci and John Eldredge. When we understand why we are the way we are as women, we can overcome low self esteem and start viewing ourselves differently.

Start journaling your feelings and begin praying for God to reveal to you how he knows you and sees you. You can overcome low self esteem and low self confidence by placing your confidence in God and trusting in His love for you. It won’t happen overnight though. It will take work and diligence and you will probably have to refresh what you’ve learned once in a while.

I will be praying for each of the readers of this post. If you’d like personal prayer for overcoming lack of self confidence please leave your name and email in the comments and I or the other awesome women here at Women by Grace will be in touch with you to pray with you.