"Worth it" (and a little Volf)

While experiencing another day of, well LIFE, this hit me;

Not everybody grows up with a family that encourages them.

Not everybody grows up hearing, "You can be whatever you want to be!". Not everybody grows up being L O V E D. Of course, I already knew all of this, but it really resonated with me recently. For my sister and myself,(granted our lives weren't perfect,) I think it's perfectly safe to say, even speaking for her, that we grew up with a Momma and Daddy who thought the world of us, gave us everything they could, loved us beyond words, and encouraged us everyday we were growing up.

My sweet lil' boy has two parents who L O V E him incessantly. We try to show him daily our love for him, as well as God's love for him. I hope he grows up knowing his worth, that it is NOT bound up in ANYTHING here....but that his worth is in Him.

My husband loves me. He has reminded me this every. single. day. Sometimes by his words, yes. And the other times, by his very life. MOST times, by his life. By his breaths. In fact, if he were to never speak those words to me again, (which I very much need to hear, I'm just trying to make a point here...) I would still know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he loves me because of the way he HAS always LOVED me with his life since before we were even married. He reminds me in the way he holds me, hugs me, kisses me. He reminds me in the way he takes care of our family in EVERY way. He reminds me in how he carries my burdens with me. He reminds me that I'm worth "it". That I'm worth this whole life....that I'm worth living for day after day, year after year. That I'm worth his days. I only hope I remind him the same thing about himself.

If we grow up without knowing how loved, accepted, valuable we are....it echoes in our hearts throughout the rest of our lives....affecting not only ourselves, but those around us.

I guess I really just wanted to remind you of your worth.

Whoever you are, whatever you've been through, wherever you are tonight...you are loved.

No matter the times another person has torn you down, no matter the hurt you've been handed, no matter the mistakes you've made...your worth is indescribable.

No matter your successes, or your failures, you are worth it.

No matter the times life has scarred you beyond words....you are worth it.

No matter how broken you are, you are loved.

No matter how many things are going wrong in your life, or how many people have abandoned you, you are loved.

No matter how many people have been unfaithful to you, you are worth it.

No matter the burdens you carry, you are loved.

No matter the grief you walk around with day after day, you are worth it.

No matter how much you may not even believe these words, you are still loved, your worth is incomparable...you are worth "it". Believe it, dear reader.

And by the way, I wrote these words to myself tonight, as well. Sometimes life happens, or people happen....and both of those can destroy our humanity to the core. The past three years have undoubtedly done that to myself and my husband. I am hanging on to what I know to be true....even though circumstances don't change, some people don't change.....I have to remember what is T R U E, what is L O V E, because if I forget those things, evil wins.

My Love sent me these words the other day. He has no idea how much I needed to hear them. I want to share them with you. Those who know most of our story can appreciate how comforting the following is to my husband and myself. We have given our very lives over to serving Her, and will NEVER regret it, not for a minute. But for what we've lived through.....we have definitely been left scarred, hurt, and broken-hearted. Still, we will love Him, and His church, and serve them. Because we do not live for ourselves, we live for one another.....even those who hand out nothing but evil. As my husband always says, regardless of who we are, or the damaging things that people do, "We are still part of the same Body." I leave you with what he wrote me:

"So what will happen with the poison that spoils God's good gifts? God will either turn it into medicine or remove it completely. The gifts will remain--which are we ourselves and everything that surrounds us."

"For the God who resurrects, nothing is the end."

*Both quotes by Miroslav Volf*

Amen to Him resurrecting what man has poisoned. Maranatha.

THAT is my hope for this year, and the years to come...for your family, and for mine.