We make promises to other people throughout our lives. When we are young, if we get confirmed, we promise the church that we will be faithful members.  If we get married, we promise our spouse that we will love and cherish him or her.  And if we buy a house and get a mortgage, we promise the bank that we will make loan payments every month.

We make all kinds of promises to others, but do we make similar commitments to ourselves?  Do we commit to taking care of our own needs?  Below are two promises that you should make to yourself. Make a commitment today to love, honor and cherish You.

I Promise Not to Give Others the Power to Undermine My Confidence: We unfortunately live in a world in which people will say things, either intentionally or unintentionally, which undermine our self-confidence.  These comments can be in the form of back-handed compliments.  “Oh, your hair looks good today.” Or false expressions of concern.  “You look tired.  Is everything OK?”  Or they may come in the guise of well-meaning advice. “I know you want to pursue your dream of becoming a musician.  But you’ll be discouraged if you try. No one makes it.  You should do something more practical.”

For whatever reason, many people have difficulty saying an encouraging word. Worse yet, some people are negative by nature.  If you allow yourself to be affected by the comments of these people, you naturally will get discouraged.

You have to promise yourself that you will not allow the comments of others to affect your self-esteem. That is hard to do.  After many years of thinking about this issue, I know of only one solution: Listen only to God.

God made you the way you are for a reason. He made you a certain height, and He gave you certain skin color and hair color for a reason.  He also gave you certain talents for a reason.  You are perfect in His eyes!  Don’t question God’s handiwork, and certainly don’t listen to anyone else who does.

Now if there are areas of your character that God wants you to improve, He will let you know. God doesn’t hide from us where we need to better ourselves.  But it is God’s job to guide you on that path; it is not the job of other people.

Remember that God, the creator of all things, loves you unconditionally. So, why place so much stock in the opinions of others?  Instead, focus on God.  And know that His is the only opinion that truly matters.

I Promise to Never Give Up on My Dreams: God has a good plan for every person’s life.  And God plants dreams in our hearts in order to inspire us to fulfill that plan.

For instance, God gave me a love of books. Then, at a certain point, He put a dream in my heart to not just read, but to write.  And since that time, I’ve followed that dream with the hope of using my writing to serve Him.

What is exciting about following your dreams is that you don’t know where they may lead.  When I was in high school, I had a dream to go to college.  However, I wasn’t sure how I was going to pay for it.  I ended up going to the University of Toronto because it was the only financially feasible option for me.  While there, I ended up having three remarkable New Testament professors who inspired me and changed how I viewed the Bible.  God’s hand was at work when he placed me at that university.

It is always a leap of faith when we say “Yes” to God.  But when we pursue our God-inspired dreams, amazing and unexpected things can happen.  Our actions mixed with divine intervention can produce incredible results.

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In life, we promise the sun, moon and stars to others. It is well worth it to also make some bold commitments to yourself.  Commit to putting God first and to believing that He has a good plan for your life.  And commit to using all your energy and talent to fulfilling God’s purpose for your life here on earth.

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