TERRI: If you've ever felt insecure, old, unattractive,
timid, inferior, I've got some good news for you. You're
exactly who God's looking for. In fact, he chooses
the least likely people to do some of the most
amazing things through and he wants to use you too.
(Music)
TERRI: Hi, I'm Terri Savelle Foy and you're watching
Live Your Dreams. I pray that as you invest in yourself
today, you're captivated and you're catapulted
to live your dreams. You know, I was reading a story one day
about this father who promised his little girl that he would
spend Saturday just playing with her. Well, Saturday morning, he
got up, went downstairs, and he's reading the newspaper. All
of a sudden, his little girl comes running downstairs ready
to play and he wasn't ready yet. He said, "Hold on. Let me just
finish reading the paper." Well, she was so antsy, "Daddy,
please, please. You said we would play." He said, "Okay,
listen. How about you put this puzzle together." He said he
ripped out a page from the newspaper and it was a picture
of the world. He tore it up in all these little bitty pieces.
He put it on the kitchen table and he said, "When you put the
puzzle together, then we'll go play." He said he went back to
reading. All of a sudden, she's done. She got the puzzle put
together. He said, "How did you do that so fast?" She said,
"Well, I dropped a piece and when I bent down to pick it up,
I looked at the glass under the table and on the other side of
the glass, I saw a picture of a woman." She said, "So I just sat
up, turned all the pieces over, and when I put the woman
together, the world just fell into place." I love that story
because the truth is when we get ourselves put together,
everything around us starts to come together. In fact, here's
what God taught me before I could ever step out into his
assignment on my life. God will change your circumstances but
he'll change you first, your self-image, your self-esteem,
your perception of yourself. See, you've got to believe in
yourself before anybody else can believe in you. Then I remember
hearing this phrase that God can't use you publicly until
you've gotten victory privately with nobody around, just you and
God. In fact, I want to talk to you today about what's going on
on the inside of you. How do you feel about yourself, your
self-image? Why is it so important to even discuss your
self-image? Because how you see yourself affects every area of
your life. It affects the career you choose or perhaps settle
for. It affects the relationships you pursue or the
relationships you put up with. Your self-image affects the way
you allow people to treat you or disrespect you. It even affects
your relationship with God, what you think God will even do in
your life. See, if you're so down on yourself, you're
constantly rehearsing all your bad choices and failures and
inadequacies and insecurities, then you will never have the
confidence to fulfill your assignment and Satan knows that.
That's why he tries to keep you suppressed and put down and
belittled and feeling inferior around everybody else. Because,
see, things will never be right around you until they're first
right in you. Now, the reason I even know statements like that
is because I only know how to speak from experience and I know
the insecurities that I've had to overcome and some of them, I
still do. I also know that God's Word can get down on the inside
of you. It can heal you from every wound of rejection,
betrayal, hurts, pains, brokenness, and completely
transform you from the inside out. In fact, you know, you may
be crying out for direction for your life. You're saying, "Lord,
I need wisdom. I need direction. I'm ready for a new thing in my
life." You may be asking God to bring the right spouse. Maybe
you're ready to get married, you're ready to maybe have a
marriage restored, or maybe even you feel called to have your own
business or to have a ministry. Maybe God's telling you he's
called you to a ministry that's bigger than you think. Well,
like I said before, things will never be right around you until
they're first right in you. I remember hearing that statement,
that God can't use you publicly until you get victory privately.
Well, I had to go on a quest to be completely healed, to be
transformed from a poor self-image, low self-esteem,
insecurity, inferiority, you name it. I remember taking this
deep psychological test one day and when the results came back,
it said, "You have a compulsive fear of rejection." I was like,
"Oh my goodness." I called my friend Jodi. I said, "Jodi, I'm
jacked up," but I've learned how to get unjacked so that's good.
Here's the thing. If you don't believe in yourself, nobody else
will either. But God is so amazing. Do you know that he
purposefully and intentionally chooses the least likely people
to do some of the most amazing things through, but it requires
taking on a new self-image? In fact, I love what Rick Warren
wrote, in the book called The Purpose Driven Life, he gave
proof to us that God chooses the least likely people. Listen to
some of these characteristics from his book. He said Abraham
was old, Jacob was insecure, Leah was unattractive, Joseph
was abused, Moses stuttered, Gideon was poor, Samson was
codependent, Rahab was immoral, David had an affair and all
kinds of family problems, Elijah was suicidal, Jeremiah was
depressed, Jonah was reluctant, Naomi was a widow, John the
Baptist was eccentric to say the least, Peter was impulsive and
hot-tempered, Martha worried a lot, the Samaritan woman had
several failed marriages, Zacchaeus was unpopular, Thomas
had doubts, Paul had poor health, and Timothy was timid.
