They Were Lovely Because He Loved Them.

On my way to church this morning, the Jonny Diaz "More Beautiful You" song came on the radio. It wasn't the first time I'd heard this song, but I cranked it up loud, as I knew the Lord wanted me to absorb it's words.

It's the New Year. No one, and I mean no one, I know doesn't have some sort of resolution regarding their personal health, including myself. Lose weight. Work-out more. Eat better. Get more sleep. Take vitamins. This goal intensifies dramatically among my girlfriends. Especially my single girlfriends. Why is that? Because we want husbands, and we believe that if we can just somehow change ourselves, then we will finally be wanted.

I'm in a really good place right now, but I won't lie and say that I don't deal with my own demons in this area. I've bought into the lie that my own betterment is the key to snagging a guy...even though I am secure in Christ's love for me. I constantly worry about being rejected, unloved and alone. How I can teeter back and forth on God's Promise to me? I just don't know.

As if Mom has a sixth-sense for these things, I got an email from her today. The subject line said "you" and inside she told me she saw some recent pictures of me on Facebook and that she thought I was "soooooooooo pretty." Thanks, Mom. Thank you for understanding that your daughter needs to be told these kinds of things by her Mother. Thank you for teaching me to say these things to my own daughter one day, as I know she will struggle with being good enough too.

Arica shared a passage with the roommates yesterday from The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. The JSB is an illustrated book of Bible Stories for children, but it's written in contemporary language, like a Message Bible. She opened to the Creation story, and read to us the following passage:

So God breathed life into Adam and Eve.

When they opened their eyes, the first thing they ever saw was God's face. He whispered their names to them and taught them who they were.

And when God saw them he was like a new dad. "You look like me," he said. "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever made!"

God loved them with all of His heart. And they were lovely because He loved them.

And Adam and Even joined in the Song of the stars and the streams and the wind in the trees, the wonderful Song of love to the one who made them. Their hearts were filled with happiness. And nothing ever made them sad or lonely or sick or afraid.

God looked at everything He had made. "Perfect!" He said. And it was.

But all the stars and the mountains and the oceans and galaxies and everything were nothing compared to how much God loved His children. He would move Heaven and Earth to be near them. Always. Whatever happened, whatever it cost Him, He would always love them.

And so it was that the wonderful love story began...

How beautiful is that?! And how true! Think how our culture would change if we women embraced God's love for us, and we started telling the other women in our lives how much they are also loved for just how they were created!