Praying for Self-Confidence

There are many different aspects involved in creating our sense of self-confidence. Most of us are quite aware of the big obvious pieces like whether or not our childhoods created a strong foundation to build upon or not. We know that a string of broken hearts can begin eroding what confidence we may have had and that a loving supportive spouse can be our greatest asset in the belief that we can do anything we set our minds to. We know that succeeding at our goals also adds a wonderfully rich layer towards our overall sense of self-confidence. One aspect that often goes overlooked is how our spiritual beliefs hold a hidden resource that can keep us going when all else fails. For the sake of consistency, I'm going to refer to angels in this article because most religions believe in angels and they are a universal concept that most of us can easily embrace. Angels can refer to God's messengers, spirit guides, goddesses, and a whole lot of other terms. So as not to confuse the issue, I'll define angels to mean whoever or whatever entity that watches over you from the spirit world. You may or may not have a spoken dialog set up with them, but you know who it is that you call out to for help when things look ugly. How do your guardian angels give you self-confidence? The only way you can really answer that question is by testing them. Take safe little leaps of faith and see what happens. This has nothing whatsoever to do with getting everything you ask for. This isn't about saying 'Okay angels, give me $1000 in tomorrow's mail' and having it actually happen. This is about you taking action in faith that they will catch you if you fall. Don't start out big with something outrageous like quitting your job after buying a lottery ticket on the assumption that the angels will make sure your numbers are the ones called. Start out with something small like asking for their help when studying for the next test so that you can improve upon your scores. Ask for protection while driving, so that they will forewarn you when someone is about to cut you off in traffic without turning on their blinkers. Ask them to guide you in your career choices so that you find work that is emotionally and financially fulfilling. Ask them to help you to stay healthy and to help you to monitor your daily health habits. Try these types of safe little experiments and see if you can tell that they are making a difference. You are still going about your life like you normally do, but you are opening your mind to watching for signs of divine intervention on your behalf. It's very important that you understand that they are seldom going to do huge big obvious things that are undeniably of a supremely celestial nature. Most of the time if you're paying attention, you will feel a flutter of intuition in the pit of your stomach that guides you as to which choice they want you to take. Sometimes you hear a slight hint of a whisper telling you when someone is lying to you that would take advantage of you if given half a chance. You may get a slight panic feeling that tells you to put your foot on the break for no good reason... only to have someone almost sideswipe you on the freeway if you hadn't done so. You'll think of someone that you haven't talk to in a long time just before the telephone rings and they are on the other end offering you the job of your dreams. It's so very subtle and tiny that you could easily write it off as coincidence. However, test the coincidence factor. Tell your guides that you want them to stop helping, guiding, and protecting you for this purpose. Watch and you will see that those little coincidences stop happening. After a week or so, you can ask them to start looking out for your best interest again and promise to pay attention to those little signs that they are indeed watching over you. You may never ever see a vision of your angels and you may never hear their voice, but you will know when they're there working on your behalf. Run as many tests as you like for as long as you like, they don't mind. Eventually, there will come a time when you will realize that you are protected and that you are flowing along smoothly with life and not fighting against the flow of things. A lot of emotional stress, interpersonal problems, and financial burdens will most likely fall by the wayside. Your life will become quite a bit easier and only those challenges which are meant to teach, empower, and strengthen you will be allowed into your awareness. It becomes impossible to deny those little whispers, nudges, gut feelings, and instincts any longer. You will come to accept them as proof that you do have guardian angels looking over you and you will be comforted and empowered by it. With this awareness of angelic protection and guidance comes a sense of self-confidence that is different from normal confidence. You know that you are walking within your divinity. You are at peace with the heavens and are loved and cared for at a deeply spiritual level. You don't always have to believe in yourself if you know that they are looking out for you. You will not be afraid to stretch out beyond your comfort zone if you know that your guardian angels have agreed that it's a good idea for you to reach out to this new level. You will know that even if you fall flat on your face, that they will help you to get back up, dust yourself off, and get back into the game of life. You are never really alone. Copyright 2005, Skye Thomas, Tomorrow's Edge