I am writing about our numerous states or frames of mind. In this book I am taking scriptures on different emotions and adding my own personal examples as to how the scriptures help replace negative thoughts with positive words. I also include many positive and uplifting scriptures that help to bring a smile to my face and heart. These also help to increase my hope-filled heart!
Imagine a life lived with a deeper sense of meaning. Imagine a heart filled with hopeful expectancy. Imagine a closer, more loving relationship with God. This is the premise of I Am Worthy!
When I was fighting cancer, I realized that I was relying on alcohol to try and alleviate my anxiety over the fear of the cancer returning. Eventually I realized that the 1 or 2 or… glasses of wine was actually making my anxiety worse. In this book, I will share my journey and how my relationship with God helped me come through this journey and I’m truly living my best life now!
CHANGE YOUR FRAME
HOPE
Lord, you are my shield, my glory and my only hope.” Psalm 3:3
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Emily Dickinson wrote a poem of hope:
“Hope is the thing with feathers.
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all…
Hope is a feeling of trust, an optimistic attitude for positive outcomes to happen in our lives. Trusting in God to take care of us and provide for our needs.
“Seek first his kingdom, and all these things will be given to us.” Matthew 6:33)
My favorite scripture is a promise from God, a promise I claim often.
“For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
I read this often which reminds me of where I should be placing my trust and hope to live my best life!
FAITH
Anything is possible if you have faith! Mark 9:23
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Jesus was telling his disciples that anything is possible; because nothing is too difficult for God! We can have everything we need (provisions), through belief, prayer, faith and hope.
Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things (provisions) will be given to you.” Matthew 6:33
God is a loving Father and wants only the best for his children. We will have trials and tribulations in life. It is when we draw nearer to God that our relationship with Him will become stronger as you develop a closer relationship with Him. This increases our faith and trust in God to deliver us to a place of peace and joy.
It becomes an upward cycle of praise, trust and hope.
For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
JOY
“Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice! Philippians 4:4
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The Apostle Paul wrote over 30 of the books in the New Testament. He wrote the book of Philippians from prison. He was held captive in chains because he believed that Jesus was his Lord and Savior.
None the less, Paul was full of joy. No matter what his circumstance he learned to be content; focusing on his relationship with Christ. “The joy in the Lord is my strength.” Nehemiah 8:10
Life is tough in many ways for most of us. We all strive for happiness and joy. We focus our lives on “achieving happiness” but often that tangible happiness flees and despair can take over.
I start every morning, as soon as I open my eyes, in prayer and conversation with God. I have found that the more I draw nearer to God by sharing my thoughts, hopes and fears, the more I am able to find peace and an increase in my love for God.
Having a strong relationship with God gives me a deeper sense of joy because I have trust and assurance of God’s love and work in my life. The one thing that I know I can count on in my life, is the joy I get from feeling God’s love. My true joy is based on God’s presence in my life.
FEAR
Fear not for I am with you. Isaiah 41:10
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Being fearful keeps us rooted in a negative, unproductive place. Satan loves this fearful state of mind because it hinders our ability to improve our way of living.
It takes a lot of faith and trust in the Lord to move beyond our fears. It takes strength, courage and perseverance.
For me, the key to overcoming my fears is in trusting that God will always give me what is best for me.
Seeking God and his will for your life and then trusting this will help to give you the strength and courage you need to succeed in all aspects of life.
WORRY
Let God have all your worries and cares for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you. 1 Peter 5:7
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I was in the process of buying my 1st home as a single mom. The process is extremely challenging and I was so very worried that I would not get approved for my mortgage. I was expressing my concerns and worries and my stepfather said to me, “if you pray don’t worry and if you worry don’t (bother to) pray”.
I realized that when I was worrying, I was not trusting in God for His will to be done (which was my prayer). I was told that when I worry about things that I’ve prayed and strived for, that I am saying to God: “I’ve got this, I don’t need you!”
Well, that is farthest from the truth! To this day, I remember what in my lack of trust, which is exemplified by my worrying, I’m telling God that I don’t need him. That is definitely not the message I want to be delivering to God!
PATIENCE
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Psalm 37:7
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We can rejoice when we run into problems and trials for we know that they are good for us because they teach us patience.
Life is full of challenges. When I am facing an issue, I pray about it and ask for God’s will to be done before I act or make decisions. This takes patience, to wait upon the Lord.
Patience through challenges produces perseverance, character, hope and trust. God promises to provide for us and our needs. We, in turn, we need to be patient for His will to be done in his time.
We do not want you to become lazy but to imitate those who through faith and patience, inherit what has been promised. Hebrews 6:12
TRUST
Don’t be afraid, just trust me.
Mark 5:36
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When we are trusting God to have HIs will done in our lives, we can know – even when it’s tough, that the best circumstances will occur in our lives.
If we try to take control of our lives we are essentially telling God that I don’t need you. – I’ve got this. But God knows everything about our lives – he’s omnipotent!
God loves us – we are his children and will deliver us from our fears and troubles if we will learn to trust him by building a closer relationship with God through prayer, reading and conversations! The more we are able to trust God and allow his will to be done in our lives, we will experience blessings far beyond our imaginations!
If we keep trusting God for something that hasn’t happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently. Romans 8:25
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
I AM WORTHY!!
