During one of my early years as a believer, I prayed only for
my own emotional healing. I especially asked for self-esteem. I prayed for a
year, every day. I didn’t pray for anyone else. I knew I didn’t feel very good
about myself. I knew God needed to do a deep work in me before I could be
useful to others. As a result, God firmed up my sense of being lovable and
capable—the core components of self-esteem. I continued to pray for healing for
the next ten years. But the year I prayed only for myself built the foundation.
When I mention praying for myself, people often say, “Isn’t
that selfish?” On the foundation of that first year of focused, “selfish,” prayer,
God built a twenty-year ministry as a psychotherapist. A few lives were saved
and many were changed in that ministry. All because I invested that year in
beseeching God to build my crumbling emotional and spiritual foundations. And,
now, as a writer and speaker, I expect God to continue to build on that
foundation, to the blessing of many more.
It is not selfish to invest time in building our own lives
so we can then turn and help others build theirs. Many of us can, or must, do that
simultaneously. But some of us need, and can take, a season, however long, for our own reconstruction. The goal is always other-focused; the process,
however, may require long rest stops. It is not foolish to spend a few years in
recovery for many years of ministry.
Jesus, Help us take the time we need to heal. Not selfishly, but with an eye to future ministry.
Hi Karen,
You are writing a compelling article on introspection and self-evaluation that stirred a response in my soul. God desires we come to Him in His word to learn the guidelines for daily living and encouraging others. You have ably taken those guidelines and applied them to your life and ministry to help others. Be encouraged to know that you are an encouragement to others and through your testimony there are many you will never even know who have their lives saved for eternity and their healing completed through Christ himself. You are sharing the good news in a tangible way, addressing the issues of self-worth and future-worth, which will cause many to look to the cross and the finished work of Jesus Christ. All of our souls are imprinted with the past of our lives and our spirits are to be filled with the knowledge of Him to be encouragers so we can mirror Christ to others. Bless you, sister.
Celeste
Thank you for this article. I am currently in a size 14/16 and started at 300 and God has done a major work in my life since Sept 2006 and is continuing. I praise Him! For me, I had to acknowledge why I wanted to lose weight. I wanted to be able to praise God with dancing if the Holy Spirit lead me to dance before the Lord. Before, I used food to pacify myself and now I use it as fuel for my praise. I am able to have sweets for now, but as you are further along than I am, pray agreeing that I will keep up what God has begun, knowing that He that began a good work is faithful to complete it (Phil 1:6). I am going through and acknowledging my need for Him in every area of my life. Whatever I have to fight I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that the devil is defeated, he has no power over me, and I am slam the door in his face AND take back everything he stole from me! Jesus is worthy, His word I want more than my necessary food (Job 23:12)and He reveals to me what is necessary. The joy of the Lord is our strength (Neh 8:10) and thank you for your courage.