Embracing confidence: The power of assurance

Embracing Confidence Through Faith and Mindset Transformation

In this episode of the Restored Mind podcast, I explore the theme of building confidence through a faith-based perspective, contrasting worldly confidence with godly assurance. I am also updating you all on my family's upcoming move to California, sharing reflections on physical appearance and societal expectations, and stressing the importance of rooting confidence in one's relationship with God. I emphasize the impermanence of confidence derived from external validations like appearance, possessions, and talents, and advocate for a deep, sustainable self-assurance grounded in faith and scripture. I am also sharing practical advice for nurturing godly confidence, including building a relationship with God, being teachable, and surrounding oneself with supportive community. We are also looking at Romans 12:2 and other scriptures to help ground us as we work towards living a life of peace and joy. Time stamps are listed below for you. 

00:00 Welcome to the Restored Mind Podcast!
01:48 A Personal Update: Moving to California
03:53 Exploring Confidence: Worldly vs. Godly
07:53 The Journey to Sustainable Confidence
15:24 Building a Relationship with God for True Confidence
19:07 Embracing the Hard Seasons with Faith
20:44 Closing Thoughts and Life Coaching Offer

Connect with me as you journey on in your mindset transformation! Now offering life coaching as a service, click the link below to get schedule a call with me.

*Life coaching: https://paintingmiraclesinc.com/services/behavioral-health-and-clinic/positive-psychology-coaching-150381149

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/_therestoredmind

FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1264181096957255/

I'm excited to connect with you! Remember, you can do hard things!
"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me"- Philippians 4:13

*Affiliated with Painting Miracles, INC & Certified Life Coach through the I-A.M System