Then he said this, "They're all misfits but God used each of
them in his service and he'll use you too if you stop making
excuses." I don't know if you identify with any of those
characteristics, I identify with a few of them, but I'm telling
you God, he chooses the least likely people to do some of the
most amazing things through. In fact, I love this story. I
recently read this story about a guy named Brian Scudamore, funny
name but a cool story. Listen to this. He said that he could have
allowed other people's opinions of him cause him to miss out on
his destiny and his dreams. He wasn't good in school. He said
he was the polar opposite of a genius. He said, "I got stuck
with reading. I couldn't focus on words." He said, "My mind
would just wander to other things." Later he found out that
he ADD. Well, he said he couldn't understand. It held him
back from learning through books and stuff. He said he ended up
failing several years of school. In fact, he was course short of
finishing high school and he quit. 12th grade, he didn't
finish, didn't graduate. He said he saw all of his friends
graduate, get accepted to universities. He felt like he
was missing out. Here, they're all moving on with their lives,
doing good things. He said he went to this college to just
kind of see if they would let him in. He wrote letters. He
said he spend time after time going to the admissions office
just to see if they'll eventually let him in. Well,
finally he got accepted even without a high school diploma.
His parents said, "Are you kidding? You want us to fund
your college education? You didn't even finish high school.
We're not going to waste money like that." He said, "They were
probably smart because I had to get out there and fund my own
education if I was going to do it." Well, he said one day he
was in a McDonald's drive-through in Vancouver,
Canada and he just happened to see this old beat up truck with
plywood on the sides filled with junk in the back of it and a
sign that read Mark's Hauling. He said, "At the time, I was
having trouble finding a job, not knowing what I was going to
do about college, how to pay for it." He said, "When I saw that
truck, I immediately connected with that's something I can do,
buy a truck and haul junk." He said he grabbed the classified
newspapers and he just started looking for trucks. He found one
that he could afford and he bought a blue Ford F100 for
$700. He said he put plywood signs on it and he spray painted
the words, "The Rubbish Boys 738-JUNK. Call us." Well, he
said he would go by himself and clear out people's junk, see the
smile on their face, drop it off, and repeat the process.
Well, the cool thing is he said that within two weeks, he made
enough money to pay for the business. By the end of the
summer, he said he had enough money to pay for his schooling.
Well, finally, he went to his dad and he said, "Dad, I'm
planning to drop out of school and go full-time into this
business." Now, keep in mind his father is a liver transplant
surgeon so he's been to more school than anybody, right, and
here he's telling his dad, "I'm leaving school to go run this
business." His dad was like, "You're dropping out of school
to become a junk man, to haul trash?" He said, "It couldn't be
more close to the bottom." His dad said, "Please, you've just
got a little bit of school left. Please just finish." He said,
"Dad, the university will be there if I choose to go back.
This opportunity won't always be here." It looks like he's
focused, he's running with his dream. He said, "I still battled
with watching other people choose prestigious careers." He
said, "I started kind of comparing myself to them, not
feeling good enough." He said, "Finally, I found myself
surrounded by people who had really cool businesses." He
said, "I didn't know what to do so I went to my parents' summer
cottage." He said, "I sat on the dock, I got a pen and paper, and
I began to dream." He said, "I just asked myself, 'What
What could I dream of if I could dream up possibility?'" He
said, "What could this business look like five years down the
road?" So, we started writing his dream, and he said, "Number
one, we will be in the top 30 metros in North America." He
said, "At the time, we were in one, a little bitty one." He
said, "Number two, we will be the FedEx of junk removal. We're
going to have clean, shiny trucks, friendly uniformed
drivers." And then he said, "Number three, we will branch
out to the USA from Canada." Well, he started building
himself up, encouraging himself, believing in himself, giving
himself permission to dream, and he said he started brainstorming
right during the Got Milk marketing phase. You remember
all those ads that say, "Got Milk"? So he ran with it. Today,
Brian Scudamore, his business is in every major metro in the USA,
Canada and Australia. Last year, alone, his business made a
quarter of a billion dollars with a b in revenue hauling off
junk. He is the founder of 1-800-GOT-JUNK. Isn't that
amazing? Instead of comparing himself to everybody else,
thinking, "I don't measure up. Here I am, hauling off trash."