All my life I have suffered from low self-esteem. I’ve tried to figure out why I struggle to believe that I am worthy of having good or even great things in my life. Was it from my childhood? Was it because I believed all the negative things that people said about me – even when I knew they weren’t true? Or was it because I didn’t believe that I was good enough, smart enough, pretty enough… Was it because I didn’t believe in own worthiness? What exactly is worthiness, how does it feel?
One night about 2 years ago I was sitting on my couch, having a glass of wine, relaxing and enjoying the peace and quiet after a long day at work. I remember being suddenly overwhelmed with an incredible desire to live the life that God had planned for me; to be obedient to Him and His plan for my life. I was immediately drawn towards the immense possibilities that could mean for my life and the journey that it would take me on.
Just the concept of actually living that life gave me an incredibly amazing feeling! I felt very strongly that if I really sought to draw nearer to God and allow his plan for my life to be revealed and experienced, that I would then FINALLY feel worthy. I would be able to remove the dark cloud that hung over my head; the cloak of unworthiness that was draped on my back – these burdens that were bringing me down and holding me back.
Realizing and experiencing my life’s purpose; a purpose defined by God was something I had some control of and knowing that, felt exhilarating. The awareness that I had a choice, a choice of obedience, of allowing God’s will to be done in my life helped me to realize the secret to feeling and believing I was worthy. I needed to want what God wanted for my life and I needed to be obedient to God to receive all the goodness that he has planned for my life!!
For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper and not to harm, plans to give you hope and a future! Jeremiah 29:11
Think about it – God is perfect and we are his children that he created in his image. It’s doesn’t take rocket science to figure out that God had a great plan for each of us. He created us for a reason. If we could just believe that, trust God at his word and live our lives accordingly, we’d get ourselves out of God’s way and allow him to work in our lives.
That sounds like a great plan to me – one that I don’t want to miss out on. So, I am on a journey to receive all the good that God has planned for me. As you read this book, I hope that you too will be on a wonderful journey to receive all God’s grace, glory and blessings! Living out God’s plan for our lives means that we will live a life full of incredible blessings even in the midst of pain and suffering. Imagine, being created to be someone – achieve something and then actually doing it – how incredibly glorious that could be!
In this book I am going to share with you in detail the three steps to believing in your own worthiness. Ask, believe, and receive. It sounds simple and even basic, however each step is a potential accomplishment in one’s own life; and that is a priceless journey, one that I hope everyone could experience. There is an incredible voyage set forth for each of us like a road waiting to be travelled.
The more we align ourselves with God’s plan, the richer and more fulfilled our lives will become. Often times, things occur in our lives like miracles, or incredible blessings from God. When that happens, you know you are on the right path in life. Finding yourself – becoming your true self and overcoming obstacles is an amazing journey, one that will bring incredible joy and adventure into your life – so hold on and enjoy the ride!
LEARNING TO WALK AGAIN
I grew up in the 60 & 70’s when drinking alcohol was a daily part of our lives. My parents would have drinks (martinis) every night. Our family gatherings always involved alcohol. It was the norm.
So that is what I did as an adult, having a couple/few glasses of wine every night was “normal” to me.
And then I found a lump in my right breast. Breast cancer runs in my maternal family. Every generation from my Great Grandmother (who died from the disease) to my Mom. I have 3 sisters and we’d often say that because the statistics was 1 in every 4 women will get breast cancer, that one of us most likely would get breast cancer.
Well, it turned out that my “lump” was only a cyst, however, because of our family history I did research and found that drinking 1 glass of wine per day could increase my chance of getting cancer by 10%. That alone was enough to scare me and I quit drinking that day for almost 1 year.
It was extremely easy to quit and that’s when I began writing my book “I Am Worthy!”. I spent a lot of time being introspective on my life, hopes and dreams to live a long, healthy life.
Well, at the end of the year, I turned 50 and decided to have a margarita to celebrate. And that was the end of my sobriety. I never planned on quitting forever, in retrospect, I was in denial that I would get cancer.
As the years went on, my marriage was struggling. My husband had started hanging out with a group of guys, riding motorcycles, staying out late and I began to turn towards my evening glasses of wine to fill the void. I didn’t realize that I was “using” alcohol to numb my feelings around my dysfunctional marriage.
Years later, I found a lump under my right arm and was diagnosed with breast cancer. The cancer was in the same spot as the original cyst was…
After my very intense treatments: 4months of a very strong chemo that can cause tissue damage, double mastectomy and 2 months of radiation I was told that if the cancer came back (I was told this from day 1), it would be terminal, that there were no more tools in the toolbox.
After finishing all of my treatments, I thought I would be relieved that I finished the treatments and hopefully the cancer was completely gone. However, I had more anxiety, fearing that the cancer would come back. I really didn’t realize how reliant I was on having my daily glasses of wine, until it was pointed out to me by some family members, that I needed to make a change.
So, I quit drinking alcohol on New Year’s Day 5 years ago and I’ve been cancer free for 6 years!
It wasn’t until after I quit that I realized how much drinking alcohol had become my way of coping with the fear and anxiety of the cancer returning.
I’ve been fortunate to get counseling from home (as I quit during the Covid pandemic) which really helped me to see how I was not dealing with my anxiety, I was “numbing” it….
Writing has been a wonderful way for me to process and analyze my feelings. I also have a very strong desire to help others facing the same crises that I have. I’m hoping that by sharing my journeys that it would help others to overcome obstacles they are facing in their lives.
I live every day with a hope-filled heart!