In the last day or so, I’ve heard my 5 year old starting to speak negatively over herself.
As we were in the car she might have started fussing over something and I told her no. Not in an angry way – but the final answer was no. She started crying and saying ‘I’m a horrible person’. Huh? Where did that come from?
She’s since done that a few times in the last 24 hours with some version of ‘I can’t do anything right’. Say what? Where is this negative talk coming from? While I think it’s just a phase, I take everything seriously.
I don’t speak negatively over her or myself, so I’m careful to teach her that it’s not ok to say these things. I remind her (because it was reinforcing something our Pastor said today based on Jeremiah 1:5a, ‘before I formed you in the womb, I knew you’. I reminded her that I’ve never told her that she’s a bad child in her 5 years. I’ve never told her that she doesn’t do things right in 5 years.
Sadly, this isn’t the case in all situations. Sometimes we grow up hearing negative things about ourselves and we internalize them and they become the truths we believe about ourselves.
Is that your situation? You can be an adult and still hearing the negative things others said about you. You could be in a bad relationship and hearing the negative things your significant other says about you.
How do you overcome?
You hide God’s truth in your heart. Seek His promises for you. Read His word and see what it says and how He thinks of you. My bible tells me I’m ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’. Before I was formed, God chose me and set me apart. God Himself just like He did with Adam and Eve in the garden, took time to make me in His image. All the other animals were created, but He took time to take the dirt and form us and breathe life into us.
Just in case you need this reminder today: you are loved by your Heavenly Father! You are special! He chose you before you were even born!
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us with an everlasting love. Thank you for making us in your image, and reminding us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Lord, sometimes we have grown up hearing that nothing good will ever come from us, help us to know that these are not truths, and these opinions carry no weight in our lives. And Lord, if we are the ones speaking negatively over others, please help us realize how destructive that practice can be.