No, he ran with his dream. He built up his self image, his
self esteem, the dream that God put in his heart. In fact, I
thought this was interesting. He said, "We've hauled off some
pretty crazy things." One of them was a Bible that belong to
John Wayne, the actor. Another thing, He said, "Even one time,
we had to haul off an ATM machine that somebody wanted off
their property, and it had $26,000 cash still inside." Wow.
Well, I'm telling you, God chooses the least likely people
to do some of the most amazing things through. Don't ever
compare yourself or your calling to other people. God has chosen
you. In fact, he said in Jeremiah 1:5, "I have chosen you
before you were even formed in your mother's womb, I chose
you." Before you were born, He said, "I set you apart for a
special work." God has a special work, a special assignment for
your life that's unique to you, but you've got to build your
self image. You've got to believe in yourself like never
before, and here's the thing. It doesn't happen by accident. It
happens with an intentional, strategic plan to renew your
mind and to improve your self image. When we come back, I'm
going to share with you a few steps the Lord
showed me to build my self esteem. I'll be right back.
ANNOUNCER: You were fearfully and wonderfully made. You are
God's masterpiece and the apple of his eye and when you see
yourself the way God sees you, the limits on your life are
removed and your future comes alive. As a thank you for your
gift of $25 or more, Terri would like to send you the Build Your
Self-Image Package to help you grow your confidence and enjoy
your life. As you listen to your self-image affects your destiny
and 10 Tips to Build Your Body-Image and Self-Image,
you'll discover the truth about how your purpose can be limited
by your self-image. How to repair a damaged view of
yourself. How to live every day with a healthy self-image and
much more. Plus for a limited time, you'll also receive a
special declarations mirror cling to help you speak God's
Word over yourself every day. So don't wait, call toll
free, 800-795-5597. Or visit us online at terri.com.
TERRI: Welcome back, well we're talking about
building your self image, boosting your confidence,
overcoming insecurities and inferiorities, and you know, you
have to become your own best cheerleader. You have to get to
a place in your life where you stop allowing other people's
words and opinions to dictate your future. In fact, I was
looking at some celebrities like Marilyn Monroe. She was told
that she wasn't pretty or talented enough to become an
actress. She became one of the most iconic actresses of all
time. Then I read where Jerry Seinfeld, the first time he went
on stage, he was booed away by the crowd. He became one of the
most successful comedians of all time. Then I read about Sidney
Poitier. Many of you've heard of him. His first audition, the
casting director instructed to him to just stop wasting
everyone's time and go be a dishwasher or something. He went
on to win an Academy Award, and of course he's admired by actors
everywhere. What about Lucille Ball? Do you know she spent many
years on the B-list they say, and her agent told her she
should pursue a different career. Today, we still love
Lucy, and Lucy re-runs. Then I read this, after his first film,
Harrison Ford underwhelmed the producer, and was told that he
would never succeed. Today, he's the third highest grossing actor
of all time. What am I saying? If they can overcome rejection,
negative words, people telling them, "You're not good enough,"
then so can you. But here's the thing. It won't happen by
accident. It must be with an intentional plan to change, and
that's what I want to share with you. In fact, in this series, I
teach the exact steps that I've taken in my life to help me
overcome insecurities, deep-rooted feelings of
rejection, feeling insignificant, worthless, what
do I have to offer, I mean the list goes on and on in my own
life. In fact, I remember a friend of ours finding out I'm
staring my own ministry. Here I am doing it by faith, being my
own best cheerleader, giving myself pep talks to stay
encouraged, and they said, "She's starting her own
ministry? Give me a break." Well, if you allow those words
to play over and over in your mind, you will talk yourself
right out of God's will for your life. See, you can't allow other
people's words spoken over you define who you are and what you
do. And here's one of the things I hang on to. Is to remember
that one day, you're going to stand before God and give an
account for your life, not their life. He's going to say, "I
called you to preach, why didn't you preach?" Well somebody said,
"Give me a break, you're starting a ministry." No, God's
going to say, I called you to do that, why didn't you do it? And
I want to remind you of this. In fact, I teach this on this
series. The first thing that I had to come to grips with is
this. Know your enemy. The Bible says, "We wrestle not against
flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and
rulers of darkness." In other words, that person is not your
enemy. That person who betrayed you, violated you, abused you,
abandoned you, belittled you, devastated you. They're not your
enemy. Satan is. In fact, he hopes that you stay locked in an
experience for the rest of your life, and you never overcome it.
