Daily Affirmations for Women

Posted on Oct 21, 2014 in 31 Days, Blog, Daily Affirmations, Thought Life | 19 comments

I’m slipping this 31 Days post just in under the wire. I know it’s late Tuesday or early Wednesday for most of you, but let’s consider daily affirmations for women tonight. More importantly, let’s talk about one we need to start saying first thing every morning, starting this morning

I am wholehearted in my understanding and my speech is consistent.

Daily Affirmations for Women

There’s this verse in Sirach that says “Be steadfast in your understanding…” Lovely verse, but I don’t walk around using the word “steadfast” so I was a little confused how to apply this word into a daily affirmation. I looked up “steadfast” in the Thesaurus and I liked the last synonym listed…wholehearted.

Why “wholehearted” over “steadfast” in my daily affirmations? Because to me, being wholehearted means uniting my mind and heart. The Bible frequently uses the mind and heart interchangeably. Think of Psalm 19:14–“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

So for my daily affirmation, I want to unite my heart and mind. I want my understanding to be so multifaceted that I use every available means from God to understand His ways first. Then I want my understanding to extend to the grumpy toddler (or teen), the stressed husband, or the frustrated fifth grader.  I need my mind and heart to truly understand these beautiful souls because they are uniquely multifaceted individuals. Seeing them at face value will lead to poor communication, misunderstanding and more frustration.  Remember when we considered A Man of Understanding?

When I try to understand from my heart and my mind, hopefully, I can see past the tough exterior or the grumpy exterior. I will be able to recognize the fear, discomfort or sadness that may be not so obvious. I remember a long time ago hearing, “When a man is angry, there is always a fear behind that anger.” Being able to understand my husband’s anger in a different way, not just what I saw on the surface, helped me to respond instead of react to him. I could feel sympathy for a fear that was behind the anger instead of bristling in my own anger. This understanding completely diffused what could have been a tense situation.

Consistent speech…Oh where do we even begin? One of the reasons I write and blog is to encourage women to break free from negative thoughts and words. So let’s not go too in depth here because this is a topic we will cover frequently. Let’s just say, especially if you are a parent, we know the value of consistency. “Value” is not the best word…the necessity, of being consistent. One time is all it takes for a bad habit to try and take over any good already accomplished. This absolutely holds true in our daily affirmations. We must be consistent in our speech to ourselves or we won’t believe ourselves. If I tell my toddler, “Do not throw that toy or I will take it away from you,” and he throws it and I don’t take it…I’m not consistent; I become unbelievable.

In order for our daily affirmations to be effective, to be life changing and joy producing, we must be consistent in proclaiming them over ourselves. Our heart and mind must be steadfast–wholehearted–and in agreement consistently to break the bad habits we have learned and spoken to ourselves for who knows how long.

Each day there is more encouragement and even some laughs over on my Facebook page. Head over and “Like” me there for more.

Positive Affirmations

Posted on Oct 10, 2014 in 31 Days, Blog, Daily Affirmations, Just for You, Life in the Word, Printables, Thought Life | 10 comments

Welcome to Day 10 of my 31 Days Writing Challenge as I read the book of Sirach for 31 days! The other day we considered Daily Affirmations. Good, good…but there is something even better. Even better than daily affirmations? Way better. Positive Affirmations…and even better than positive affirmations…Christian affirmations!

You know I’m going to quote from The 4:8 Principle: The Secret to a Joy-Filled Life, one of my all time favorite books, next to the Bible. (Hi Mr Newberry, one of your biggest supporters here.) Anyway, in Chapter 4, the author states, “Too many people resign themselves to lives far below what God intended. They don’t see themselves as worthy…Much discouragement and underachievement result from dwelling on the failings of our human nature. A mediocre self concept does not come from God but from the stains of the world. It comes from seeing ourselves different from how God sees us.“ (emphasis mine) So how does God see us?

According to Ephesians 2:10 we are God’s accomplishment, His workmanship, His masterpiece. Wow. Let that sit a bit. Now say out loud, “I am God’s masterpiece.” Powerful isn’t it? What if we started our day first with an act of gratitude for the day and then put both feet on the floor with the words, “I am God’s masterpiece.”  What if some time during the morning we told our children they were God’s masterpiece before we sent them on their way?

What if throughout the day, we recalled more positive affirmations, more Christian affirmations to keep us going strong mentally, emotionally, spiritually and even physically? How different would that make tomorrow look from today? Or the last day of the month from payday?

I made a pretty print out of Positive Affirmations for us to hang on our bathroom mirror–or tape to our forehead–to remind us of who we are, Who we belong to and what we can expect.

Are you wondering how this fits in with my 31 Days of reading and writing about the book of Sirach? The book of Sirach is filled with encouragement for us to speak and think rightly.

