Have Confidence in Your Gifts and Blessings
As we enter the second half of the year, many of us made New Years’ resolutions like losing weight, finding a new job, or saving more money. We put our confidence in external things hoping we will do better and feel better. How many of us have faith and confidence in internal things like gifts or talents? How many of us are grateful for what we possess and goals we have achieved? It’s not that I’m against making New Years’ resolutions. It might be time to look at making resolutions from a different perspective.
What if we resolved to finished things we started, instead of looking to external things for achievement? It’s time to think about not starting new things but look at what good habits and behaviors we have can move us forward. You already have everything you need inside to accomplish the goals and life of your dreams. However, it can be fearful in sharing your gifts with the world.
For me, writing can be scary because you are vulnerable to judgment from others. It’s also the thought that my writing has to be as good as the next person to be worth reading. The fear of inadequacy keeps us from sharing our gifts with the world and not letting our stories be told. Do you feel inadequate when your voice trembles, while speaking at a public meeting? Do you fear being laughed at for mispronouncing words at a job interview? We face many challenges as we begin to use our gifts, skills and passions in public. The goal is to plunge into the pool of our skills with our fears and challenges.
The goal to being confident in our gifts and blessings is internal validation. Internal validation is realizing that we have what it takes to accomplish our goals through our gifts and skills. Unlike external validation, where you wait for approval to do something, internal validation is to accept one’s self and beliefs. Once you have internal validation, you have the courage to face judgment, criticism, and opposition. As you face those brick walls, it builds character, hope, patience, and inner strength to find the right path to use our gifts and blessings.
Many of us do not accomplish our goals, due to lack of approval from others, especially family and friends. Some of us are waiting for permission from our parents, spouses, or besties, to do what God has put in your heart. While we wait for external validation, we are denying ourselves the chance to show how special we are as individuals. According to Webster’s Dictionary, special means particular, beyond the usual, distinct, intimate, designed for a particular thing or person. Through internal validation, we accept what makes us special and unique, giving us the confidence to use our gifts and blessings to make ourselves better, helping others, resulting in a better world.