You never have the confidence to believe that God can use you. I
don't know about you, but that should make you that much more
determined to build your self image like never before and
torment the devil. That's kind of my hobby is torment the
devil. Well you know, one night, had a group of teenage girls at
my house, and I was talking to them about their self image and
building their self esteem up, and I just asked them. I said,
"You know have you ever been at the mall or maybe at the grocery
store or in the parking lot at the mall, and you just happen to
see a penny on the ground outside, and you can tell that
penny has been through it. It's been run over by some cars. It's
been stepped on, probably kicked around. It's even been through
every kind of storm imaginable." I said, "And then you see a
brand new penny, a shiny copper penny, and you can tell this
penny hasn't been through anything. It looks brand new and
perfect." I said, "But do you know if you took both of those
pennies to the bank, they're worth the same." I said, "I want
you to know that you have not lost your value. You have not
lost your worth. You may have been kicked around by people,
stepped on, run over. You've been through every storm
imaginable." I said, "But I want you to know that you are just as
valuable as the day God created you." Well, I believe God could
be speaking those very words to you right now. It doesn't matter
what you've been through. You have not lost your worth and
value. In fact, if I asked you right now to name five things
that you don't like about yourself, you'd probably say,
"Only five?" But then if I asked you to name five things you love
about yourself, you'd probably say, "Now that's going to take a
little time." Well, starting today, I'm going to give you a
few steps. I want you to number one, speak differently about
yourself. Just make a decision that whatever God says is final.
In fact, on this little cling that we've put together with
this offer, I listed some positive decelerations on here
for you to start speaking out of your mouth. And see, it doesn't
matter if people in the past have said, "You're the wild one.
You're a loser. You're crazy. You're a mess. You always make
bad choices. You're a failure. You'll never change." God's Word
is final authority, so you have to decide whose words are going
to have more power over you. God's word or some
person? Listen to what God said. He said, "I
have chosen you and have not cast you away." In
fact, one of my favorite scriptures, Jeremiah
1:5, he says, "Before I made you in your mother's womb, I chose
you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work."
So, stop putting yourself down and start speaking positive
declarations out of your mouth. In fact, just make a decision,
don't let another negative word come out of your mouth about
yourself ever again. You might think it, but don't speak it.
And do you know, that what you say to others isn't nearly as
important as what you say to yourself. Your words produce
your reality. So, start building yourself up intentionally, and
that's exactly what I had to do and what I still
do is make a list of positive declarations, which I've
already done this for you. These are the
declarations that I speak over myself to help my
self-image and self-esteem. And then I've got Bible verses on
here. There is nothing more powerful than speaking God's
Word out of your mouth. Number two is surround yourself with
the right people. Surround yourself with the right people.
Now, the reason I say that is, you know, you may have heard
that phrase that if you want to know where your life is headed,
look at the list of names in your cell phone. Why? Because
you become like those you spend the most time with. It's amazing
how we tend to act like, dress like, behave like, we even eat
like or imitate the people closest to us. Well, there may
be some relationships that you have to let go of because
they're dragging you out of God's will for your
life. In fact, the Bible says, "Hang out with
wise people and you'll be wise, but the companion
of fools will be destroyed." Did you know that your
success can be determined in part by who you surround
yourself with? Well, it can also be determined by who you do not
surround yourself with. In fact, nothing gets you off course
faster than staying with the wrong crowd. I want to challenge
you to start thinking about who you're surrounded by. In fact, I
have a story here about a guy who he said he wanted more out
of life. He said he met this man ... He went from rags to riches,
he said, after just deciding to change his friendships. He said
he just started looking around at his closest friendships, and
he noticed they all hated hard work. They had no intention or
desire to improve themselves, to move on with God's plan. He said
he asked this very wealthy man, he said, "What kind of advice
would you give me to change my life?" He said the wealthy man
said four words: keep the right company. Keep the right company.
