Get Over Yourself & Grow

I believe that the Lord is ready to raise His daughters up, but He needs us to move past our past, get over ourselves, and stop making excuses.  This was a serious process for me, but over the past few years the Lord has tremendously moved by His power in my life, and I've healed, been delivered and grown in ways I thought unimaginable for myself. After so many year of being a prisoner of bondage to depression, sin, low self-esteem (And the list goes on!), at the close of 2009, I declared that I would not continue on another year with life as I knew it and made a conscious decision to relentlessly work towards becoming the woman God created me to be.  

Because of what I have seen the Lord do for me personally, I am fully convinced that it does not matter how low you sink, how dark your past, or how great your sin, God will clean you up, and use you for His glory.  If He could do that for me, I know He’ll do it for you.

So where do you start?  I’m glad you asked. This is exactly what I had to do...

1. Move past your past.  Your past is only a prelude to the story of your life.  If you allow yourself to get stuck there, you will never find out how the remainder of the story unfolds.  What happened yesterday does not define who you can be tomorrow, so as much as it may hurt or as shameful as you may feel, there is life beyond it.  It is absolutely impossible to walk forward and look backwards at the same time.  In the Message Bible, Isaiah 43:18 says “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history…I’m about to do something brand new.”  Break free from the chains of your past through the power of Jesus Christ, and allow the Lord to do something new in your life.

2. Get over yourself.  Now before you roll your eyes at me for telling you to get over yourself, hear me out. This was a hard one for me, because I often felt like nobody had it worse than me.  You know, the whole woe is me attitude.  I had it bad.  But you know what?  Life happens to everyone; not just you.  God hasn’t singled you out to be picked on by the happenings of life.  You’re not the only one who was molested.  You’re not the only one who never had a father or mother.  You’re not the only one who had a baby out of wedlock.  You’re not the only one struggling with addictions.  It’s not just about you.  Realizing this helps you to turn down the invitation to that pity party you keep getting invited to.  At least it did for me.  Once you understand that the things that happen in your life are not designed as a personal attack against you, but are purposed to build and develop you, I think you’ll learn to stop feeling sorry for yourself.  Self-pity will begin to cease, and progression towards moving forward can begin.

3. Stop making excuses.  It’s as simple as that!  The enemy will always give you reasons why you can’t move forward in life.  He definitely gave me plenty.  But at some point, you have to stop believing what he says about you, and believe what God says.  I want you to erase the following phrases from your mind and vocabulary:

I can’t…
I would but…
It’s just not meant for me…
This is just who I am…

Those are all excuses.  Replace them with positive affirmations.

I can…
I will…
There’s more for me…
I don’t have to stay this way…

You can do ALL things through Christ who gives you strength. (Philippians 4:13)  In Christ, there are no excuses, because with Him nothing is impossible.

Purpose in your mind that this will be the last year that you allow yourself to be anything less than who God has destined you to be.  Resolve in your heart that you are going to make the first step towards moving forward, make strides towards tapping into and maximizing the potential that God placed within you before the foundation of the world, and commit to the process.

May you be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may rise higher in life and in the Lord.

From my heart to yours...
xoxo