Transcript

0:10

Hey friend, welcome to the restored mind podcast, where we are going to be talking about various life topics surrounding mindset transformations. These topics are coming from a faith lens and will propel you into a life of peace and joy. My name is Caroline, wife, mom of three, daughter of the one true king. Host of this podcast and certified light coach through the I am system by Painting Vehicles Incorporations. My hope is that this podcast brings God's light into your life and you break free from the chains that are holding you back. Friend, it is time to shift your mindset into one that will help you flourish. Ready? Let's go. Hello and welcome to the restored mind podcast. My name is Caroline. My friends, how are you doing today? If you are a new listener to the restored mind podcast, I am so excited that you are here. I feel very honored that you've come across my podcast. I hope that you'll stay at the restored mind. We do talk about mindset transformations that come from a faith lens. So we are using scripture to help ground us so that we can live a life of peace and joy. If you are a returning listener, thank you so much that your. You're making the choice to listen in on this episode today. And just to spend time with me, I'm super excited about that. So I have an update for you all on my move. We finally have a date. And so we're now getting ready to clear our house out and the packing has officially begun. It's sad because this house has been our home for a while, but we're going to be heading to California by the end of may. Early June at the latest, and we're planning to make stops at national parks along the way so that our kids can have good memories along with the sad ones that are upon us. And I just hope that this is going to give them insight on life lessons. Like. Sometimes change is unexpected. And your attitude towards that will either make the shift a positive or negative experience. Regardless though, keeping the faith in the Lord and looking to him to fill us and comfort us in times of uncertainty is always good for us. No matter our age, our kids are excited about the move, but they're also feeling a little nervous because this is A whole new territory, whole new environment. And so we thought we would just use this summer too. Create good memories. And yes, it does come with a mix of emotions because I will say Overall, we are collectively a little bit nervous, but we're also embracing this particular season of our life. because we know who goes before us. I will give more insights and the weeks leading up to our move on any possible interruptions and episodes launching that may occur while we're making our drive out to California and settling down. I'm hoping that there's not going to be an interruption, but we'll just see how things roll out when that time comes. So last week we talked about and self-reflected on our attitude and what that looks like on a consistent basis. We also talked about the intention behind the works that we put in on a daily. I personally believe. That your attitude affects what you do, and it all starts with the mind. Hence the restored mind. So this week, we are going to be talking about confidence. I know, and I believe that many of us can relate to this on. Various levels to some degree. But since it's been officially spring and swimwear, sun dresses and shorts are all over the stores right now, also vacations and all things warm weather are fast approaching us. And I figured this would be a good reminder to share with you the kind of confidence that you want to strive for. We're going to talk about worldly, confidence versus godly confidence I'm going to share with you ways that you can grow in confidence and how you can apply this to your life. I said this multiple times on this podcast, that a lot of the things we talk about are much easier said than done. It is really easy to set a goal to talk about what you want to achieve. I make a wishlist or even to create a vision board. If you're into that. But it's a lot harder to put in the work on a consistent basis because you'll learn really quickly that there are many challenges along the way. That can. Make you think. The things that you want or the things that you are aiming for seem impossible. So it's really going to test you and my hope is that you can persevere through it because that is going to ultimately help you get to the next part. in you reaching your goals. When it comes to confidence. Where you place it matters. Confidence is feeling sure of yourself and your ability. So the assurance that you have in who you are and what you're able to do. The question is though, where does this feeling or this assurance come from? Does this stem from self. Or does this stem from. The Lord. A lot of the times we find ourselves needing something physical to give us a boost of assurance. So that could be your body. Maybe clothes that you wear or buy the amount of money that you have, because then that also gives you the confidence to go out and fulfill or get the things that you want. compliments. Can also be a physical boost that we get. If we are seeing. The way that the person is acting to us as they compliment us or even reading it on text. I think that's a physical thing as well. And even your talents can give you a boost of confidence. Most of the time, if we believe we can appear confidence, then we can fool others. And sometimes even ourselves. That we've got our life together and nothing can shake us, but we like to appear that way because then we're not vulnerable to the things that we are. Insecure about right. But this isn't always the case just because you are. Portraying that you do have it all together. It's not always the case. You might be able to fool someone into thinking that you've got it together. But deep down. Only, you know, if you truly do you have it together? Or not. And I tend to believe. That no matter what, we're all struggling in some way. So going out of the way to portray perfect life, isn't something that is relatable or even remotely attainable because. We cannot be perfect. And we can't control the things that are out of our control. Right. We can only control the things that we are able to control. So that would be ourselves and our mindset and how we react to certain situations. I'm definitely not advocating for you to plaster your challenges online by any means, But I am encouraging you to let go of the idea that you need to be perfect. Before you begin tapping into that. Consistent confidence that you're probably searching for or have been, searching for. I used to rely heavily on makeup and clothes to help boost my confidence. But the assurance that I received from these things for very temporary. I'm sure that as you're thinking about the physical things that boost your confidence. You start to realize that it is not something that sustains you. It's not constant. It is very much so wavering, it comes and it goes. There was also a season where a placed. My confidence and the things that I own or what I thought I owned and my body was included in that. So I struggled with my own physical appearance and yes, this is the season where a lot of people are trying to get fit because they want to have their quote summer body. Ready for summertime. And so I fell into that. My body was something that I felt very insecure about and it led me down a path of not being confident in the way that I looked. And I was easily intimidated. If I saw someone who was prettier than me or more fit than I am. And so my mind automatically went to wishing that I had that person's beauty or that person's physique. That kind of thinking led me to have a negative inner dialogue about myself. Because I began to pick apart how I looked. Then eventually it became easier for me to speak negatively about myself. It went from doing this internally. To it be spoken out loud and looking back on the season of my life. I would have to admit that it probably made other people feel uncomfortable around me because they didn't know how to receive this negative. Self-talk that I was. Outwardly expressing. When you place your confidence or your assurance in the world, it is easily shaken, definitely speaking from experience, but your confidence will rise and fall like the waves. Because trends change, things that are considered in now might not be, it could be. A whole nother trend that's happening next season. Everyone has their own opinion of what they think beauty looks like, or what is trendy or what it's cute. Right. One person may really like you and someone might not for whatever reason. So if you live your life wanting to be accepted by everyone, You will easily fall. And your confidence is going to be shaken. And he might not be your physical appearance. That is something that bothers you. And that's great. It could be a skill or a talent that you have where you lack confidence in. It can be intimidating when you look around and you see so many gifted people around you in a sea of similar talents that you can begin to think yours isn't anything special. And so you lose confidence in