Do you find it hard to trust yourself? One of the casualties of difficult relationships is that we lose sight of our belief system and stop trusting ourselves. There are many reasons for ending up on this desolate road. Here they are:

• We were raised in a dysfunctional home where our feelings, thoughts, and perceptions were not validated, so we learned to distrust them.
• We experienced difficult relationships in which the other person has been manipulative and persuaded us to deny ourselves and believe in the lies forced upon us.
• We have trusted someone only to discover that he/she has betrayed us. Then we are left perplexed, wondering why we didn’t know this was happening. This causes us to mistrust our healthy intuitions in the future.
• We have allowed our self-worth and self-esteem to get so low that our faith in ourselves wanes. And we doubt our validity, especially when someone else disagrees with us.

It is absolutely crucial that you learn to trust yourself so you can become healthy and find and maintain healthy relationships. Here is how you can do it:

• Remember that feelings aren’t right or wrong; they just are. Yours are okay.
• Your opinion is just that—your opinion. It doesn’t have to have approval from others in order for you to have it.
• What you perceive as happening is what is happening. Don’t question your perceptions or allow others to discount them. If it hurts, it hurts. If it doesn’t feel right, it isn’t right for you. If you don’t like it, then you don’t. If you see something, it is what you saw.
• Pay attention to that small voice inside you. Practice listening to it and believing it.
• If you have trusted in the past and been betrayed, that doesn’t mean everyone will betray you. You are healthier now and better able to discern good from bad.
• Begin to trust yourself. Learn about healthy and unhealthy relationships. Recognize that you are not the same person you were and that you will now be able to discern dysfunction more easily.
• Accept that some people are so good at manipulation and deception that they could fool anyone for a while, so it isn’t a reflection on you.

Today, begin trusting yourself to make choices that are right, healthy, and good for you.

By Karla Downing

Relationship Devotional Prayer

 
God,
Help me to learn to trust myself by believing in my emotions, thoughts, and perceptions. Give me the ability to discern that small voice you have placed inside me that will direct me toward what is right and good.

Relationship Devotional Challenge

• Figure out why you do not trust yourself. Begin to take those ever-so-small steps toward trusting what you feel, think, and perceive.

Scripture Meditation

 
Isaiah 30:21

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it’” (NIV).