Self-talk

Self-Talk

Bible Blast: Read Genesis 1:26-31

God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! Genesis 1:31

I asked my friend Kim, “What’s something your daughter struggles with?”

She answered, “Self-talk.”

I was curious. “What’s ‘self-talk’?”

Kim told me that’s the label she uses for the overwhelming number of sentences her daughter says that begin with the word “I.”

I totally get that.

Self-talk can be spoken out loud or just inside your head, and it is often negative. If you write in a journal, there’s a good chance it’s made up of a lot of words about yourself.

Here are some examples of negative self-talk:

“I’m so stupid.”

“I’m ugly.”

It’s almost a popular thing for girls and women to say really terrible things about themselves like the sentences you just read, but here’s the cold, hard truth about negative self-talk: When God created you, he said, “Very good. Exactly as I need her to be.” When you say degrading things about yourself, you’re telling God it wasn’t “very good” when he created you.

If you say something negative about yourself long enough, you’ll eventually believe the words you’re saying, and that’s how you’ll live. Isn’t that sad to think about?

On the other hand, we don’t need to go around telling everyone how utterly amazing we are. First Corinthians 1:31 says if we’re going to brag about something, brag about God and what he’s done.

Self-talk needs to support the fact that God created you just like you are for a purpose. When you say something about yourself, either silently or out loud, ask yourself, “Is this something God would say about me?” If it isn’t, ask God to show you how he feels about you and start using that for your self-talk.

Girl Gab: Do you sometimes hear each other’s self-talk? Do you hear mostly negative or positive things? Ask the Lord for his help in turning your self-talk into godly truth.