Approval Addiction
Chapter One
Facing Fear and Finding Freedom
The first step in understanding an out-of-balance need for approval
is to understand fear. The variety of fears people deal with is
endless, but an important one I discovered in my own life-and one
you may be dealing with yourself-is the fear of not being pleasing
to God. If you have been hurt and wounded by people who were
difficult or even impossible to please, you may think God is the
same way. He isn't! It is not as difficult to please God as we may
think it is. Simple, childlike faith pleases Him. He already knows
we will not behave perfectly all the time. That is why He sent Jesus
to pay for our failures and mistakes.
As I said in the Introduction, I struggled and suffered in
frustration many years trying to please God with good, or even
perfect, behavior. At the same time I was always fearful I was
failing. It seemed no matter what I did right, I always saw
something I was doing wrong. I never felt good enough; no matter
what I did, I always felt as if I needed to do more. I felt God was
displeased with me, and even though that was not ac ... read full excerpt from Approval Addiction: Overcoming Your Need to Please Everyone ebook
