God-formations: Why I'm No Longer Affirming Myself

I’ve been reflecting deeply on how I live my life and how I run my business. And if I’m honest, I realized something unsettling: in trying to blend in—even within Christian spaces—I was slowly drifting away from who God actually formed me to be.

I don't want to follow trends.

I don’t want to borrow language from the world and simply place Scripture on top.

I don’t want to speak about faith in a way that sounds safe but lacks conviction.

Somewhere along the way, I began noticing that affirmations, even well-intended ones, were quietly placing a weight of becoming on me. They asked me to declare strength, worth, and confidence from my own reserve. And when that reserve fell short, comparison and disappointment followed.

It wasn’t because I didn’t believe enough. I was tired of being disappointed in myself.

The exhaustion I’m describing wasn’t burnout. It was the fatigue that comes from carrying responsibility God never assigned to me.

It was the quiet weariness of self-monitoring—Am I believing enough?

The strain of self-correcting—Why can’t I think better, stronger, holier thoughts?

And the burden of trying to sustain faith through my own effort—If I say the right words enough times, I’ll finally feel secure and God will bless me.

That kind of exhaustion doesn’t come from too little faith. It comes from placing faith in the wrong place.

I didn't need more positive thinking—I needed to reset my mind toward surrender; and rest would not come from trying harder to think differently, but from allowing my thoughts to be re-formed by truth and anchored in how God had already formed me.

Scripture reminds us that formation has never been a self-directed process. In Genesis, God is the One who forms and creates. In Galatians, we are instructed to tend to the work God has given us—without measuring ourselves against others.

So I began shifting my language—and my practice—from affirmations to God-formations.

God-formations are not statements we repeat to convince ourselves of worth. They are truths we return to because God has already declared them.

They anchor us not in self-sufficiency, but in surrender.

I am not enough on my own—and that was never God’s expectation. But I am formed, sustained, and strengthened by Christ.

And that is more than enough.

Peacefully,

Dr. Mel