Worth

         Tonight I had a beautiful girl tell me she felt worthless sometimes. Worthless. It shocked me, and it stung. She is one of the prettiest, sweetest, funniest young ladies I know. She is an absolute joy to be around and on the rare occasion she isn't around when the rest of her friends are hanging out, it feels like something is missing. And it absolutely broke my heart that she doesn't know how beautiful she is, how fun she is..... how valuable she is. 

Friends, we have to tell our children, tell their friends, tell all the young women we know that they are VALUABLE. That they have worth not only in our eyes, but in the eyes of the Heavenly Father. 

Psalm 139: 14-16

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

Each and every Daughter of the King was created in His perfect image, created for a PURPOSE. We must be intentional in modeling encouragement, in modeling self-worth and confidence. Being an encourager is not always easy. It is so very easy to be someone who criticizes instead of encourages. Someone who puts down instead of lifting up. I myself am guilty of it. I remember in high school always being so critical of my friends. Instead of making them feel good about themselves, I was quick to point out their flaws..... and y'all, you can't undo those words you just put in your friend's mind about how they aren't good enough. Even now, I struggle with being critical of my family.

Proverbs 12:18

 

The words of the reckless pierce like swords,
    but the tongue of the wise brings healing

Your words can be destructive, so choose them carefully. Once they fly out of your mouth, there is just no getting them back. It is so easy to voice only the things you don't like or that you want to change. As a youth minister and song leader, my husband gets a lot of  "I don't like this"...," Why don't you do that"...., "you sang that song wrong," and very little encouraging words or affirmation for the things that people do like. And do you know what I've seen it do? I've seen it wear him down. Make him feel like he's not good enough. When in reality, he is wonderful with kids, he is fun, he is an excellent singer and teacher...... and he LOVES the kids in our youth group. 

Our words have just as much power to encourage and lift up and motivate and create a better person. In order for our mouths to speak grace, we must know it in our hearts. We have to spend time in the word and time praying for God to make our hearts like his. 

Luke 6:45

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. 

Lets use the influence of our words to identify the lies our youth believe, identify them as from the enemy, and we replace them with TRUTH. The Truth of the Word.

Have You Prepared Your Heart?

    

                      I laid out Lorabelle's outfit for Easter this afternoon. I just can't wait to see her in these sweet clothes. 

But you know....  it's not about the clothes.     

 It's about the life given for those so unworthy. It's about the rolling back of that stone to empty tomb. It's about hands raised high in praise to the Father. It's about resurrection. Life saving, life giving, totally undeserved resurrection. 

The other day, I was thinking about how much I love my daughter and adore everything she does. I tell her about a thousand times a day how cute and beautiful and awesome and adorable and sweet and wonderful she is. She's dressed up, she's cute... she's naked, even cuter. Her hair is sticking up... adorable. Her fake cough- the cutest. Her ma ma and da da's amaze me. Her smiles, oh her smiles.... And it hit me, this is how my Heavenly Father feels about ME. He adores me. He tells me a thousand times a day that He loves me. He wakes me up each morning with a beautiful sunrise and puts me to bed with breathtaking sunsets. 

^{Romans 8: 15} The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

 He has taken me in as his daughter and asks me to call to Him... Abba, Father. And He reminds me daily, how wonderful it is to be a child of the King. 

My heart has been heavy all day, heavy with the gravity of the sacrifice.  Heavy for the suffering endured for me. Heavy with blood spilled to wash away my sins. Heavy with a mother's hurt for watching her Son breathe his last. 

Since holding my own son as he passed away, the Crucifixion has taken on a whole other dimension of sadness to me. Thinking about Mary watching her Son, not quickly slipping away as Hank, but being beaten, tortured, spit on, mocked, pleading for mercy for His accusers...... well that's just almost too much to bear. I imagine Mary standing there, each injury, each insult, a knife to her own heart. And when it's over, I imagine her very much wanting to be placed in that tomb with Him, her heart so heavy with grief. And as we break bread on Sunday and I think about His body broken for me, I will be a mess. I'll be fighting tears as we take the cup, the blood that represents grace beyond what I can comprehend. Because for the life of me..... I don't deserve it. And then, I will lift my voice in praise to the Father whose mercies never end. 

Luke 24: 1-8

Jesus Has Risen

 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. ⁵ In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ⁷ ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” ⁸ Then they remembered his words.