your work and your ability to do things or learn new things. But for the one who's struggling. With physical appearance. For the friend who is listening and has a vacation coming up and is struggling to lose weight or feeling like you have to be on a strict diet or work out consistently to look a certain way before this trip. My friend, I would love to offer you a gentle reminder that whoever you're going on this vacation with or taking this trip with is simply going to want you to be in the moment with them. They want to create memories with you. And only you are worried about whether or not you're going to look good in that dress or feel confident wearing that swimwear. So, yes. If you want to use this trip as a milestone marker for you. Or as motivation for you to get up and get moving, because you have these goals that you want to meet. That's great, but don't punish yourself for it Think about what is sustainable for you? For the long run. And this is where knowing your, why becomes an anchor for you in order for it to become a lifestyle. It has to be sustainable. Your why has to be deeper than your vacation or the event that you have coming up? I used to live in this mindset that I didn't really want to work out and all this, I had a big event to go to, or I was going on vacation and a month out. I would try to lose as much weight as I can. And it drove me down a path of having a negative mindset that I wasn't able to reach these goals. And having these aspirations were unattainable. It wasn't even that these goals were unattainable. It was the timeline that I set for myself was unrealistic. It's super easy to place your confidence in your skills. Your talents and, and what you have, or even all of the above. But your worth is in none of that. You don't build consistent confidence from any of those things. True and consistent, confident comes from the mind that is rooted in God's words. Romans 12, two says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God. What is good. And acceptable and perfect. Be conformed as to be in similar mindset. In the similar belief moving in a similar way, but when you're transformed, you're changing the way that you think changing what you believe. And also in how you move, it starts inwardly before it becomes an outwardly thing. And when we leave God out of our confidence. Out of our assurance, we begin to fill it with worldy things and that could be in a materialistic thing or an ourself. And in that there is no peace because again, trends change, everyone has their own opinion and we're all wavering to some capacity. I love how John 15 five Jesus reminds us. I am the vine. You are the branches, whoever abides in me and I in him. He, it is that bears much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. Not that you physically can't do anything, but apart from him, we really do struggle because our mind can become clouded with the things of this world. And it can bring a lot of chaos into our life. I think about the time where a huge storm happened when Jesus was on a boat with his disciples. Scripture says the boat was being swamped by waves, but he was asleep. This is from Matthew 8 24, and his disciples went to wake him up, asking him to save them. So he calms the storm. You know what that made me think about. How there is so much peace with the Lord. And I started to ask this self-reflecting question. In the midst of my storm. Am. I like Jesus. Who's sleeping on a boat. or am I like the disciples? Panicking. And wondering if I'm going to be saved. I think that speaks a lot. To how our heart posture can be at times. When we take God out of the confidence or the assurance that we have been searching for. And so this leads me to thinking that. It is so important for you to build your confidence in God and let it come from him. To build your confidence in God, you would need to build a relationship with him. And one of the best way to do that is to read the Bible. On a consistent basis. Be teachable. So that you can learn. And do the hard thing of knowing where you fall short, acknowledging where you fall short. And then working. From that so that you can do better and become better. Connect yourself with someone who can help you along the way, You cannot do this on your own. And this is not a solo journey. You need people that can help keep you accountable and also help you understand something that you might not understand yourself as you're reading the Bible. And also pray daily. Pray consistently. It is one of the most powerful things that you can do. Jesus knew that it was a powerful thing that he can do, and he is still praying for us even now, as he is in heaven on his throne. Another thing I did was repeated and looked up scripture to help drown off the negative thoughts that would try and pull me back into placing my confidence in the world. And that ended up leading into something else, which was me, not only reading it once over, but spending time with scripture asking questions and using it in prayer. To help me so that I can bind these words to my heart. God will reveal himself to you when you take the time to be with him. To get to know him. He will meet you in the secret place. Your mind. Believes what you tell it. So negative input equals negative output, positive input equals positive output, and he has my friend. You have the absolute freedom to believe. Whatever it is you have the freedom to place confidence in wherever you want to place confidence. But the question here is. Are you searching for assurance? That is. Not wavering. That is constant. Embracing confidence that comes from the Lord and his in him is one of the best things that you can do on your journey, into changing and shifting your mindset. So that you can live a life of peace. and. It is so much easier said than done when you're in the thick of struggling through trying to find that confidence to where that's going to suit or get quote summer, ready to enjoy that trip and make these memories that you want to make. I understand it I've been there. And I know that it can be hard. Shifting your confidence in to someone who is constant, who doesn't waiver can be a little scary, right? Because we don't know if we don't have a relationship with God. We don't really know what that might look like. But we also know that placing it in ourself and placing it in the world is bringing us this. Chaos the storm that we so badly want to get out of. So shift your confidence into him. Who. Doesn't waver who is constant. Build your relationship with God. And let his words to change you and give you the assurance that is going to take you further than you could have ever imagined. The things that I listed here, building a relationship with him, praying being in scripture, connecting yourself with someone. These are all things that you can do and apply it to your life so that you can grow. In your journey in your faith walk. No amount of compliments, no amount of clothes or weight loss, or even muscle gains or anything else will ever be enough to fill you. You can keep searching, but you won't find it. But he is enough. And that is enough. It is hard to let go and let God heal. When the brokenness in us feels so familiar and we want the comfortability of being in a familiar space. Sometimes being in that familiar space isn't necessarily, what's good for us. And when I say brokenness, I don't mean the physical brokenness. in us I'm talking about. In our soul, what is broken? What is dead? The struggles that we face. These things are very real to us. And it can be so hard to come out of it. This is the wilderness that we're walking in. We might not know how to express it to our friends or to our family, or even our spouse, but the Lord knows. And he can give you what you need. I know my friend, it's hard. This season can be hard for many people for various reasons. But I know for me, it was one of the hardest seasons because I couldn't hide behind sweats and baggy clothes anymore. It was getting warm. So that meant shorts, tank tops, swimwear, trying to be comfortable in the summer heat. And it didn't always make me feel good. So, yes, I know. It's hard. It's hard to walk through these things. It's hard to navigate these things, but my friend. Embrace the confidence that you have in the Lord. Strive. Do you have confidence in him? Embrace. The power of assurance that he gives you. I know it's hard. My friend. But you can do hard things. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to listen in on this episode. I meant what I said. You can do hard things, so don't let the daily challenges stop you from reaching your greatest potential. If you are ready to take the next step in your journey and are finding that you are in need of help and would like someone to keep you accountable, call I would love to offer you my life coaching services. Click on the link in the show notes to get started there. You will also find links to my social media pages where you're able to connect with me as well. My friends, I look forward to speaking with you again next week here on the restored mind podcast. Go in peace.