You don’t have to know me well to know that I love orchids and they are my thing. Each time one of my many orchids rebloom. I’m posting a picture on social media like a proud momma. Right now, I have 3 in full bloom and 2 with buds. They line the windowsill behind my corner kitchen sink, getting light from 2 sides. They are my pride and joy.
This morning when I was making breakfast, I walked over to the sink and they caught my eye. In my thoughts I was noting how beautiful they each were in their own way. Each has a different color bloom with a different pattern. I was appreciating their individual uniqueness. I was looking for their uniqueness actually so that I could admire it.
As I was doing that, I heard a whisper in my ear say, “I look at you like that too.” It was Holy Spirit.
I felt a Holy Spirit hug in that moment, full of love. He wasn’t looking for or at my faults and believe me, I have plenty! He was seeing me…and loving me still, appreciating and admiring my uniqueness- all of those things that make me…ME!
One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Psalm 139. I particularly love The Passion Translation. Let me share snippets with you…
1 Lord, you know everything there is to know about me.
2 You perceive every movement of my heart and soul, and you understand my every thought before it even enters my mind.
3-4 You are so intimately aware of me, Lord. You read my heart like an open book and you know all the words I’m about to speak before I even start a sentence! You know every step I will take before my journey even begins.
6 This is just too wonderful, deep, and incomprehensible! Your understanding of me brings me wonder and strength.
13 You formed my innermost being, shaping my delicate inside and my intricate outside, and wove them all together in my mother’s womb.
14 I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex! Everything you do is marvelously breathtaking. It simply amazes me to think about it! How thoroughly you know me, Lord!
15 You even formed every bone in my body when you created me in the secret place; carefully, skillfully you shaped me from nothing to something.
16 You saw who you created me to be before I became me! Before I’d ever seen the light of day,
the number of days you planned for me were already recorded in your book.
17-18 Every single moment you are thinking of me! How precious and wonderful to consider
that you cherish me constantly in your every thought! O God, your desires toward me are more than the grains of sand on every shore! When I awake each morning, you’re still with me.
Does that sound like a Creator that looks at you to find faults? He created you exactly as you are. Our behavior is definitely something we are called to bring into alignment. But our essence- what makes us unique- is by design... Intelligent Design.
Last year I hit a number on the scale that I never wanted to see. I was in tears for days. I allowed my emotions and a number on a scale to determine my value. He reminded me that the number on that scale was not who I was.
Maybe there is something about you that makes you feel “less than”. Something that the enemy is using to define your worth or skew your value. I want to tell you right now girlfriend that you are the apple of His eye…the gravy to His biscuits. You are His princess and His bride.
Each one of us were created on purpose, with purpose and if we waste time stuck in a skewed version of our worth and value we will not be about the work He created us to do. We will not step out in boldness using all of those amazing and unique characteristics, traits, and gifts to fulfill our destiny. There are people in our lives that need us- like our spouses, our children, our communities- to show up fully alive and not stuck in the lies of unworthiness and lacking value. Ain’t nobody got time for that foolishness… as my Grandma used to say… we got stuff to do.
“We have become his poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny he has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfill it!” Ephesians 2:10 (TPT)
He sees you. He knows everything there is to know about you…and you are fully accepted by Him.
“Now Christ lives his life in you! And even though your body may be dead because of the effects of sin, his life-giving Spirit imparts life to you because you are fully accepted by God.” Romans 8:10 (TPT)
There is nothing and nobody that can separate you from Him. Not even what you think about you. When you look in the mirror and only see your flaws, you are not seeing yourself through His eyes.
“There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!” Romans 8:39 (TPT)
My challenge to you...
I want to challenge you to take some time and make a list of things that make you unique. List your qualities, your gifts, your characteristics, and express gratitude to Him for creating you exactly how He did. Ask Him to give you a glimpse into how much He loves you. Ask Him to show you the lies the enemy is trying to get you to believe about being “less than”. Ask Him to help you become more aware of when those thoughts of being “less than” come into your consciousness so you can replace them with the truth of how much you are loved and valued.
You were paid for with blood, my friend. That would not be the case if you held no value and were worthless.
And in a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times we don’t even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words.” Romans 8:26 (TPT)
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