The voice of insecurity

As I mentioned a couple days ago, there was a significant part of my life when I was hampered by insecurity. Insecurity is such a destructive force. In most cases, it is created brick upon brick by words others heap on us.

I grew up already feeling as if I were inferior to my peers. I have a skin disorder known as Vitiligo. You have probably seen it at some point, even if you don't realize it. It's painless. It's not a disease. It simply is where the pigment in skin is dead in some areas. On a person, such as myself, who is naturally darker...it is a very obvious condition when my natural skin tone is juxtaposed by very white patches. It was very prominent on my hands as I grew up, so I spent a lot of time with my hands in my pockets. I felt everyone was staring at me. It was not uncommon for kids to come to me and ask, "what happened to your hands? Were you burned?"

Another brick.

After years and years of feeling inferior, the wall I had built had evolved into a prison of my own making. I had little self confidence. Even in areas where I excelled, I couldn't allow myself to accept compliments.

So many of us are bound by unpleasant experiences from our past. Many of us were influenced by negative, even downright mean people. Their voices ring in our heads and hearts. Their words echo.

I don't know about you, but I have found that those who pound me with negativity are loaded with their own insecurities. They feel they are creating a greater margin of perceived superiority by knocking me down, rung by rung. In reality, they are exposing their own weakness.

I have found personal victory over my insecurities by not living or dying by the perceptions of others. I took an honest and deep look within myself. I asked God to show me His view of me. With that, I gained a perspective I had never seen before. I took to heart what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:18, that the Lord's approval is all I need.

Since that time, I have found tremendous fulfillment in my personal relationships. I have allowed myself to be...well, myself. I am who God created me to be. While I'm far from perfect, I am a work in progress. His masterpiece. The same is true for you.

We are all products of our environments. If you were, or are part of a negative element, you will find a transformation waiting for you when you cut away from the negative and immerse yourself in God's truth.

⁴ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

~2 Corinthians 10:4-5

It's time to put an end to the destructive pattern and power of insecurity. Instead of you living in a prison of insecurity and negativity, it's time to put those thoughts, those experiences and those words into captivity, and you walk in freedom!