You are remarkable.
You are amazing.
You are loved.
You are loved.
You are loved.
You are the apple of His eye, and He adores you.
GOD. ADORES. YOU.
Did you hear? God adores you, and you are HIS BELOVED.
PRECIOUS.
TREASURE.
DARLING.
PRIZED.
CHERISHED.
DEAR.
YOU.
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Is it difficult for you to believe in His love for you? His fondness? His affection?
YOU MAY THINK GOD'S LOVE IS BLACK AND WHITE, AND YOU ARE ENSNARED IN THE BLACK OF IT FAR MORE THAN THE WHITE... BUT IT ISN'T TRUE... IT ISN'T.
I know what you're probably doing right now, because I do it, too. That running list. YOU KNOW. The list of all the horrible {and not-so-horrible} things you've ever thought or done. Those unspeakable things that have been done to you that rattled you to the core...that still rattle you to the core. The endless scroll that continues to grow and grow...
YOU REMEMBER...
You know that time where you were stuck in the sludge of sin and you couldn't break free. Sin is like that. It's a poisonous cloud that shrouds the truth. Sometimes you break free. Sometimes you don't.
Remember the malicious words spoken to you and over you, all the teasing and mistreatment... the downright abuse. Those words were meant to leave you wounded, feeling worthless, less than. INADEQUATE. And they did. Words, vicious and seething, cut to the soul of who you are. Physical wounds heal, but gaping soul wounds caused by word weapons don't ever really heal, do they?
Maybe you were violated, and your innocence was stolen? Maybe you've been abandoned? Maybe you've been betrayed? Perhaps YOU ARE the violator, the abandoner, the betrayer?
PERHAPS YOU LACK...
Self-respect. Self-esteem. Courage. Empathy. Sympathy. Grace. Truth. Kindness. Trust. Integrity.
INTEGRITY is a secret thing sometimes, isn't it? Only you know what really goes on in your heart. Only you really know who you are and who others perceive you to be, and how different those are from each other.
YOU, the " BLACK SHEEP" and YOU, the "SECRET BLACK SHEEP"... Only you know where you've been, what you've done, what you've thought, and how you've truly lived.
Wine. Booze. Drugs. Food. What's your vice? Sex. Too much. Too little. Too soon. Pornography. Control. PRIDE. Adultery. Slander. Gossip. Anger. Aggression. GREED. Arrogance. Hate. Fear. Malice. Manipulation. Abortion. Indifference. Entitlement.
Wandering eyes. Venomous tongue. Ragged heart. Battered soul. Grief-stricken. Sorrow-filled. Devastated.
FAILURE. Failed relationships, failed marriages, failed friendships, failed jobs, failed finances, failed projects, failed goals, failed parenting.
OHHH THIS LIST...
This ugly list goes on and on and on and on... BUT these things. These things have a way of haunting us, don't they? SIGH. Who are you, and where are you among these chains?
***********
Is your soul heart-sick over religion? Has your image of God gotten muddied by the church...by misguided Christians? BUT religion isn't really God is it? Church really isn't God. Christians are not God.
I'M TALKING TO JUST YOU... ABOUT JUST GOD.
If you think He is sitting behind a judge's bench waiting to slam down the gavel and write it in the books every time you mess up, you are wrong.
It seems we are certain that this messy list will hold us to account and nail us down. Some things you've chosen, some things you haven't, but it's all part of that running list that builds a wall brick-by-brick between us and God. The fatality of this list is not that we have been wounded or that we have failed, the fatality is that it has the power to keep you from the very thing that will free you from it... THE LOVE OF GOD.
You are blemished. Yes.
You are broken. Yes.
YOU HAVE FAILED. YOU ARE FLAWED. YOU ARE IMPERFECT. YOU ARE FRAYED, AND YOU ALWAYS, ALWAYS WILL BE.
God knows this.
The truth is, sometimes it's easier to justify WHY we are unlovable to God, than to ACTUALLY BELIEVE, deep in the marrow of our soul, THAT HE DOES LOVE US, chooses us, is tender towards us, adores us, LIKES us.
Right now He doesn't care where you've been or where you're going. He was there then, and He's already ahead of where you are now. Right now what He cares about is you... in this moment...
IN THIS MOMENT, THE ONLY THING HE WANTS IS FOR YOU TO COME...
COME TO HIM AND...
LET HIM LOVE YOU.
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"The KINDNESS of God leads you to repentance." (Romans 2:4)
"He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west." (Psalm 103:12)
"I am convinced that NOTHING CAN EVER SEPARATE US FROM GOD'S LOVE. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)
"The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with UNFAILING LOVE." (Psalm 145:8)
"Keep me as the apple of your eye..." (Psalm 17:8)
***********
You are remarkable.
You are amazing.
You are loved.
You are loved.
You are loved.
You are the apple of His eye, and He adores you.
GOD. ADORES. YOU.
Did you hear? God adores you, and you are HIS BELOVED.
PRECIOUS.
TREASURE.
DARLING.
PRIZED.
CHERISHED.
DEAR.
YOU.
LET HIM LOVE YOU...
LET HIM LOVE YOU...
LET HIM LOVE YOU...
Because He does.
***********
All is grace,
