After reading your comments and emails last week week, I’m so encouraged by how God interrupted what I was doing and prompted me to check on you. That prompting led me to invite you on an unplanned journey through my 7-day Doubt Diet. Over 4000 of you signed up, and hundreds of you shared how much you needed this, at such a time as this.
Friend, God hears your prayers. He knows your needs and He is pursuing you with His love. I’m so honored that I get to be a part of what He is doing in your life. I want us to give ourselves time to let God speak to us as we apply these devotions in our lives. So, I’ve decided to stretch the 7 days over 2 weeks, with a post every other day on weekdays only, after today. Day 2 will be posted on Tuesday, Day 3 on Thursday and then day 4 next Monday, and so on.
Each day we’ll have a key verse called “Food for Thought” and a “Doubt Diet Tip” to help us apply that day’s message. I’m praying for you, friend, and I want us all to pray for each other. Let’s pray that no matter how hard life is or how much doubt tries to weigh us down – we will ask God to help us know and rely on His love and live in the security of His promises – so we can lose the weight of self-doubt and gain a confident heart!
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Day 1: Don’t Throw Away Your Confidence
Taken in part from Chapter 1 and 6
© 2011 by Renee Swope with Revell Publishing.
Food for thought: So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. Hebrews 10:35-36, (NIV)
One night I was cleaning the kitchen and threw away this little rubber thingy that was on our counter top. Suddenly I realized it was the power button for our TV remote control. As I dug through the trash to find it, I regretted how quickly I’d thrown it away. Then, as I reached to pull it out, I sensed God showing me that’s how easily I throw away my confidence—without even recognizing it.
It’s usually very subtle. Sometimes I’ll be thinking about something I want to do or sense God calling me to, and a feeling of uncertainty comes over me and whispers to my heart: You can’t do that. You’re not good enough. Out of the blue, I’ll just get that awful, insecure feeling.
Too many times I’ve gone along with it, tossing my confidence into the trash without even thinking about it.
For the longest time, I didn’t tell anyone about my lack of confidence because I figured if I told them all the reasons I doubted myself, they’d see my flaws and agree with me. Honestly, I was convinced I was the only one who struggled with doubt.
However, I didn’t call it doubt. Maybe you don’t either. Sometimes I called it worry—worry that I was going to disappoint someone, worry that I might make a mistake and get criticized for it, worry that I might start something but not be able to finish.
Other times I’d call it fear—fear that I wouldn’t measure up, fear that I’d look stupid, fear that I’d look prideful thinking I could do something special for God. What I’ve realized over the past several years is that these feelings may end up as fear or worry, but their source is self-doubt.
Looking back, I see a pattern in my thinking that led to the pattern of my doubting.
As a child I thought I wasn’t worth keeping. My insecurity kept me from riding amusement park rides, because I doubted my dad would wait for me. In school, I doubted I was smart enough and avoided some great opportunities because they came with the risk of failure. As a young bride, I doubted my husband’s faithfulness, although he gave me no reason to fear. Our newlywed memories include a lot of arguments about trust.
What about you? Do you ever agree with the whispers of doubt and throw away confidence that should be yours as a child of God? Are you tired of questioning whether you have what it takes to become the woman you want to be, or the woman God is calling you to be?
The first step to living with a confident heart is for us to recognize the power we give to self-doubt, then stand up to it and claim the confidence that is ours through Christ. That is what we’ll be doing for the next seven days as we learn to live in the security of God’s promises in our everyday lives.
To get started, let’s ask God to show us when we throw away our confidence this week, and help us throw off the weight of our insecurities instead.
Lord, I want to become a woman with a confident heart in Christ. Show me how to recognize when I’m tempted to throw away my confidence. And please help me throw away my insecurity instead. I want the reward of persevering in Your truth so that when I have done Your will, I will receive what You have promised. I don’t want to be a woman who shrinks back and is destroyed but one who believes and is saved. When doubt or insecurity tells me I can’t do something, I will remember that all things are possible to her who believes. In Jesus’ name, Amen. (See Hebrews 10:35–36, 39; Mark 9:23)
Doubt Diet Tip: When you start a diet or physical training plan, experts recommend you take a Body Mass Index analysis to determine if you are overweight, underweight, or in a healthy weight range. As we get started, our first assignment is to complete the FREE “Doubt Index Analysis” I created to help identify your most common doubts, see how they affect you and determine just how much self-doubt could be weighing you down by.
Let’s Talk: I want this to be a journey we take TOGETHER, where we talk to each other, encourage and pray for one another and talk about what God is showing us. To do that, please click here to go back to my website (if you’re reading this via email) and then click on “Share Your Thoughts” below this Day 1 post.
That’s where we’ll share our hearts, our stories, our struggles (so others can know they’re not alone and so we can pray for each other) and read others stories too. I believe that is where real community and encouragement will come – and Jesus will meet us there and minister to us through one another!
