Need a boost?

There's this word in our language. It encompasses a lot. It takes a lot of it to accomplish anything. We don't even take the time to identify where it comes from on most days. It's just usually there when we need it, and the lack of it is keenly felt when it's in short supply. 

Confidence.

I feel like the thoughts we have about events in our daily life, if not carefully managed, will try to strip us of confidence. It sure doesn't take much to strip me of it. A picture on instagram, a new job, a project that seems too big to tackle, a teenager who talks back, a spouse who finds a fault in you. Things that pile up anxieties that roadblock the confidence needed for good decision making. Normal every day kind of decisions. Have you ever had friends or family see more in you than you can see in yourself? I want to ask, “Why can everyone in the room see more in me than I can see for myself?"

Confidence (for me) comes from the sheer stubbornness of remembering who I am. I remind myself that my identity does not come from my abilities, my talents, my family, my personality, or what I look like. 

It's wholly wrapped up in a God that made me exactly the way I am for exactly the things He wired me to do. 

Moses struggled with this. God asked him to lead the most rowdy, stubborn, unfaithful group of people. The Israelites. The full story is in Exodus chapter 3. They were let go from a life of slavery and asked to follow a guy who stammered a lot, and had no idea how to get where they were going. Moses had to depend daily on God. When I say daily I mean it. He even had to wait on God to provide bread to eat, there was not a lot else out there in the desert wasteland in which he found himself. It was hard, it was scary, and it was physically and mentally demanding. Have you noticed how those things can affect you, how they affect your thoughts, how they try to sway your confidence level?  

When God asked Moses to lead his people, Moses first response came from a lack of confidence. "Who am I to confront and lead?" (Pharaoah and the children of Israel) God responded with, "Do not fear, I'll be with you every step of the way." 

God assured Moses of who he was and where his strength would come from. The strength came from a God who has always known exactly who He is. I AM. God never has an identity crisis. Let's work on this so we don't have to either. Let's work on being rooted to Him like a tree next to a body of water. Staying rooted doesn't have to be complicated. Talk to Him everyday. Look in His Word for encouragement. 

Got 10 fingers? Hold them up. There is a confidence building verse that has a word for each finger. "I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHS ME." (Phil 4:13) Remember who you are and remember from whom your confidence comes. We got this.