Self-compassion

The Power of Self-compassion

“What exactly is self-compassion?”  You may have asked when you clicked on this article link.  Well, self-compassion is a powerful, healing and acceptable thing that few of us really even use.

Self-compassion is quite simply loving and accepting ourselves even despite our flaws…forgiving ourselves even when no-one but God will.

Now maybe at first glance this sounds quite elementary.  “What’s so hard about doing that?  I defend myself all the time…I’m proud of who I am” you might be saying; but let me ask you something.

When you are lying in bed at night, and the whole world has quieted down; when all you can hear is your own breathing as you lay there in the dark, do you wrestle with bombarding thoughts and memories of painful moments you’ve lived through?  Perhaps painful words, times you’ve been hurt…guilt over past situations?

I can’t probably even count how many nights I have encountered that place. 

I was in an unusual and trying relationship with someone for a couple of years.  It was filled with a lot of painful words and moments of doubt.  When he found another, it shredded me.

I lay awake in bed each night over the span of several months, and my mind would torture me with past memories, with all of those memories that I remembered and realized that he never loved me at all.

Strong emotions of being rejected by my first love, the first man to ever show the depth of myself to, washed over my heart and my thoughts, even condemning me of the times that I wasn’t “good enough” to keep have his heart.

It was easy to think that there was something wrong with me, that I wasn’t really the woman I always thought I was.  Thoughts poured over me that I was undeserving of that kind of love, respect, devotion, desire. 

For a long time I felt tossed aside, used up and discarded…worthless and cheap.

I didn’t feel like a virtuous woman worthy of everything I had always dreamed.  The physical evidence left behind from my broken relationship with him seemed to prove I was everything but worthy.

It took mentally, emotionally and spiritually fighting these lies with everything I had in me to regain my peace of mind in my sleep.

I know there are countless men and women out there wrestling with these same lies in the night.  My hope to share with you is that first of all, you are not alone.  It’s a common lie of the dark one to destroy us slowly from the inside out and paralyze us from becoming powerful in Jesus Christ.

Self-compassion is acknowledging that yes, we make mistakes…yes, we hurt people, especially the people we love, but yes, we are still and always will be the beautiful creations of our flawless Creator…and He said a long time ago, even before we took our first breath, before we made our first mistake…”Come to me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Let Jesus words soak into you the next time you lay your head down to sleep; and remember that He has a plan for you…a plan to prosper you and not to harm you…to give you a future and a hope.

So rest your mind, rest your heart, and forgive your wrongs…love yourself for you are made to be loved.

The God who created compassion…forgives you; now let the weights fall…and fly. 

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