I am your beloved.
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” -Colossians 3:12
Feeling worthy of love can be tough when you have believed so many lies about your identity. We tend to put labels on ourselves and others based on our wounds and history and, eventually, we start to act based on those lies we believe. Some of those lies can be “I am not worthy of love”, “no one will truly love me for who I am”, “I need to earn people’s love”, etc. and this is reflected not only in our relationships with others and ourselves but also and especially in our relationship with God. But the truth is that God seeks you, He thirsts for you. He wants you always. Your past does not define you.
How many times have we restrained ourselves from telling Him how we truly feel because we think he might be disappointed in us? How many times have we kept our frustration, anger, sadness, and grief to ourselves because we are “supposed to” be in a certain way with God? But isn’t God our Father? Isn’t He the one who deeply knows us and cares for us? Yes, He is! Isn’t God the one who loves us with everlasting and unchanging love? Yes, He is! God is not scared or scandalized by what is in your heart. Quite the opposite: He knows what is going on within you, He cares about it, and He takes off His sandals when He enters your heart because, for Him, it is holy ground. God loves you, cherishes you, and pursues you always. But He is also a gentleman and will not take what has not been given to Him, He will not enter where he has not been invited. So I’d like to encourage you to open your heart and tell Him “Lord, do you really love me? Because I don’t feel like it sometimes. Please reveal your love for me, Lord. Please fill my heart with your love and help me believe you when you tell me you love me. Please give me the grace to believe that you see me, and you choose me always. Lord, come into my heart and make it your home; take my hand and please never let go.”
How many times have we believed the lie that our past makes us less worthy of respect and love? How many times have we called ourselves in horrible ways, using words that we would not even think of using with our loved ones? How many times have we believed that we will never change for the better – that there is no hope for us? How many times have we believed that our past is so dark and we are so broken, that this is all that there is in life: misery, sadness, pain, and loneliness? In the name of Jesus, send those lies to hell, which is where they belong.
Today, my sister, I tell you, that no matter what has been done to you, no matter what decisions you have made, God cannot resist a contrite heart, and his mercy, although undeserving, is freely given to you and me. “Lord, you will open my lips; and my mouth will proclaim your praise. For you do not desire sacrifice or I would give it; a burnt offering you would not accept. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn.” – Psalm 51, 17-19 This is the God we believe in: a loving Father who is waiting and yearning for us.
If something weighs on your heart that you need to surrender to the Lord, I encourage you to go to confession. God is not mad at you; God is eager to receive you back in his arms over and over again. Believe me, I’ve been there so many times. God thirsts for you, wants you and longs for you. God deeply knows you and loves every fiber in you. God willed you into existence. He saw you and said, “She is so good.”
“In this way, the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.” -1 John 4, 9-10
Nothing, absolutely nothing will make God love you less. God does not change his opinion about you, He doesn’t call you by your sins, but by your name. God is not indifferent to your suffering, He suffers with you. God is not a careless God, He wants to provide for you. God is not a distant God, He knows what hurts and what consoles your heart.
No matter how many mistakes you have made, no matter how far away you feel from him, no matter how distant you have been from the church, He longs for you and is waiting for you with his arms wide open. He loves you. He delights in you. And no, you don’t have to earn his love.
If we only knew how much He loves us, we wouldn’t believe the lies the devil tells us. So let’s ask the Lord for the gift of faith, for a deeper trust in Him, so we can stop believing the lies that the world, the devil, and even ourselves have made us believe. Renounce to each one of them in the name of Jesus and declare the truth that
- You are loved
- You are seen
- Your past does not define you
- God’s love is unchangeable
- You are His precious, beloved daughter always
This is the truth.
