Encouragement

---

Your husband left you for another woman or simply got tired of you. How much are you worth? Your children hate you; they want to move out and live alone. How much are you worth? You’re unemployed or simply broke. How much are you worth? You’re a loner; nobody ever seems interested in you. How much are you worth?

Unfortunately many of us don’t realise our worth and when faced with the above questions, the first answer that springs to mind is: ‘I’m not worth much’. And so we settle for less and less every time… ‘As long as I can keep seeing my husband even though he’s with another woman’… ‘As long as my children have the best, even if they never speak to me again’… ‘As long as I get by with the little I have’… ‘As long as I find a partner, whoever he may be’…

And there lies the problem with many, many women. I guess we could even call this type of attitude, ‘the settlers attitude’. The problem with ‘settling’, besides the fact that you get stuck with the worst, is that you never actually get to experience the best things in life.

Take an unfortunate girl brought up in a family where there was abuse. Since her past did not give her much to hope for, she decides that she may as well accept the fact that her future will probably be the same.

I used to settle for the thought of being a useless woman –well completely inadequate. I had so much to offer young women my age, but I held back, thinking that I didn’t have what it took. I was shy and whenever I opened my mouth to speak, I’d run red (I still do!). And to make matters worse, people actually laughed at me for it.

As a result I simply kept I’d keep myself quiet, holding on to all the things that God had given to me, hoping that one day my shyness would simply disappear. And you know what? It still hasn’t gone! Imagine if I was still waiting! When we think we don’t deserve better or that we’re not capable of better, we lose out on precious opportunities in life.

It’s like a single woman who settles for the first guy that comes her way simply to avoid being single for the rest of her life. Or the girl who is pressured into losing her virginity to prove that she loves her boyfriend.

Isn’t that another way of settling for less? You don’t insist on better because you think real life can only give you so much? NO, NO, and NO! As certain as God is real, you can have everything you wish for. If it’s good; if there’s no harm in it; if it won’t hurt you, then why not?

Live your life to the fullest. Take advantage of it. Go for the best. Do what you think you can’t do. Get what they say you can never have. Be who you never thought you could be. The power for all these things is inside you and only you can decide to use it.

But of course, the easiest way is to settle for less, that’s why successful people are so hard to find. If you don’t like to sacrifice, you can rejoice because settlers don’t ever sacrifice. You can just take whatever life throws your way—thorns and all. You can endure the pain, regardless of what could have been.

It’s your call.

In faith,
Cristiane Cardoso
www.cristianecardoso.com

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE