PRAYER: Lord help us to accept ourselves for who we are and for all that you have created and called us to be. Help us to regain and reclaim our confidence back in you and others. Teach us how to be a reflection of Christ.
VERSE OF THE DAY: Song of Solomon 4:7
Insecurity is not a subject that many people talk about. Truth is we all walk around with some levels of insecurity in different areas of our lives. Whether it is from the way we look or from the way we perceive that someone else looks at us, the insecurity still lies within. God doesn’t desire for you to be insecure in who you are. He desires for you to be confident in your appearance. He wants you to understand that everything about you was designed for His glory and for His purpose. We have been trained to want to be someone we are not. Some may disagree, but how many people desire to look like or be like a celebrity? How many of us desire to wear the hottest trend and the latest fashion? How many of us want to articulate and be as wise or as smart as someone we know?
The problem with all of this is not that you admire or have interest in others, the problem is that you may take away having interests within yourself. Some people can’t stand to be alone but always desire to be around others. I am not saying that being with someone is a bad thing. I’m saying that at some point you must regain and reclaim balance. At some point you have to spend time with yourself and get to know yourself before you can introduce yourself to someone else. We often times fail at not pouring into ourselves at our own pace. We like to keep up with the Jones’ and we never manage to keep up with ourselves; or we do so good at keeping up with ourselves that we fail to build our confidence with our internal self. So I encourage you today to think about the things that you are insecure about. What I personally have noticed is that usually what I am insecure about others are dying to have. So be careful about being so critical of yourself. 
Accept that you are fearfully and wonderfully made by God. Now don’t get me wrong, just because God hand crafted you in your mother’s womb does not give you permission to not take care of yourself and keep yourself up. Bathe, comb and brush your hair, wear the proper fitted clothing, buy new clothes and shoes to replace the ones that have holes in them, wear your heels (get wedges or cute low flats…there is no excuses…find what works nice for you!), brush your teeth and use mouth wash (less caffeine and more water), don’t over do it with the cologne and perfume, lotion yourself down and get rid of that dry, ashy skin. All are parts of hygiene and don’t hesitate to “paint your face” (make-up) PROPERLY or get those lips with that lip gloss or chap stick. Sometimes just doing these little things which should come automatically will make you feel so much better about yourself. Do whatever works well for you. Don’t try so hard to be like someone you are not. Accept that you are who God has created you to be and that is absolutely okay. No more saying that you are not going anywhere or that you are not going to see anyone for the day. Still take the time to look nice. It helps you mentally.
One of the things that I will point out to you though is that you should not always throw in the “no one likes me” card concerning acceptance. Allow me to explain. For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1). This means that if you are trying to apply for a job interview or you are trying to go for a competitive position please do not say that you didn’t get the position on account of “no one likes me”. Chances are it doesn’t matter if anyone likes you or not especially if you have the qualification and the skills, but if you don’t look the part then you simply don’t look the part. You cannot look like you rolled out of bed in the morning, with shaggy or dusty looking hair (includes unclean edge up), or clothing and think that someone is going to pick you for the position and take you seriously. Someone else may have come along and looks well put together and able to reflect the companies name well. You are a reflection of Christ, so your appearance does matter depending on the circumstances.
You cannot look like five miles of bad road and expect things to just be handed over to you. That is not how it works and if you are not careful in presenting yourself appropriately then you may walk away feeling insecure or not valuable. It’s not that you are not valuable or worth it, you just never made your audience believe that you were. So work at it, try something different and new, and laugh at it all if it just doesn’t seem to turn out exactly how you planned for it to. Wear your hair nice and neat, wear your clothes free from lent and holes, articulate your words properly, and always be kindhearted to others even if they are not so nice to you. Your smile and your gentle words may help someone get through a really tough situation or day. Learn to love yourself again and learn to embrace who you are. You are beautiful/handsome in every way possible. I hope that this has some how blessed each of you and encourages you to work a little harder on yourself for you. You matter and you should be able to feel confident in the person who God has created you to be. Let’s get there one day and one step at a time.
Epiphany Encounter 