He said, "So I did. I followed his advice. I disconnected from
people who were dragging me down, and I surrounded myself
with people who would build me up." He said, "I started going
to conferences and seminars and reading books and listening to
audios that built me up." He said, "Within three-years time,
I became a millionaire, just by: keep the right associations."
Keep the right company. Think about who you're hanging out
with. If God's leading you to make some changes, then obey
what God's telling you to do. Because He's preparing you, and
He's trying to get you to a whole new level. And then my
third point today is to get a vision for your life. Get a
vision for your life. I'm going to show you how to do that in
this teaching how to start thinking beyond today. In fact,
Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, she said, "If you don't know where
you're headed, then any road will take you there." Well,
there's a quote that says that a person with no vision will
always return to their past. That could mean past
relationships, past insecurities, past habits. In
fact, I've seen insecurities come back on people. Well, the
Bible clearly says, "Where there is no vision, the people
perish." Well, a confident person thinks about the kind of
impact they want to have on their world and for Jesus. I
want you to start looking at your time here on earth as
temporary. You have an assignment. I'm going to teach
you how to set goals. I wish I had more time to teach you a
little bit more on this, but I'm excited about this offer. This
is our last week to offer this special package, Your Self-Image
Affects Your Destiny. I share seven vital keys, pillars, to
improving your self-image. Kind of as bonus, we put this in
here, The Ten Tips to Build Your Body Image and Your Self-Image.
I read recently where 91% of all women hate their bodies. They
don't like their bodies. 91%. Well, I'm going to teach you
some steps in here, to practical steps and spiritual steps, to
start making some changes even in your physical appearance.
Just making a decision that you're going to exercise. You
might say, "Terri, dear Lord, I've heard this before. I've
spent thousands of dollars on exercise things." But I'm going
to teach you from God's Word how to get discipline in your life.
There's a connection between physical health and emotional
health. If the average American watches six hours of TV a day,
I'm just challenging you to take 20 minutes and make an
investment in your health. Still watch five hours and 40, but
take 20 minutes to invest in your health. Then, of course, we
put this little cling with our offer: Positive Declarations to
Start Speaking Over Yourself. Let me just remind you: low
self-esteem doesn't just show up over night. Well, neither does
renewing the mind. It's developed over time. I'm going
to teach you how to start making these just a part of your life,
because that's what the Lord began to deal with me years ago.
At the lowest point in my life, I remember hearing this phrase:
God will change your circumstances, but He'll change
you first. At that time, my life was falling apart. My marriage
was on the verge of a divorce. I had no dreams, no goals. And
here I'm hearing this phrase: God will change your
circumstances, but He'll change you first. Well, I had to work
on me on the inside. I had to build my self-image. I had to
get free from the issues of the past: insecurities,
inferiorities, rejection, all that. Some of it began by making
these declarations and speaking these faith-filled scriptures
out of my mouth consistently. Remember, successful people do
consistently what others do occasionally. When you start
making it a habit to just hear God's Word, it's going to get
down on the inside of you and completely transform your
self-image from the inside out. Take advantage. This is our last
week to offer this. Get this for you, for a friend, for a
daughter. I believe in Jesus' name that you're going to start
declaring: I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. Old things have
passed away. Behold, all things have become new, including my
new self-image and my promising new future. Don't look at the
years you've lost. Let's look at the years you've got left.
ANNOUNCER: You were fearfully and wonderfully made. You are
God's masterpiece and the apple of his eye and when you see
yourself the way God sees you, the limits on your life are
removed and your future comes alive. As a thank you for your
gift of $25 or more, Terri would like to send you the Build Your
Self-Image Package to help you grow your confidence and enjoy
your life. As you listen to your self-image affects your destiny
and 10 Tips to Build Your Body-Image and Self-Image,
you'll discover the truth about how your purpose can be limited
by your self-image. How to repair a damaged view of
yourself. How to live every day with a healthy self-image and
much more. Plus for a limited time, you'll also receive a
special declarations mirror cling to help you speak God's
Word over yourself every day. So don't wait, call
toll free, 800-795-5597. Or visit us online at terri.com.
TERRI: Icing means something added to
something good that makes it even better.
(Music)
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