Silencing Insecurity Devotional By Donna GibbsНамуна

Day One: Identity Thieves

Scripture: 1 John 3:20

If you have ever struggled with thoughts such as, If only I were smarter, younger, prettier, or, I feel inadequate and worthless, then you have been the target of identity theft. The identity theft I am talking about is the theft of our purpose, our joy, our stability, and our very being. 

You are not alone. Women at every stage and circumstance in life can be its victims, often feeling just as conflicted as they did in adolescence. Many of us look to various people or things to affirm our value. These can be positive, such as our appearance or our success, our background or our life experiences, our relationships or our church involvement. Sometimes the things that influence our perceived value are not good things and instead are painful experiences of rejection or even previous trauma. 

When our sense of self, our perceived worth, is overly attached or perhaps dependent on these external things, they can become thieves that steal from us, robbing us of joy and contentment. The things that influence how we feel are in and of themselves not problematic. Being pretty or successful, for instance, are not problems unless our security depends too much on our appearance or performance. 

If you are beginning this devotional because you struggle with insecurities, I want to give you a word of hope. You don’t have to live the rest of your life feeling that you don’t measure up. You don’t have to settle for living as if you aren’t enough. You don’t have to settle for living with the emotional instability that results from insecurities. You don’t have to settle for the relational chaos, indecisiveness, and unnecessary suffering invited by an inaccurate belief system regarding yourself. It’s time to stop the theft of your identity and gain stability through rescuing the significance of the person you were created to be. 

Thankfully, God always provides a way out. And we’re going to discover the path out of insecurity that will help us connect the destructive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that are keeping us stuck in a pit of insecurity. 

How have you overly identified yourself with your successes? How have you overly identified yourself with your failures? What emotions do you experience related to your successes and failures?