Braveheart, hang on to your hat. Listen to this statistic. By the time you are 17 years old, You have heard the word no 150,000 times.

It's no wonder that we get stuck because we are programmed to think that we are not enough. Somebody once said it was some funny cartoon, he said, when it comes to believing in myself, I am an agnostic. Well said, right? I hope you're not an agnostic. I hope that you believe in yourself. That's what I want to talk to you about in just a few moments that we have together.

Do you believe in yourself? Have you been programmed with so much negativity? Hearing so many know if you've been programmed in a way to think cautious danger, don’t do it risk. Adverse, don't take the chance. Be Smart. Be wise. And yes, all those things are good advice. But sometimes that message keeps us from taking that leap of faith from doing that thing that we really believe in from going ahead and spreading our wings and getting out of the nest and jumping out of the comfort zone because we believe, I can't do it. I shouldn't do it. Somebody else can. It's good for them. But for me, it's dangerous. For me, it's risky. So what about it? How do you feel like you do? Are you an agnostic when it comes to believing in yourself? Or do you have a great healthy, good self-esteem?

I think the word self-esteem sometimes is overused and so we lose the nuances that are involved in it. But literally, it means for a Christian woman. Of course, we know that we have an identity in Christ, we believe in who we are. Because Jesus paid the price for us. We believe that we are we have a redemptive identity, that Jesus bought us with a price we believe that we have a creative identity that God created us. God doesn't make any junk.

As somebody once said to me, we believe that God made me to be beautiful and wonderful. What about self-identity? So listen, I was with a group of women not too long ago, and we were talking about this. For Christian women, they could say, Yes, I believe that God created me and that He created me to be wonderful. Yes, I believe that Jesus paid the price for me. He purchased me and I have an identity that's enhanced. So, I'm holy, and I'm righteous, and I'm good. I am worthy. I'm acceptable. Yes, I believe that the problem is the space with the self-identity.

What value do you place on yourself? Well, I know it's John Maxwell, who says this, if you put a low price on yourself, no one else will raise it for you. No one's coming along to raise or elevate the price tag that you've placed on yourself. This part of believing in yourself and believing in who God created you to be is enough? Yes, I say that. I love getting better. 1% better every day pushing myself to find my edge and going past it. All of those things are amazing. But what I am saying is identity. Is that who God created me to be? I don't have to be you. I don't have to be them. I don't have to hang my head low that I am well done. Yes, I am. Well done. God made me now what am I going to do with what he made? Am I going to let it sit and rest? No, I'm going to polish it. I'm going to perfect I'm going to keep going. I'm gonna keep getting 1% better every day. But I don't want to be an agnostic. I want to believe that within me, I have an intrinsic ability because of God to grow, develop, and keep going. And so I identify that I believe I bring something valuable to the table, that I believe my voice is important and should be heard that I believe that I have something of quality to offer something good to say.

What about you? You know who you are, you know who you are in Christ. But do you know that your voice is important? Do you know that your opinion matters? And that it's quite intriguing, do you know that the value that you bring and the unique perspective that you offer and the ideas that you share in the artistic slant that you have, or the logical piece that you bring, do you know that you are enough, just as God created you. I hope you don't think that what I'm saying is a paradox in some ways it is two things that can be true at the exact same time, I can rest at the end of the day, knowing that I am complete, that I am good that I am, who God crawled, called me and created me to be. And I can also wake up with the drive in the morning and say, Thank you, God, for all of that. Now with your help, I'm gonna press and push and keep growing.

