Guess the answer to that question depends on who you are asking. Sometimes our family is the most critical of us. Maybe you have a family that supports and loves you. But what about those of us who have not had that? Sometimes all we have heard is how useless we are and that we will never amount to anything. Childhood is our formative years, the time when we learn about life. Only for some, what we learn is pain and hard knocks. Abuse changes our perspective of life and also changes the way we believe God views us.
I’ve mentioned before about what God taught me about our life being like a mirror. Every time we get hurt, it causes a crack in the mirror and distorts our perspective and the way we view life. Genesis 1: 27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” He made us. In Genesis 1: 31 “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”
God said what He created was very good. That means he didn’t make garbage. He didn’t make a mistake. He formed us in our mother’s womb, but He never intended for the abuse and trauma that some have endured. He never intended for us to be so beat down that we struggle to hold our head up. He never intended for us to believe that we have no value.
Until recently, I struggled to believe that God’s love could possibly be for me. One day, He took me on a journey. It was life changing. I’ve mentioned it in one of the other articles. It was a journey in my heart and mind. He made me to see what Jesus went through for all of us, as He was beaten and crucified. He made me understand that He died for me, and what that meant, the love He has for me, for all of us that caused Him to choose to go to the Cross.
But the story doesn’t end there. The journey doesn’t end at the Cross. First, I’m having to learn how He sees me. Jesus made me face some really hard truths about myself, but He is also making me learn and know the truth about how He sees me.
As I read Ephesians, chapters 1 and 2, He shows us who we are in Him.
- We are blessed by Him
- We are chosen in Him
- We have been adopted by Him (by His good pleasure! He wanted to adopt us and make us His)
- We have been redeemed by His Blood
- We are forgiven
- We have an inheritance with Him (if we have a right relationship with Him)
- We are loved by His great love
- We are His workmanship
- He is our peace
- We have been reconciled to Him (joined together with Him, restored to Him)
- We have access to Him
- We are sealed with the Holy Spirit
None of this even hints that we are so unloved by Jesus that He would throw us away. There is a purpose for it all. And if we will let Him, if we will step out with a tiny mustard size seed of faith, believing that His Word is true, it will completely change our lives. It is a journey, and it doesn’t happen overnight. But I pray it doesn’t take you as long to understand that He loves us, as it has taken me. I pray Jesus opens our blinded eyes and helps us to see the truth, that we will face and acknowledge what He tells us, giving us the courage and strength to deal with it. I pray the devil is bound and can not deceive us any longer. In Jesus Name. Amen!