Recently I had someone I care a lot about tell me that there is something about me that is an issue to them. All they specified was that it’s nothing wrong with me or anything I did but that if they told me what it was, I'd become insecure. It's been keeping me up at night thinking of what it could be. WHAT is wrong with me? WHAT do I need to fix to become more likable? Is it even fixable or is it just how I was created? As I was having this thought, I imagined God lying with me. I heard him speak to me in his most comforting voice.
“Child, it does not matter what people do like or do not like about you. it does not matter if people accept you. because I LOVE the good AND the bad. I accept it all. I WANT it all. I genuinely LOVE it all because I created all of you in my preference.”
Now, I don't know if this thing was appearance-wise or something of my personality. But I'm learning that it doesn’t matter! it really doesn’t.
If you don't know who the prodigal son is, he was given a great inheritance from his father. It is important to note that it was not his father's will to give his son the inheritance yet but he honored his son's wishes anyway. As any child would do with money, he took that inheritance and lived the party life with it. Eventually, the money ran out and he had nothing left of the life he had created from the world. So, with nothing left and no other option, he returned to his father. He expected his father to tell him a big “I told you so” or a “get lost”. Instead, he opened his arms and shouted for joy that his son had finally returned home. And guess what his father did next? He threw a party with all of his family and friends to celebrate his son's return.
What did the prodigal son learn from this? Nothing the world gives is stable. No foundation provided by money is guaranteed to stay. His father's will was to give his son the money when he was mature enough to handle it. However, he didn't trust his father's judgment and took it before he was ready for it. Sound familiar? God gives you the things he has in store for you in the time that you are ready to handle them. Why? Because He loves us and wants us to hold our blessings in a time where we are able to truly feel them as blessings and not an overwhelming addition to our lives.
That may sound off-topic but in reality, it's just a representation of God’s love for us. He wants the best for us. He is home. His words are our safe place. Nothing anyone else says or does will ever mean as much as what He says because He is the only one who actually knows us. The prodigal son’s father was just overjoyed that his son had returned home. That's all God wants for us. He wants us to return to Him. He wants us to return our identity to Him. Allow His words to define us again. And when we do this, all of Heaven throws a party, too.
I want to share with you a section from Sadie Robertson’s book “Live”;
after talking about the prodigal son and how undeserving He felt of His fathers welcome, she writes,
“I believe the reason it was so hard for him to imagine his dad welcoming him back home was that he struggled to get past what he believed about himself and couldn’t even begin to believe something for himself.
…If you let what you believe about yourself- and what other people believe about you- define your life, that would be a tragedy. You’ll never find out what you’re capable of. But your life can change the world when you start believing good things for yourself.”
It’s hard for me to understand that God really does LOVE and I mean GODLY DEEP LOVE it all. How incredible!? Humans don’t love me like that!!! imagine how awesome it is that someone does!!!
I can't even imagine what it’s like to have all of me be loved. wow.
I give all my insecurities to God because our perfect God gave me all of these qualities.
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