Us humans can be so silly sometimes. I woke up this morning knowing that I was going to tell you ‘You are Loved’. So naturally, since the blog is now ‘official’ with a new tagline and has a new look and is ‘real’ (cause apparently the posts before the last one were imaginary…) my brain decided it needed to come up with a great deep post about the fact that you are loved. I finally had the liiiiight buuuulb (cue Dr. Gru) moment after at least an hour of getting no new thoughts other than ‘you are loved.’

Here’s the grand revelation I received…ready? You are loved.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39 NIV)

“ So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. ” (Romans 8:31-39 The Message)

The serpent from the garden of Eden is still around today. Instead of saying “you will not surely die” to Eve, he’s saying “you are surely not *really* loved and valuable and filled with greatness, right? It’s just a nice thought that God loves you. A nice little song for kids to sing…’Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so…'” to us.

Of course God loves kids cause they’re kids. They haven’t fully screwed up yet. It’s wrong to compare one child to another. It’s cute when they make a mess or color outside the lines or fall down and cry out for love – but WE ADULTS should have our act together. It’s not cute when I make a mess and it’s a sign of weakness to need someone else. Right? Riiiiight. (cue Kronk)

When are we gonna wake up and realize that we complicate God’s love for us?! When are we gonna wake up and realize we’re His kids?! When are we gonna wake up and realize that WE’RE the ones believing that we’re worthless and not loved and that we have to perform or act a certain way in order to be seen as valuable and lovable?! It’s not God saying those things…

God loves you. Period. You are loved. Period. You are valuable. Period. You have the capacity to do great things. Period.

It doesn’t matter if you have been told your entire life that there is nothing overly special about you. That’s a lie. You are awesome and I would love to sit down with you over coffee and find this ‘awesome’ that you’re unaware of.  I pray that if you don’t have someone in your life who calls out your greatness, that God will bring someone to fill the void.

It doesn’t matter if you appear to have it all together on the outside but know you’re living a lie and are a hot mess on the inside. You are loved. You don’t have to keep it together all the time. Brokenness leads to healing. Will people be surprised and ‘disappointed’ if you show your true self? Maybe and probably. But that’s their problem. What’s more important, living in freedom or making others happy?

It doesn’t matter if you have been considered a second class citizen by others on this planet. You’re God’s favorite. He rejoices over you with singing and dancing. You are loved. Period.

I know I just wrote about Unconditional Love a couple posts ago. But we leak. The second we start to feel loved, that pesky serpent comes to try to tell us the same ‘you’re not worthy’ lies through people around us, social media, our own thoughts about ourselves, etc. It’s time we overcome the gibberish of the enemy and start to speak more truth about ourselves and others.

You are loved. You are valuable. You are awesome. Period.

Image credit: Erin Kass