HEART MATTERS

“Do not let your adornment be merely outward-arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel-rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.” 1st Peter 3:3-4

Lately I’ve been thinking about how much has changed since I was growing up as a young girl/woman.  The challenges young women face today are much more difficult than our challenges just 30 or so years ago.  For certain, there are some struggles that have always been the same.  We women have always wrestled in one way or another with coming to a place of self acceptance and self love.  I believe The Lord created us to be both cherished and adored.  However when this fails to happen or something interrupts and distorts it, we’re left struggling to believe we’re deserving of it or always fighting to attain it. This life, flawed by sin, has a way with leaving of leaving us wanting  or with a warped sense of who we really are.  The deficiencies of life: abandonment, abuse, and rejection have critically affected the ability of some young women to believe they are in fact adorable. The sinful choices of others: absentee father’s, verbally abusive mothers, favoritism,(and the most vilest of all)-sexual molestation, have greatly disabled and blinded many others.   The darkness they’ve experienced has caused them to retreat into a damp and dirty cave of disbelief.  Many women today struggle to believe they could ever be considered lovable by another.  Even those who’ve had the good fortune not to have experienced any of the ugliness noted above are still forced to process a plethora of information from a media that’s determined to both define and degrade a women’s self-worth.

As I look at the bombardment of lies young women are facing today such as the promotion of body shaming, immodesty, and promiscuity, I desire to share the truth.  I want the next generation of women to know The Truth.  More than anyone, women of God need to encourage other young women to see themselves  the way The LORD sees us.  In this day and age we really need to be reminded of what true beauty is and just how precious we all are in the sight of the Lord!

YOU ARE WORTHY BECAUSE HE CREATED YOU:  The very fact you exist declares your value and worth to God.  You are His creation.  Your being is an expression of His creativity.  Your physical appearance is the mixture He sculpted from the parts He selected from your mom and dad’s DNA. You look exactly the way The LORD designed you to look.  I know the world says your nose should be smaller, your breast should be larger, your lips should be fuller, and your derriere could be bigger.  But who should you believe? The world that seeks to promote it’s own standard of beauty?  Or The Lord who has already declared His standard of beauty just for you?  Jesus wants you to know you are entirely beautiful to Him.  The personality you were born with is the disposition The Lord wanted you to have. If you’re naturally shy and introverted it’s because He created you that way.  If you’re effortlessly cerebral and pensive it’s because He created you that way.  If you can’t help being outgoing and extroverted it’s because He created you that way.  Sure the world has it’s standard of what makes a person acceptable, fun, and cool.  But who will you believe? The world that has a only a limited number of molds into which it would place us?  Or the Lord who broke the mold when He made you?  Whether your natural bend is sensitive, silly, or serious (or a combination of all three) love how He made you.  Jesus wants you to both accept and embrace who He created you to be.  The God-given beauty you were created with both inside and out is not to be determined, defined, or derailed in any way by anybody. You are worthy of adoration and love because He loves and adores you!

Remember: No one else has ever had your fingerprints and no one else ever will. 

Believe what The LORD says about you:  

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:27   

“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.  Psalm 139:14.  “

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you..” Jeremiah 1:5

“Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”  Isaiah 43:7

YOU ARE WORTHY BECAUSE HE WAS CRUCIFIED FOR YOU: Nothing declares your value more than the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you. The greatest declaration ever made of how worthy and lovely you are is summed up in Jesus’ last words on the cross “it is finished.” The Lord Jesus willingly laid His life down on the cross to offer you salvation for all eternity. He loves you so much He made it possible for you walk with Him every day of your life and ultimately to one day live with Him forever.  His provision and offer of salvation isn’t conditional on anything. All you have to do is believe. Jesus doesn’t’ require you to first try change anything about yourself-you can come as you are. The almighty God of the whole universe humbled Himself and left His glory in heaven to come to save you! You are adored, you are loved, you are worthy! He loves and adores you more than any other.  People will forsake, abandon and reject you. But the living God made a way for you to be reconciled to Himself.  People will betray and disappoint you. But Jesus is faithful and true.  People will harm and break you.  But Jesus will heal and restore you. The world may convey the message that your life is insignificant and not worth living.  But Christ’s cross says you were worth dying for.  So who will you believe? The voices of those who are flawed and tainted by sin?  Or will you listen to the voice of Truth?

Remember: You are so precious to God, Jesus came to purchase you with His very own blood.

Believe what the Lord says He did for you:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?  Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies”  Romans 8: 32-33

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 8:38-39

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:4-9

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”  2nd Peter 3:9

 YOU ARE WORTHY BECAUSE HE HAS CHOSEN YOU:  You were created for specific purposes which the Lord designed only for you to accomplish.  Everything about the way He created you contributes to the purposes He intends for you.  You were created by Him on purpose. You were created to accomplish His purposes. Your identity and your self worth is found in Christ alone.  The world may say you have to be a straight A student; you have to choose a lucrative career path; you have to graduate from college- in order to become a valuable member of society.  But God says you’re valuable because He’s made you a part of this society-all for His glory.  The world may say you have to attain to a certain social status, be a certain race, or acquire a certain level of wealth.  But the Lord says you are already rich because you are found in Him.  The world applauds those who have won recognition and fame for themselves.  But God affirms those who are willing to die to self in order to live for Him.  The world says step on whoever you need to to get to the top.  But God says humble yourselves and He will exalt you.  Jesus says “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Mark 9:35 God loves you so much He calls you into a close walk of fellowship and service right alongside of Him.  He adores you so much He has chosen you to play an important part in His amazing plan for this world.  If you’re in Christ, He has given you spiritual gifts that will equip you to allow His work to effortlessly flow in and through you.  The Lord has called you into His fold all because He loves and adores you. You have purpose-you are beautiful, adorable and loved.  You are worthy!

Remember: If Jesus had gained everyone except you He’d still passionately pursue you.       (He leaves the 99 to go after the 1. See Matt 18:12-14) 

Believe what the Lord has planned for you:  

“Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”  In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use.  Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.”  2nd Timothy 2:19-21

 “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.”  2nd Timothy 1:9

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”  2nd Corinthians 4:7

“You are My witnesses,” says the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am the LORD, And besides me there is no savior.”  Isaiah 43: 10

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom He predestined, theses He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”  Romans 8:28-30

“May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your purpose.” Psalm 20:4

“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:11-12 

“For I know the plans I have for you declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

HEART TO HEART:  GOD WANTS TO DELIVER YOU SO YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH YOUR DESTINY