I am blessed with gladness and joy. †Sirach 1:12
I know that God will help me and make my way straight. †Sirach 2:6
God makes my heart radiant. †Sirach 2:9
God will make my blessing flourish. †Sirach 11:22
The Lord will deliver me from every trial again and again. †Sirach 33:1

Just to name a few.

A Few Daily Affirmations

Posted on Oct 8, 2014 in 31 Days, Blog, Daily Affirmations, Thought Life | 7 comments

We’ve considered before what the Bible says about our thoughts. We talked about how we..We…are in control of our thought life. We may not be in control of whatever pops into our head, but we are in control of what we do with that thought. We can dismiss it, consider it and maybe even speak it. And what we speak to ourselves, about ourselves, become our daily affirmations.

Did I just throw you for a loop there? Are you wondering why I’m talking daily affirmations right in the middle of a 31 Day series on reading the book of Sirach? We are going to talk about daily affirmations because the book of Sirach talks about daily affirmations.

I wonder, when does it happen? When do we go from thinking we are a super hero or a beautiful princess to thinking we are fat, ugly, stupid, weak, dumb, scared, poor…When do we start believing and speaking lies about ourselves?

Do you know what?  We were created to be none of those lies listed above. Each one of us, was created in the image and likeness of God. {†Genesis 1:26-27} Those self defeating and negative affirmations are something learned…not earned or born with.

So where do we learn this junk? You can figure that one out yourself…stop–look–listen…music, magazines, media, society at large.  But why?  Why do we pick these negative affirmations up and carry them? Why do they become a part of us?

Let me ask another question…How effective can be, to achieve the life we want to live, if we wake up already defeated? We will not enjoy mothering if we think we are a bad mother. We will not enjoy marriage if we think we married a bad husband. We will not cook a nice meal if we think we are a bad cook.  And so our life just becomes this vacuum of negative affirmations, poor self image and ineffective living.

We were made to thrive!  So let’s get to it.

Let’s talk about where and how we can unlearn and repair the damage these negative affirmations have caused. Let’s get on with some joyful living. Let’s be effective wives, mothers, teachers and ditch the dark cloud monkey on our back we carry around like a dear old friend.

You know the saying we have to “fight fire with fire?” Same principle. Negative affirmations are defeated and kicked to the proverbial curb by positive affirmations. Let’s practice…

Negative: I’m no good at…

Positive: I am so thankful I have the ability to learn new things. I may not have it done perfectly yet, but I will get there. Practice makes progress.

Negative: I’m fat…

Positive: My body is an amazing creation. I may not be happy with how it looks right now, but that does not change how awesome it is. My brain, heart and lungs all work together to keep me alive without me ever giving a second thought to it. If I don’t like something, I’m alive and can change it, and I want to change it.  I want to be the best me!

Negative: I’m stupid…

Positive: My mind is the most intricate of all creation. More powerful than any computer and smarter than any “smart phone.” In it originates my thoughts and feeling. I have the ability to change what I say about myself and I refuse to speak negative words about myself anymore!

Those example are the drawn out version of positive affirmations. But you know what, let’s skip the convincing. Sometimes convincing ourselves or others is just engaging in hand to hand combat. We don’t have to convince or justify…we just need to start speaking the truth to ourselves.

Do you know one of the best places to find the truth?  The scriptures.  If you do not have the time, place or resources to join a Bible study, create your own online Bible study.  Surround yourself with the truth.  Find it in books, online, outside in nature.

When we start ignoring and blocking the negative influences, we have to fill that void with something; we have to fill that void with positive affirmations…with the truth.  Search out the scriptures search out the truths  that tell you who you are in Christ; that fill you with the good, true and beautiful.

Let me give you an example I learned from The 4:8 Principle: The Secret to a Joy-Filled Life.  A few years ago , when I was struggling with my own negative self talk, I began to bless my children before bed each night with these words taken from the book; “You are a beautiful, wonderful, child of God and dad and mom love you, always and forever, no matter what.” Lovely huh?

Do you need those words? Absolutely! Start saying them to yourself every morning. Look yourself in the mirror and repeat…”I am a beautiful, wonderful, child of God and He loves me, always and forever, no matter what.”

Now that is a positive affirmation to start your day with! Go out in love and power. Be an effective…whatever it is you are.

**Positively Perfect timing.  Go read Tommy Newberry’s latest Blog Post–The Addiction of Negativity.  Here’s a quote from Tommy, “To stay positive, you need positive thoughts, positive people and positive exposures of every kind.”  I think he should put me on the payroll or send me out on the speaking loop what about you?  And here’s a link to his bestseller, The 4:8 Principle: The Secret to a Joy-Filled Life.