Monday, June 25, 2018

In The Beginning



Yep, that's me. I know what you're thinking - how can someone be so incredibly cute?! Dressed in my favorite color with a good head of hair! This precocious girl was born on July 20, 1972 in the heat of summer. Nothing could be more fitting than that because of how much I love summer time! I'm five months old in this picture and preparing to celebrate my first Christmas.

There wasn't really anything that stood out about me when I made my presence in this world. My parents came from simple beginnings and had close family connections. It was key for all of us to be together for the holidays and to share in special times. Even though I don't even remember the day in the photo above, I do remember how we were a close knit family.

In my opinion, there wasn't much about me that stood out. For the most part, I was fairly unassuming and have been told that I was a quiet baby. So quiet, in fact, that there was a particular situation when I was napping on my parent's bed, I believe, and happened to roll off, becoming gently placed in between the wall and the bed.

When my mother came in to check on me, of course I had vanished. With panic stricken precision, she proceeded to check every nook and cranny of the place, thinking the worst along the way. When the whole time, I was sleeping peacefully nestled in the curtains. Some time passed before Mom came across me and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Perhaps, that was the first indication that I would be a girl to travel under life's radar.

Even as I try to recall my life as an infant, nothing significant stands out. I might even be hard pressed to find a lot of people who can recall, vividly, their entire infant existence. In any case, aside from my stunning good looks (beware of facetious nature), I was welcomed and adored by many.

However, that is not always the case for many born under very different circumstances. Maybe you didn't know your father growing up or your mother wasn't present in the younger years. Pictures are missing because it was just too hard to look at the memories of what has been lost. Maybe like me, you, as a young girl, are questioning why you were even born.

I used to think that growing up, even though I was born into a family with a mother and a father who always told me how much they loved me. Unfortunately, situations happen along the way, even at an early age, to set the trajectory of our lives in a different direction. Sometimes, it's an unfathomable direction.

My friend, if you are thinking you are a mistake, stop. You are no mistake. Believe it or not, you were created by God for great things and for lack of a better term...God don't make no junk. The Bible says that God was intricately involved in your creation.

A book within the Bible called Psalms is comprised of laments, poems, songs, and praises. In Psalm 139, Verse 13 it speaks to God's involvement in your life's breath, in the very dynamics of how you came to be. It says, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." That is no coincidence or crazy talk. It really happened that way.

So, no matter what you might be thinking of yourself right now as you are trying to navigate through your young life, you are not a mistake. You are loved and valued by me and by the Creator of all things, God. You can believe that. I didn't have an understanding of God when I was younger like I do now, so I hope that you can trust me when I tell you that what I say is true. You are an adored child of a King who died for you and for all, so that you could live a life of goodness and freedom.

Encouragement for the week:

You are not a mistake, as much as you might think otherwise. You are a daughter who is loved and valued even if you see only darkness ahead of you. I understand.

If you are a Christian reading this, God created you for a reason and a purpose. You know that you are not a mistake. You are deeply loved and because of that, you can overcome anything that will come your way. You can trust the Man who died for you.

If you are not a Christian reading this, you can look for Jesus and you WILL find Him. He died so that you could live a free and abundant life. Everything you need can be found in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

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