Happy Monday, friends! What do you think about this concept: instead of worrying so much about pleasing everyone around us and proving our worth to others, why don’t we use that energy to work on ourselves?

And I’ll follow that up with a second question: how is your worth defined? In today’s society we spend so much time searching for validation from others. We are focused on others opinions and what we can use to prove that we are liked whether that the number of followers we have, the likes on a post, our impression rate, etc. But what are we doing to prove our worth to and encourage ourselves?

Our pastor touched on this in a recent sermon at our church, and it has really stuck with me. The passage he spoke out of was 1 Samuel 30:1-26. These verses pick up when David and his men has just returned to an area known as Ziklag to find that their wives and children had been taken and the rest of the area destroyed.

All of them were so upset over what had happen that they “wept aloud until they had strength left to weep.” (Vs. 4) And David was very worried because all the men blamed him and were talking about stoning him because of what had happened.

No one was there to encourage David, no one was on his side and this great leader found himself not knowing what to do or where to turn… “…But David found strength in the Lord his God.” (Vs. 6) And when David stopped to ask God what he should do, he was told to pursue the people who had taken everything. So, he did and he was successful!

At that point, David had no followers… he was getting no “likes” whatsoever… and the “comments” people were “posting” were definitely not what he wanted to hear, but he knew where his true strength and power came from. David was able to stop and listen to what God wanted him to do and was then able to react boldly and confidently.

But one of the key points in this is that he was self-motivated to find those answers. As humans, we often struggle to find our focus, we lack self-motivation, and it’s hard (sometimes really hard) for us to take any type of criticism. How do we fix that?

By knowing where our focus should be. By knowing the reason behind our actions, our dreams, our desires. By having the courage to pick ourselves up and trust in where we are being led. And by being able to understand our weaknesses and having a willingness to overcome.

Wanting to prove yourself to someone else is not a bad thing, but to truly be able to do that, it’s important to prove yourself to yourself. If you can dream it and you believe it, you can achieve it.

Be bold, be focused, remember where your strength comes from and go for it. Know that you are worth it. I believe in you!

Have a great week, friends!

Motivation