What God Says About You

God taught me what He says about me through a heartbreaking moment I had to lead my youngest child through.

It was on a vacation a couple years ago, our family took the river path from town back to our camp. My youngest son, age four at the time, rode his strider bike while I walked beside him. We met another family coming from the opposite direction and needed to move over to make room for them on the narrow path. Oddly, the smallest boy in that family made a face at my little one and yelled,

"Stupid baby!"

Shocked, I hesitated. Did we know this family? I didn't recognize them. As I tried to figure out what had just happened, I barely noticed my brokenhearted child, who'd dropped his bike and slunk into the bushes on the side of the path, an expression of worthlessness spackled all over his sweet face.

I knew how he was feeling, having been belittled since my early childhood. My furiously protective mama side kicked in. In an instant, I plucked him out of the bush, laid my cheek on his, and whispered truth into his ear and straight to his broken heart. I asked him if he knew that little boy, though I already had the answer. He shook his head, unable to speak through the hot tears I could feel rolling onto my own cheeks.

"Precious boy, that boy does not know you," I said. "But Mama knows you, and Mama thinks you are smart and kind. Mama thinks you are sweet and fun and funny. Mama knows you and loves every part of you, my precious boy." And with tears rolling down both our faces now, I held him until I could feel he'd let my words roll over the other boy's words.

Has a person or a circumstance in life made you believe you are anything less than the precious child of God that you are? Do you need to crawl up in God's lap and let Him speak these words over your heart?

God wants to tell you that you are His precious child and that He created you uniquely and wonderfully. He calls you His work of art, and He is delighted with you—the real you. He wants to whisper these words to your soul until they roll over everything the broken world and the destructive Enemy have told you about yourself. He wants to hold you cheek to cheek until you believe you are wonderfully made, a work of art formed by the master craftsman, and tell you that He is delighted with you.

This was a hard lesson for me to learn and get deep into my heart. When I first started the journey to rebuild my identity in Christ, I did not believe it, and some days I still don't. I used to think that I needed to earn love, and my favorite way to do this was from working. But I've grown a lot, and most days, I do believe that He delights in me, much the same as I do with my little boy.

One thing I know for sure is that we can all experience this love that frees us. God sent His only Son to show us His love and free us to walk with Him. He adopted us into His family as loved children that He delights in us (Eph 1:4) In Christ, we don't need to accomplish anything to make ourselves more loved because our identity is already loved and free. The simple truth is that because of Jesus, God says you are loved and free.

Let's Pray: God, I want desperately to believe that you created me wonderfully and love me thoroughly for all that I am. This is not easy because of all the things that speak to me in this broken world I live in and all the things I have done. Lord, please help me see and name the lies that I believe about myself and you. I open my heart to healing because I do want to be free. I know this isn't going to be easy, but it will be worth it. Amen.