Heart Shift and Motherhood: Finding God's Extra in the Ordinaryনমুনা

Affirmation

Throughout my life, I have thrived on evaluation and feedback. Report cards at school, performance appraisals at work, emails, or text messages from family and friends all feed my soul. Positive feedback builds me up and gives me confidence. However, negative feedback has the opposite effect, causing crippling self-doubt and sometimes wounding me deeply. If you are familiar with The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman, you will correctly identify that my primary love language is Words of Affirmation. That’s okay since God made me that way. It’s not okay if it is the only way I build self-esteem or if I only receive validation through others.

You would think social media would be a great thing for me as someone who loves to write and certainly has things to say. However, several years ago I had a strong impression that my social media accounts were not bringing out the best in me. When I posted something, I felt compelled to watch for comments or "likes" and my emotions soared or crashed in response. Social media had become a mechanism for me to seek affirmation, and I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to put some strict parameters around its use.

Initially, these boundaries felt very limiting. Once I was weaned off, though, I realized how incredibly liberated my time and mental space had become, creating a vacuum that allowed God to fill me up with more of Him.

The distance from social media has given me time and mental space to learn more about God and a lot about myself. I have been forced to face my insecurities that have sought affirmation from others rather than from Him. I am being changed from the inside out to believe I am a beloved child of the Most High God who needs no other approval, but His.

Reflect:

Where do you turn for affirmation? Are you seeking affirmation from God or elsewhere?

Let's Pray:

Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your son Jesus to die on the cross so that I could become your child and find my identity in You. Thank you for choosing me and loving me just as I am. Holy Spirit, speak to my heart in the just the way You know I need to hear and feel your affirmation.