For a long time I didn't believe I was worthy of love. I believed it was something I had to earn; if I could behave in just the right way, do all the right things, and present myself in just the right way then I would be worthy. It seemed completely foreign to accept I was loved just for being me and that nothing I could do could make God love me more or less. Why was that? I believe it's rooted in acceptance.
The world (and sometimes the people in my life) didn't accept me as I was so I believed I was unworthy. This false belief caused me to always "do" to the detriment of my own health and well-being. From the moment I woke up, to the moment I fell into bed, I was either taking care of everyone else or taking care to be sure I was living up to some impossible standard. I was actually participating in the chaos because I believed making everyone else happy was the way to find peace: if I did enough to be loved then I could relax... only I could never achieve enough and pace never came.
I wonder if its the same for you. Have you been beaten down by trying to keep up with unrealistic expectations and have come to believe you are unworthy of love because those expectations can never be satisfied? The good news is that we can chose to stop that sort of thinking. We can choose to stop believing we are unworthy, stop believing we must "do" to be loved, and stop engaging in behaviors that are detrimental to our health.
How? Learn the truth of who God says you are and choose to believe that truth over the lies.
This is an excerpt from Cultivating Peace:Receiving God's Peace within Your Chaos.