I've found my personal Bible verse for 2009 earlier this month and I'm so glad that I have one. It keeps me going every single day and motivates me to keep God's love in my every action.

I am just relieved that God has revealed to me my folly that I have been committing for the past years - trying to serve and love others with my own strength and knowledge.

It was a terribly hard thing to love others when I refuse to love myself. I thought I was confident and I was sure I am beautiful in God's eyes but the core mistake was that I DIDN'T LOVE MYSELF.

Loving myself doesn't mean indulging in shopping sprees, buying 100 pairs of shoes or eating boxes of Royce chocolates. It doesn't mean going for pedicures or manicures or whatever "cures".
Loving myself is about accepting whole-heartedly my flaws, my body and my personality, knowing that nothing can diminish God's unconditional love for me.
It's unconditional! Nothing I do or not do would add or subtract this sacrificial, agape love.

Love is such a powerful force. But love from God is one that truly liberates.

Here is my personal verse for 2009:
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:1-2 NLT