Growth is part of the human experience. It's part of human nature. And it's part of our mission on this earth. When kids are little, we measure them, don't we, we put them up against a wall, we put a ruler next to and we say, Oh, my goodness, you're getting so big, and they smile. And they beam because growth is praised and growth is expected. And if we take our child to the doctor, and he says, There's something wrong, they're not growing, they're not developing, we get afraid. And we feel panic. And we start praying. And there's a concern. Why? Because growth is healthy. Healthy things grow. And healthy things change and healthy things develop and healthy things bloom and flourish and continue to grow. You don't get to a certain age and then just stop. So are you growing? Do you know that you can get rid of all of the long lines of knows and start saying yes to yourself? Yes, I can further my education. Yes, I can try this new hobby. Yes, I can invest in myself. Yes, I can still believe that I have great days ahead of me. In fact, it's my job to make sure that my future is just as brilliant and more exciting and shining and wonderful than everything that I've lived in the past. The past is gone. That's a cycle of life we have to discern the cycles, don't we? The past is gone. It's over. I can't live there anymore. I have the present. But in that fast, it'll be gone too.

So I have the future. What are you going to do with your future? Are you going to let your faith and your purpose and your design be thwarted? Because you start believing in a pack of noses. No, I can't do that. Or are you going to say no? What? I'm tired of the I can't-tations as I say, and I learned some of this from Tony Robbins. He used to say we got a lot of incantations, or I can't-stations. Well, how about some I can-tations I can do this. I can learn, I can do hard things. I can push myself. I can change my mind. Did you know you get to change your mind?

Let's be honest, sometimes as women, some of those little jokes, actually do get to us, Oh, that's women. She's just like the weather she's gonna change your mind. If you don't like what she says hang on a minute, she'll change your mind in a second. Then we tend to feel like we just want to get stuck and don't want to have the prerogative of changing our minds. But you can change. You can change what you believe in. You can grow. You can develop. You can mature. I used to think this. But today, I think this. So you can do hard things. You can change your mind. You can change your circumstances. You can change the outcomes. You can change your body. Gosh, I hope you don't believe the fact that your body is just what it is. And that's the end of it. You can still shape your body. See, you can't let that old woman get in your mind. You can't let that old mindset you can't let that negative, I can't do it mindset get in your mind.

This reminded me of the story in the Bible of the 12 spies that went to spy out the land. There were 12 of them. And we know that Joshua and Caleb were among them. If you're not familiar with that, you can read the story in the Old Testament of the spies in the book of Numbers, I believe it is, but they're those guys who are they're about to enter the promised land. And they go in they spy out the land and they see that the future is amazing. In other words, the fruit is great. The produce is incredible. Everything that offers it says it flows with milk and honey, the water, the waterfalls, the fountains, the streams, the produce the grapes, and the fruit all amazing day was all amazing.

At the end of 40 days, they come back and bring a report and 10 of the spies say it is exactly what God said. It's beautiful. It's amazing. But we can't do it. We can't take it. It's impossible. We can't do it. The other two guys, Joshua and Caleb stop and they say wait a minute, what are you talking about? What do you mean we can't do this? We certainly can we be able. We can do it.

Read the King James Version, they say, we can take this. We can absolutely possess this land, and the people around us got discouraged. Fear got in the inside of them. And discouragement got inside them to the very core of their being. They believed in the No, you can't do it. So they wandered. One year for every day, they lived in disobedience. 40 years in the desert, because they weren't willing to go after what God already said, was theirs.

So I want to ask you a question, braveheart. Are you saying no to your future? Are you sitting here looking at it and saying, that would be amazing? I see. The future could be incredible. It flows with milk and honey. Yes, all of these great things are available. If I put a little work into it. If I dug in if I ignored the nose. Yes, I know that I could have that. But I can't do it. I'm too tired. It's too late for me. Too much time has passed. I'm too old. My best days are behind me. It's your turn now. Let somebody else go for it. Besides that, I don't know that I have what it takes. I fill in it inadequately. Do you see how your identity starts to come into play? Because now all of a sudden, you're thinking I'm not enough. But guess what? You might also be not on purpose. But there may be some doubt in you that says God's not enough. Oh, I know up here He is. I know He's enough. I know, in my heart, God is enough. But my faith would be giving a message that says it's not enough. God's not enough. I'm not enough.

