“It’s the end of a decade, but the start of an age.” – Taylor Swift
As a girl who likes a lot of pomp and circumstance in her life, heralding in a new decade seemed like a good excuse to celebrate the one practice that has changed my life – allowing me to replace the insecurity that had long plagued me with an infusion of confidence.
Like many women, I spent much of my life battling an inner-monologue that whispered I wasn’t good enough, or talented enough, or pretty enough – or worth the effort. It was crippling to my confidence, to my self-esteem, and to my faith. I was my own worst mean girl.
One of the best ways to rewrite the narrative that makes us feel inadequate, insecure, or ill-equipped is to replace our negative inner monologue with steadfast truths using scripture affirmations. ㅤ
“Replacing our inner critic with words that speak truth and life is the first step to overcoming our insecurity. Listen to what God says about us, about you, and put that refrain on repeat like a record until it becomes your heart song.”
– Kayla Aimee, In Bloom
This is how you cultivate confidence and embrace your unique God-given gifts and personality – by aligning your core beliefs with what scripture says about who you are.
The thing I struggled the most with about affirmations is that I simply couldn’t make myself believe them. Telling myself something was never strong enough to overcome the deep pull of emotions I was experiencing. I’m real emotional, y’all. I know you are very shocked by that admission. You definitely were under the impression that I’m just super calm and collected and never randomly cry in the produce aisle, am I right? I personally enjoy positively reframing my emotionalness as passion but I did need to match the intensity of my own inner critic to something life-giving. And luckily, scripture is full of promises that counter our own negative thinking with truths that endure.
So here is what worked for me in helping to radically shift my mindset so that I could be less “strive” and more abide:
3 Simple Steps to Effective Scripture Affirmations
1. Identify your negative emotion
The purpose of scriptural affirmations is to replace our negative thoughts with words of encouragement. Identifying the way you are feeling means that you can target the source of what is causing your inner critic to flair up – and speak truth to directly counter the yucky thing you’re saying about yourself.
I am very bad at identifying my own emotions. As in, one time my therapist gave me a printed list of emotions + definitions to use as a cheat sheet on account of how bad I am at it. This is because I do not like to be vulnerable, probably because I am an Enneagram 3 and also trauma. So what I do is, I write whole books full of all my most vulnerable feelings and publish them for the entire world to see. I am an enigma and a mystery.
But learning to give name to my negative emotions was critical to learning how to reduce their power over me.
So when I worked with my publisher to design the scripture affirmations, I created the entire set to pair a bible verse directly with the negative thought it speaks to. For example:
Every time you feel undesirable or ill-equipped or alone or hopeless or any number of emotions that cast a shadow in your soul, there is a promise in scripture that assures your worth and your way and your weight in the world. And as you seek them, you’ll replace those thoughts, slowly but surely with a mindset that mimics the Almighty – rather than your inner mean girl.
2. Practice affirmations in your mirror
I used to write my affirmations on my mirror with a dry erase marker and the thing about that is, I did not take into account what happens to dry erase marker ink once the shower steam hits it. It’s not at all alarming to the people who live with me when they walk in the bathroom and find bright pink ink dripping slowly down the mirror into the sink.
Printing out the affirmations on paper is a much better plan. Because then you can just tape them to your mirror, which is way less creepy, and also stick them anywhere else you need an uplifting reminder. Are there half a dozen affirmation cards stuck to my dashboard? Yes, yes there are.
But also, research shows that looking at yourself in the mirror while saying affirmations out loud helps to reinforce the belief.* And sure at first I felt a little bit awkward talking to myself in the mirror, but then I thought about how I win fake arguments with people who aggrieved me in the mirror basically all the time. So saying nice things about myself that are based in the literal bible is probably a way healthier option or something. (Although if I ever run into that one lady that was super rude to me in the grocery store the other day again, Mirror Me has the perfect sassy comeback ready.)
(There’s a reason my latest book is called “In Bloom” emphasis on the in, y’all. IT’S A PROCESS. Also, she was like, REALLY rude.)
Truly, keeping these little heart notes in places where I can see them throughout the day serves as a touchstone for me and also helps me reset when I need something to anchor me.
3. Track your progress
I really love checking things off lists. Sometimes I do a bunch of things and then write them down afterward just for the satisfaction of checking them off. I realize this defeats the purpose of list-making but that’s neither here nor there. What’s important is the idea of following a practice, the sacred repetition that builds endurance.
Repetition is integral to the process of making progress.
If you keep note of when you experience certain emotions, over time you will begin to see the shift in your thought patterns. For me, it meant a change from cowering to thoughts about my negative self worth to embracing the unique gifts God created in me, so that I could confidently abide in my faith.
Get Started Growing in Confidence
If you want to start the new decade trading restless insecurity for abiding confidence and get this gorgeous set of 25 scripture affirmation cards then you need to put my latest book on your nightstand stat.
It’s called In Bloom: Trading Restless Insecurity for Abiding Confidence (see what I did there?) and it also comes with a set of journaling pages + prompts to help you track your progress.
Throughout In Bloom, I share about how to identify the sources of our insecurities and pair them with positive, hope-filled promises to reflect on. And so this beautiful set of printable scripture affirmation cards is included with every purchase of the book, so that you can take the lessons found inside and put them into practice. ㅤ
This book is for every woman who has ever felt insecure or inadequate. It is a hope + humor filled invitation to rewrite our inner monologue, to tame our inner critic, and to celebrate our unique personality. To replace a restless need for approval with affirmations of acceptance. ㅤ
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It is a story about becoming free from shame and comparison and about turning our self-doubt and uncertainty into a bold confidence. It is an invitation to laugh-out-loud and it is an invitation to flourish.
Personally, and I am quite biased, I think it’s the perfect way to start the decade.
Want the affirmation cards?
The printable card set is available as a gift when you purchase In Bloom! Here’s how to get them:
Get your copy of In Bloom and the link to the cards is right inside the back cover. You can pick up the book at – well anywhere books are sold actually – but to make it super easy to start reading right this very second (or start listening if audiobooks are your thing and you want to hear me read to you) you can snag a copy here:
Here’s to the decade where we bloom 🌼
