How does inward beauty look like?

[Figure of eighty]

I feel ive made so many mistakes and just messed myself up. Messed my integrity and feel so ugly.. 

I want to go back to who I used to be but feel Im too ruined for that. 

[LonerAndy]

51 minutes ago, Figure of eighty said:

I feel ive made so many mistakes and just messed myself up. Messed my integrity and feel so ugly.. 

I want to go back to who I used to be but feel Im too ruined for that. 

Welcome to the club.  I think one of the reasons Philippians 3:13 says to forget what is behind, is because it doesn't do any good to sit around thinking about it.

Does it?  Not really.  Just gotta keep going, head up, eye forward, and think more about what you can do right tomorrow, than what you did wrong yesterday.

Yeah, life would be better if some of those things yesterday didn't happen, but time is a one-way street, and you can't Control+Z to undo what has been done.

What you can do, is next time those choices come around, is remember not to do what you did before.

[johnthebaptist]

23 hours ago, Figure of eighty said:

I feel ive made so many mistakes and just messed myself up. Messed my integrity and feel so ugly.. 

I want to go back to who I used to be but feel Im too ruined for that. 

All we have to do is repent.

[JohnR7]

23 hours ago, Figure of eighty said:

I feel ive made so many mistakes and just messed myself up. Messed my integrity and feel so ugly.. 

I want to go back to who I used to be but feel Im too ruined for that. 

In psalm 139:16 David tells us that God writes the book of our life at conception. We are given all of our gifts, talents and abilities that we need to develop to bring praise, honor and glory to God. It is never to late to repent, turn away from our sin and transgression so we can find acceptance with God. We need to live a life of victory as an overcomer. 

"The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels." (Revelotion 3:5)

We are never to ruined for God to fix us and straighten us out. He is God so He is more than able to do a work in our life when we trust in Him.  

[Jayne]

On 9/4/2020 at 4:06 PM, Figure of eighty said:

I feel ive made so many mistakes and just messed myself up. Messed my integrity and feel so ugly.. 

I want to go back to who I used to be but feel Im too ruined for that. 

Oh, well, join the billion-member club.  Who hasn't messed up their own integrity and felt ugly for it.  I can definitely relate and so can half of the planet.

I'm going to suggest something to you that I have always wanted to address since you were pregnant with your son and posted here early on.  I've hesitated to do so, but here goes......

You MUST get out of your own head.

I suffer with anxiety and depression, too, and so do countless others so I know what it's like to "live" in your own head.  So do people who do not have these issues.

For people like me and you, it's so easy to set up camp inside our own head and play back negative events, conversations, and make ALL past things embarrassing and our fault.  Anxiety coupled with depression makes one do this and makes the entirety of our lives pitiful and pathetic when in actuality it not.

We play the unknown situations that haven't even happened and 99.999999% WON'T happen and we play them as if they are and were real.  And they are always negative and detrimental to our mental health.

You MUST get OUT of your head.  

Try these things:

• purposely focus on things outside your head - other people, the weather, your new place to live, your son meeting his milestones, funny stories, a good book, Bible passages, cooking new recipes - ANYTHING that gets you into reality
• eat right and get some good quality exercise that increases heart rate and blood flow
• keep a journal of new things you learn - new things your baby learns - and how much you are grateful to God for

There's more.

I'm telling you from experience - the more you live in your head, the lonelier you will be, the more unhappy you will be, and the more fearful you will be.

I know.  I've been there - lying in bed, can't sleep, when morning comes LITERALLY can't get out of bed, constantly flipping through my life in my head telling myself all the horrible things about myself and why I don't matter

It's a hellish place to be.  When I find myself going there now, I focus on something else - quickly. 

 

 

 

[Debp]

On 9/4/2020 at 2:06 PM, Figure of eighty said:

I feel ive made so many mistakes and just messed myself up. Messed my integrity and feel so ugly.. 

I want to go back to who I used to be but feel Im too ruined for that. 

You need to remember who you are in Christ, and focus on that you are a child of God through Jesus.   

Do you believe what God says in His word is true?   If so:   1 John 1:9 says if we confess our sins, God forgives us and cleanses us.   So if you have confessed, you are totally forgiven and cleansed.   Remember that when the accuser of the brethren tries to accuse you.  

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9.

[Coliseum]

On 9/4/2020 at 5:06 PM, Figure of eighty said:

I feel ive made so many mistakes and just messed myself up. Messed my integrity and feel so ugly.. 

I want to go back to who I used to be but feel Im too ruined for that. 

Nope. Paul's got you beat, calling himself "Chief sinner." When he looked in the mirror, he neither cringed, nor bragged about himself. He simply looked to Jesus. He stopped thinking about himself, and his sins. Instead, he ran the race to win the prize. The Pharisees obeyed the law perfectly Scripture says, yet Jesus called them out, not because of their obedience, but their attitude. Didn't Paul say,  "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do"?

Stop running yourself into the ground dear sister. I sin, and hate it, just like you, but we must stop dwelling on it. The victory is already in Christ. 

[Figure of eighty]

Thank you all. Ill try to put these in practice.

[Marathoner]

21 minutes ago, Figure of eighty said:

Thank you all. Ill try to put these in practice.

Remember that the Lord is merciful, sister. Christ lifts us up from the squalor of ruin giving His life to us. Therefore our life is hidden in the Son of God:

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)

I'm sure I wrote the following before but it bears repetition: I'm so encouraged for you, @Figure of eighty! What? Yes I am, because our Father receives you as a daughter. Don't despair nor lose hope on account of God's admonishment because His correction is life.  

[R. Hartono]

The kingdom of God is not found in religious sanctuaries but in hearts that forgive n share happiness.