So how about you? Do you have a future out there? Do you have a dream that you would love to see come to pass? But you keep hearing the No, you can't do it. No, it's not for you. No, it's not your time. It's too late. You don't have enough money. Whatever it is. I'm not something enough. We all have heard those in our life. By the time you're 17 years old, you've heard 150,000 knows by the time you're 17. You've heard only five yeses. But what if we said okay, let's go with that statistic. What if we said you're going to get 30 noes for everyone? Yes. What if it is? How would you face failure? How would you face those noes differently? You wouldn't be saying, Ah, I just keep getting No, you'd say yes. That was one more. No. Another no another No. I only have four noes to go before my breakthrough.

Guys, let me tell you a secret. It won't be a secret and a hot second, because I'm gonna tell it to you. But I live that way at times. I recognize because I'm trying to take new territory I am trying to possess my land. I do want my future. I know you do, too. So when something happens, and a door closes, I'm gonna tell you what, this is not for sissies. This is for bravehearted women to go after a dream. It's for bravehearted women to stay persistent, and resilient, and to keep going because you're going to get your share of the nose. But if you'll just look at those, as I just mentioned, and say instead of, I'm being rejected, they don't like me. I don't belong. I'm not enough. Instead of that. Just go.

But there's something about when you speak a prophecy over your own name. You've got this, Debbie. You've got this, Denise. You've got this, Bonnie. You say it to yourself. Sherry, you got this. Margaret, you've got this, right? Say your name, and then quote your scripture. I want you to feed your spirit because pretty soon, Joshua and Caleb, the two spies that said, we can do it. We absolutely can do it. We know their name, don't we, Joshua and Caleb? But do you know the names of the other 10 spies? We don't. Nobody knows their name. But can I tell you that God knows their name, and their name is actually written in the Scriptures. They're all there, all their names are there. It's just, we don't remember them. Because I was gonna say the zeros, not the heroes. But the losers, the naysayers, those that believe in no more than they believe in yes. They don't change history. They don't make history. They don't do anything significant. They don't leave that legacy. They're not remembered.

I want you bravehearted woman, to leave your legacy. Leave your mark on this earth. I want you to know your identity, your creative identity, your redemptive identity, and your self-identity. Say, I'm going to believe everything that God said, is true about me. When I walk into a room, I'm going to hold my head up believing I bring value, I bring importance, I bring a unique perspective, and I have a great opinion on this. If I don't have an opinion on this, my presence and the wisdom that God has given me will suffice. I am enough. At the same time, I can learn, I can grow, and I can know more. I'm comfortable being and knowing that I'm alright, just as I am. And because of that, I still have a zeal to have more. Your yes is on the way. Leave your legacy. Make your mark in this world. Remember who you are. Don't be an agnostic, believe in yourself, and go after your goals and your dreams. Your YES is on the way. That's what I want to share with you today.

I want to offer you once again, my free gift. I want to give you my Brave Affirmations for an Abundant Life. If you don't know how to speak those powerful affirmations over yourself, I want to give you a free list of affirmations I change it very often. So even if you got it once before you can get it again. Hopefully, you're speaking to those in the mirror using your name on a regular basis.

Now before I let you go, I want to ask you to do this for me. Share on social media. Please follow me. Like me share this episode if you think it's valuable with someone else, and then share it on social media. That snapshot lets people know that you listen to Dawn Damon, the Braveheart Mentor and that you get your dose of encouragement and mentoring and bravery every week right here on Apple iTunes, on Spotify, on Stitcher on Captivate, and on Google.

All right, my bravehearted sister, that's what I have for you today. I'm going to leave you like I always do. You know, it's funny, I say that I'm gonna leave you like I always do. Then I actually change it every week, because I'm going to leave you like I do every week wondering what I'm going to say. Here's what I'm gonna save you this. You are so worth it. Get my free gift and get my download. And here goes, I hope that you indeed will find your brave. Okay, find your brave and live your vision!