You are loved.

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What would happen if I told you, "You are loved."  Would you believe me?  Would you laugh at me?  Would you try to redirect my acceptance of your flaws, transgressions, and failures?  Would you turn away and seek lesser love?

Then why is it, that we treat God's love for us with the same disregard?

In a moment of vulnerability that thought hit me HARD today as I doubted my worthiness to receive such love.  Not the devotive love that our parents or dearest friends show us, but a much deeper love.  I shriveled at the idea that someone would choose to love me.  Could they still love me if they knew that I have failed?  That I don't always wear makeup?  That I'm more often Martha than Mary?

But . . . then a small voice spoke, "You are loved."  Really, me?  How, why?

"Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven. (1 John 4:8-10)

Wow.  There is so much hope that comes from knowing the love the Lord has for us.  To understand that my worth is not found in me, but Him?  Whether or not I understand the capacity, I am loved.  On days when I wear makeup and on days when I don't.  I am loved, not for something that I did...but because something that was done for me.  Nothing I do could change His mind.  I didn't have to earn it.  It won't be taken away if I falter.  Every moment of every day, I am loved.  And there is good news for you, too.

You are loved.  Notice that period that ends that statement...it stands in the way of continuation.  There is nothing further that God needs to add to that statement.  There is no need to use a colon to list parameters of our worthiness.  There is no question mark that requires a defensive answer--to put our past up for consideration that could change His mind.  God means that statement--that as you are, sins considered, "You are loved."

I pray that wherever you are today, that you are reminded of God's love for you.  I pray that you can fully experience the grace extended to us.  May the love that is shown to you, be shown through you.  As you walk through low valleys and mountain tops, that you never doubt your worthiness.  Praise be! 

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beauty for the taking

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if there is one thing that i have just began to understand, it is that God made everything beautiful.  whoa, say what?!?  for serious though.  yeah it is easy to see the beautiful trees, feel the beautiful breeze on a sunny day, or hear the beautiful laugh of a baby, but to look in the mirror and see beauty: doubtful.

and that is something that i have personally struggled with for the past...five years.  five years of my life have been wasted away thinking that i'm not pretty enough, i'm not rich enough, that i'm not enough.  well, enough IS enough!

it's time that we take responsibility for what we are and what we are not.  for me, this means flushing out the lies that have been told to me and start listening to the truth.  it means, stop doing what i don't want to become.  it means start following the dreams that i've been dreaming.

a lot of who i am today has been shaped by the things that God has began to show me.  it says in His word that He has made everything beautiful in its time {Ecclesiastes 3:11}.  and with that being said, my time--YOUR time--is now.  God has made YOU beautiful for this time, so...

do not let your adorning be external--the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear--buy let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. {1 Peter 3:3-4}

inside you is a beauty so precious, so gentle, and so quiet that sometimes we can't even see it ourselves.  but even though we can't see it all the time, God does.  this reminds me of my favorite verse, found in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 16-18:

therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

beauty is out there and it is also in you.  it is there for the taking.  so what? five years of my life have been wasted away...to be honest, my whole life is wasting away at this moment.  but each day i am being renewed by Gods love and grace.  and by fixing my eyes on the things unseen, i have begun to truly understand the promises of God.
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