Mirror of Truth

How To Get The Most Out of This Study page 1
Stop ~ Look ~ Ask ~ Change

Week One: CONFIDENCE page 5
Know Who You Are ~ Know Who God Is

Week Two: CONFIDENCE page 45
Know Who You Are In God

Week Three: FREEDOM page 85
Freedom From The Captivity Lands of Sin

Week Four: FREEDOM page 134
What Freedom Needs ~ Where Freedom Leads

Week Five: INFLUENCE page 178
Being Marked By Him

Week Six: INFLUENCE page 228
Leaving His Mark

Last Day Together page 274


Confidence: Day One
Act on Your Awareness - Confidence is Beautiful

The Confidence of Esther

You are invited to come away from the noise of life and invest in your soul. Ask God to quiet your mind and open your ears to hear His message for you today.


Where to begin, where to begin? It’s not as easy as you think when, out of sheer anticipation, my heart and mind are both spouting out ideas right and left. That’s why I’ve decided to start with YOU instead! Please help me get to know you a little better. (and perhaps you might gain a few insights as well)

How Badly do You Want to be the Following?
Rate each statement, one being the least importance and five being the highest. Then circle the two qualities you desire most.

I want to be a BRAVE young woman.
1 2 3 4 5

I want to be a WISE young woman.
1 2 3 4 5
I want to be a SECURE young woman.
1 2 3 4 5

I want to be a BEAUTIFUL young woman.
1 2 3 4 5

I want to be a STRONG young woman.
1 2 3 4 5

I want to be a young woman who KNOWS WHAT SHE CARES ABOUT.
1 2 3 4 5

I want to be a LOVED young woman.
1 2 3 4 5

I want to be a young woman who KNOWS HER PURPOSE in life.
1 2 3 4 5

I want to be a HUMBLE young woman.
1 2 3 4 5

I want to be a young woman who UNDERSTANDS HERSELF.
1 2 3 4 5

Thank you so much for your honesty, and for considering what kind of woman you really want to be.

If I took a survey and asked all of you whether you would rather be “Confident” or “Insecure” the rest of your life, I would be wasting my time. Nobody wants to be insecure. Nobody likes feeling insignificant. Nobody cares to always question themselves. Nobody wants to explain their every action or constantly feel defensive. Nobody enjoys avoiding life or just watching it go by. Nobody desires to sabotage their own success. Nobody can handle being self-absorbed 24/7. And, yet, the Land of Insecurity is where so many of us women live - both young and old.

However, most of us have never been given a map or directions on how to get out of this Land of Insecurity. There aren’t any courses titled Becoming Confident 101 at any high school that I’m aware of. Nor is there a reality TV show on Fox called Miss Confident Woman. So, where or how do we start?

Making it Clear
What Confidence is:
Write two synonyms for the word confidence:


Webster’s dictionary defines confidence as “the feeling or consciousness of one’ s powers or of one’s reliance on circumstances; the quality or state of being certain”. *1 Let me share with you my definition that I’ve gained over time.

My definition for confidence has four components. When I am confident, I am...
Aware of who I am
Aware of who God is
Aware of who I am in God
Aware of what I need to change in order to become all God intended me to be

What Confidence is Not:
What are the first two antonyms for confidence that come to mind?

Don’t be mistaken! When we talk about being confident, we are not talking about the following:
Arrogance
Superiority
Overbearing personality
A Know-it-all
Pushiness
Hierarchy

Benefits Galore

So, let’s take a moment & look at what accompanies Confidence. In other words, if you were applying to become a “Confident Woman”, what would be the benefits? Let’s name a few...

Role model to others
Leader in kindness
Possesses inner strength
Breeds goodwill
Creates atmosphere of harmony
Mature lover of people
Involved in healthy relationships
Courage to dream
Requires you to respect her boundaries
Free from chains of insecurity
Increased performance
Emotional maturity
Courage to fail
Improves health
Courage to succeed


Does that not sound like the most amazing Benefits Package out there?? All I can say is that we should be trying to cut to the front of the line to get these!

Gaze into the truths of God’s Word and take note of what resonates with you.

A Special Introduction

Let me introduce you to a woman who I believe has all four components of confidence--not perfectly mind you--but a Jewish orphaned girl who came out of nowhere and grew into a confident Persian queen. Her birth name is Hadasseh-- but she became Queen Esther, a woman who wore her beauty.

We don’t have much time, in the sense that we could spend months studying this amazing woman. So we will choose to spend this day gleaning as much as we can from her life. I want you to imagine sitting across from her at one of Starbucks’ small tables... you and her will have one hour to talk. It will be a time for you to ask questions and for her to share the most critical period of her life. She will disclose how she would never in a million years have imagined herself in the moments that she found herself in, and how each of her choices revealed the woman she was destined to be.