The OATH
My enemy has been telling me lies about myself for just about as long as I can remember. And I’ve been repeating them… because I believed them. Lies about my intelligence, my abilities, my looks, my body, and on and on. I won’t write any of them here, and I will try my level best to never, ever give voice (or thought) to any of them again. “As a woman thinketh..”
On 6/25/2012, I happened upon Diedra Riggs of Jumping Tandem through an online community I had just become a member of called, The High Calling.
I am convinced that God orders all of my steps, even the small and seemingly insignificant ones, so I believe I was led on to Jumping Tandem because I have been plagued by negative self talk since forever. In March 2011, I wrote What God Said, where I addressed this issue.
But, you know what I’ve come to realize? Awareness of a problem doesn’t make it go away. We have to take a stand and do something. Diedra’s post encouraged me to take a proactive approach to silencing the negativity swirling around inside my head by taking an OATH for me.
The OATH means using: Only Adjectives That Heal/Help.
Diedra wrote:
Won’t you join me in the OATH? For the next twenty-one days, make a commitment not to let yourself speak badly about yourself. Only good self-talk allowed. Keep these thoughts in mind: 1. If you’ve been engaged in negative self talk for awhile, if it’s become your habit, it might be hard to just stop cold turkey….(to read her entire post go here, or click on the badge)
I know 21 days forms a habit and 21 days can break a habit, so I wrote affirmations to speak to the negative thoughts.
They still come periodically, but the difference is: I no longer believe them.
I believe:
- I was created with love and attention to detail.
- God designed me with me in mind.
- He wanted me to look the way I look, think the way I think, act the way I act and be the me that I am.
- God loves me and He thinks I am beautiful.