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I haven’t had the courage to share this… but my prayer is that throught this I will begin to live again. about 3 years ago i discovered that my husband of 25 years was adicted to porn, and had a huge lust issue. (Now keep in mind that I had NO idea what-so ever. I thought we had the “perfect marriage” – all happy and good. We attended church EVERY week, did mission work together, lead a Bible study at our home, sang with the praise team at our chutrch…. very involved) Now I become a withered balloon inside when ever I see a decent girl/woman. – I know that I am a princess of my Lord, and I KNOW that He loves me – but, I just can’t seem to get over this mountain. I have short bouts of semi-confidense, only to slip back into this dark pit of “sadness”. After the first year he said he didn’t do it anymore… Then I discovered he was still looking at porn on his cell phone. After that, we went to councelling, and now he says he is totally good, and I just need to trust him. I do love him – maybe too much… This is the super condensed version. I am just hoping to get my joy back. I need this study, so thank you in advance.
Oh heavy hearted I am so sorry.. Sweet friend, I am so deeply sorry for your pain. There is nothing that can shake our core than to be blind-sided by adultery – whether physical or visual – when we thought our life and our marriage was something else. I”m sure you may feel like you’ve been living a lie – and all that you thought was – wasn’t. I’m praying right now that God would bind up your wounds with His tender love. I’m praying you will find resources to help your heart heal from the betrayal and to know this is not your fault or a reflection of your worth or beauty. My husband and I have walked through some of this in our own marriage and it helped me so much to read books to understand the why behind a man’s atttraction to port and what leads to their addictions. Even if you were perfect, it wouldn’t matter. This is his issue and his sin and it’s not your fault. It doesn’t make the trust stronger, but hopefully it will help the pain ease each time you see a beautiful woman or are tempted to find flaws in your own beauty,. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are GOD’s work of are – complete, loved, chosen and cherished!! I’m praying for you friend. I promise to keep praying.
I have gone through the fire and lost not only confidence with myself, but with God also. I can’t even pray or read my bible. I feel like what is the use in picking myself back up and trying because as soon as I do I will get knocked back down again!! I am trying this 7-day doubt diet as my last resort to help me believe in myself and God again.
Wow!! This DD has perfect timing. I have doubt running through my body like blood. I’m co-chairing a golf tournament and 2 mornings this week I have to be on TV to promote my event. I have tried to come up with every excuse and/or reason to ask someone else to be on TV because I just know that I will not do a good job. I’m not sure why God feels like I need to be on TV 🙂 but I can promise you I will be doing some major praying that He will give me the strength and courage to get through these TV interviews without making a complete fool of myself.
This email is very timely. I got up this morning praying for some people that are going through some very hard times and so I sent them an email telling them that we thank God for the good things, so we also need to thank him for the troubles (thorns) in our life. i also have devotion at an Assisted Living 3 days a week, so when I went for devotion I talked about God is in Control. When I left my meeting I went to pay a water bill and my car would not start again.
I am praising God through the Storm because I know this is a trick of the enemy. God is still in Control. All we have to do is Praise our way through the storm. No matter what comes or goes, God is still in control. There is nothing we can do if we are worrying. The Bible tells us that God inhabits Praises of his people. When we praise, then the blessing come down. .
This is right on time for me I just ask God to remove something out of my life and doubt and worry is one of them I want to rely on my heavenly father for everything and do want he want. I love this site and the devotional.
Thank you Renee for writing these. I have always struggled with low self-esteem, but after a series of trials within the period of a year, I listened too much to the enemy. Now I struggle to even have the confidence to drive, afraid I’ll do something wrong. With much prayer and study, God is gaining ground, but it’s incremental. How I need these reminders that God will help me to overcome and live in freedom again.
I am so EXCITED to do the Doubt Diet. I am also doing the Confident Heart bible study with Melissa. Which I am loving! I am VERY GRATEFUL for each of you Proverbs 31 Woman. I have learned a lot through many things you all have done and shared. I praying for each of you that are doing the Doubt Diet with Renee. I know our Awesome God has great plans for each of us. May each of you have a blessed day. With Love and Prayers, Shawnia. Phil.4:13
DOUBT…. a major part of my life. Where do I begin? I want so much to overcome this, right when i think i’m coming up out of it, i’m knocked back down. I’m really struggling in my marriage right now, my financial situation is stressfull. All I hear is how I’m not a good mom or wife and as much as I don’t want to hear that, those are the words that I hear loudly in my mind. I want to be confident woman in Christ but right now I feel defeated. I thank God because he always sends what we need right when we need it.
I wept when i read the message today. sweet water to a thirsty lass. I am in a long dark season of life. Distresses on every side and no end insight.I the blow that knocked me off my feet came at 2:30 Saturday morning when my oldest son woke me to tell that youngest, also a son, was beaten up badly and needed to be looked at. Well it was bad and led the restof the night being spent in the ER. He now has a facial fracture and bottom lip so big it split and needed six stitches. My momma’s heart is worn to a frazzle. My faith is not shaken, this event has reached my heart at last! I should be weeping and praying in earnest for my lost and unwise child whose choices in the company he he keeps that led to his ordeal. It bent my knees and got me praying as I ought to have been all along. I sad to say I prayed for a while and then I moved on, I not keep at it as the word tells us to.
