Self-Confidence

Yesterday at Oxygen, I watched a very inspiring video, about a girl, Lena, who was born with no arms, and one of her leg is just half size of her normal leg. Most people will probably think that this girl would have no future. What can you expect from someone who doesn’t have arms?? Someone who only has one and a half legs?? If I were her I might not be able to do things that most of the people can do.

But this girl, she is just different. She has great will, has a big confidence in her, and has a strong conviction that she’s no different from other people. She can do what most people can do. She swims, she became an athlete when she was young, she can paint, she can cook, she can knit, she has a great voice that makes her a professional singer, and she also can drives with her leg! She can do more than what I can do as a perfect, health, normal creature. What a shame!

And this is a part of her lines from the interview scene that really touch my heart.

Interviewer: Did you ever complain?

Lena: Yes, I complained just like others. I complained when I was sick, I complained about this and that .. but I never complained for having no arms.

Interviewer: Why?

Lena: Because I don’t have to.

Interviewer: Why you don’t have to complain?

Lena: Because I still can do anything that others can do without my arms. Happiness doesn’t come from holding a pen with your hand, you can do that with your legs. Happiness comes from love, from your relationship with others.

Wow. This girl has such a big heart. It really makes me realize about how stupid I am all these years. I’ve been complaining about a lot of things, sometimes I complained for small things that didn’t really matter at all. How ungrateful I am!! I have my arms, my legs, yet I complained God like every second of my life.

Ps. Jussar was preaching about Confidence, he named his sermon PDA, stands for Pede Abiez (Yuu!). He said that having lack of confidence comes from:

1. Insecurity. We always concern about what people think about us. Every time we want to do something we always think about how people will react to our action.

2. Comparing ourselves to others. We can not compare Nokia to Samsung, vice versa, because they are just different. They have their own pluses and minuses.

Most of the time, we search for confirmation about our self-confidence from the external elements: the media, our friends, our surroundings. But self-confidence is not about what appears on the outside, it’s all about what’s inside.

According to Ps. Jussar, PD is when we know who are in Jesus, who has created us. It’s all about knowing who you are in Jesus.

And he gave out this illustration:

There is always situation when we see someone, and quickly we judge that person from his outlook. Quickly we say, “This person is such a big NO. His hair is just a big NO. He is wearing last year outfits. His face is full of freckles. His eyes are just so big. Where is his nose? I can barely see it, etc.”

But have we ever thought what will Jesus say about this person if we ask for his opinion?

Jesus will say this: He is precious. He is valuable. He is My son. He is my best friend. He is My bride. I created him according to My self-image.

Now put ourselves into that person position. Maybe we have been dealing with our self-confidence for a very long time. We always feel sad when someone despise us. We always feel down when someone gives a bad comment about ourselves, our family, our life, our clothes, our face, our hair, our nose, our skin color, whatever it is! All that we have to do is just simply remember that we are precious before God. Then all of a sudden, those people’s words sounds like nothing for us, for we know that our God will always love us no matter who we are, no matter how we look from the outside.

At the end of the sermon, I felt a drop of tear sliding down on my cheek. Then I saw Zachary standing on the stage, smiled, and simply whispered, “I told you.”