INSECURE: adjective (of a person) not confident or assured; uncertain and anxious.

Does this sound like you?

We all deal with insecurities of varying shapes and sizes. Even when we overcome them, we still have to remain vigilant, fighting off sour thoughts and other things that stir up new feelings of insecurity.

Like many women, I have struggled with serious insecurity. I often used to think to myself: Where do I fit it in? I’m not popular, I’m not pretty, my family is broken, my health is a constant battle…I’m not happy. I don’t like myself, so why would anyone else like me?

Combatting Desperate Feelings

For years, I worked my way through a long list of ideas that I thought would make me feel better about myself. I bought different clothes, wore different makeup, tried different hobbies and found different friends, hoping each change would somehow help me gain a tiny bit of confidence or happiness. I figured that if I “fixed” myself, if I slowly changed each thing about myself I didn’t like,  I'd eventually have a whole new Nikki who would overflow with confidence and joy.

During these years of my life, I began to build a relationship with Jesus Christ. When I found happiness and peace in Jesus, I knew I had found the answer to my insecurity. I began to fall more in love with God, ultimately realizing that he could take my insecurity—as deep and debilitating as it was—and replace it with joy, excitement and unprecedented confidence.

I threw out all of my unsuccessful efforts to get rid of my insecurity and turned to the Bible, where God told me who I really am and how precious I am to him.

Finding Freedom from Insecurity

As I sit here and write this, I feel like a strong and happy woman. I have a firm foundation in a God who will never leave me, and I go through every day holding that truth in my heart.

However, insecurity still comes and goes. The waves of insecurity are smaller and weaker, but they still occasionally appear. When this happens, I cling to God’s love, finding words of strength and affirmation in the Bible.

If you find yourself struggling with insecurity, don’t be afraid or ashamed. Turn to God’s Word for freedom. And discover who you are in Christ, not in your own mind.

You are…

1. Complete in Christ, who is over every power and authority.
   …and you have been given full life in union with him. He is supreme over every spiritual ruler and authority. – Colossians 2:10 (GNTD)
2. An heir with Christ.
   Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him; for if we share Christ's suffering, we will also share his glory.– Romans 8:17 (GNTD)
3. Alive and saved by God’s grace.
   …that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace that you have been saved. – Ephesians 2:5 (GNTD)
4. A person of special beauty.
   Instead, your beauty should consist of your true inner self, the ageless beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of the greatest value in God's sight. – 1 Peter 3:4 (GNTD)

Write these verses down and keep them with you. When feelings of insecurity sneak their way in, use them as a reminder of who you truly are in Christ.