In my remorse and lowness od spirits your words indeed did lift me up set on a new path. I will cling to my confidencein Christ and not shrink away though i may not take full grasp of the reigns of praying ceaselessly for my youngins’ i am all over that now. With GOD NOTHING is IMPOSSIBLE! I am sure of that.
We see the ENT this afternoon to find if he will need surgery. His name is Jared, he is 18 and my baby. This momma lion has a fierce emotion welling up her chest when types this note about her young cub”s struggles, he has rejected my faith as well, says he can it work for me but its not for him. I do have my work cut out for me. thanks for listening. Sherry
Sherry I am praying for you and your son. May God give you peace and comfort. Phil.4:13
Wow, it is great to know that others are struggling with fear/doubt and are not ashamed to share. So, even this woman of God, struggling since 2001 with the call of ministry continues to struggle in seminary; wondering if I am truly supposed to be there or did I make the “decision” on my own. Praying, through the weeks with all participating in this challenge, I will become more confident in God’s call. So tired of the struggle.
So much has happened in my life in the past two and a half years; things that I never thgought could happen to me. I have been going down a spiral of deep depression and for the past two years it has been the hardest challenge I have ever faced. Accepting God’s love beyond any doubt has been an issue I have wrestle since I became a Christian 24 years ago; never feeling worthy enough, or good enough and as I started to read your entry and came accross your comment about looking back to see what had led you to the pattern of your doubting, I realize that mine had started in my childhood.I know now that I am part of something much bigger and amazing and that I need to trust my God that I need to look back and also realize all the times that HE has been there holding me in HIS hands.
Thank you for your inspiration to do this study.
I am so thankful for this. My doubt index is high and I need to work and pray about this everyday. I am so glad/happy to share this journey with others and knowing that I am not alone in this makes it a little easier for me to try and fix this.
Thank you again for all that you are doing for us ladies.
Taking the test made me realize how much doubt is in my life and the impact it is having in all areas of my life.
i am priviledged to share in this journey with all of you precious women…….Holy Spirit fill us to overflowing with wisdom, insight, and revelation as we embark on this kingdom stealer of self doubt which i believe is a lack of faith and trust in You. forgive me Father and help all of us who are participating in this study to glean the Greatness of You……through the precious blood of the Lamb who gives us power In Jesus name….love and peace to each one of you and thankyou renee. susan michael
This is a great reminder to trust my God. I’m needing a job so could you all be praying for that? How wonderful to know so many Jesus women are lifting each other’s need before his throne!! I will be praying for the other requests also. I have to say though, this is a bit overwhelming trying to read all these!! Anyone else feel that way?
Renee,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us and taking us on a journey with you and God. It now appears that many of us suffer from self doubt and have the same thoughts as you have had. When I read your first entry, I laughed because I too have had the same thoughts about myself.
Thanks again for this learning opportunity and to grow with God.
Cheryl
I guess I really needed this. I took the analysis and failed miserably! Every answer was Always!! I didn’t realize how much my insecurity and fear are controlling my life. I feel so overwhelmed I don’t know where to start. I’ll be praying that God shows me.
This is just what I need right now-a reminder that God is in control and will walk me through every insecurity. It is so funny that I feel insecure about traveling out of town to babysit my 3 and 6 yr. old grandchildren for 2 weeks while their parents travel overseas. My goodness I raised their Mommy and another sibling and they both turned out just fine. I just keep having thoughts of, do i have the energy, will I be afraid to be there without my husband, what if there is an accident…I need to rest in God and His promise to never leave me or forsake me. I want to pour into these children and impact them for Christ; I can only do it through Him.
Gosh our enemy is lurking!! There are some serious financial burdens coming down on us right now and wake up to my daughter complaining that she does not have enough. Enough cloths, shoes, etc..(she does have plenty but getting caught in the comparison trap). One more time I’m hooked..
I feel like I’m on a constant roller coaster of doubt, hope begins to rise only to be slammed by one more notice. I have a tendency to be paralyzed by fear. Allowing things to slide further and further behind.
Starting a job next week and fearing that it will be too much and schedules will be too tough. Need prayer.
Wow, thanks Renee for sharing this study! I have been through a divorce recently. I also believe God has called me into a women’s ministry at my church. I feel so inadequate! Who is going to want to listen to a divorced lady??? But, I still feel His tugging on me. A special friend in my Sunday school class told me recently that I need to stop thinking that way – that maybe God is going to use what I have been through to help other women. I work 2 jobs and have very little time to devote. I have a wonderful Pastor’s wife who has been so encouraging and supportive. I want to move forward in God’s will for this in my life. I sure need some confidence! and your prayers!