You are precious in My eyes

I have been thinking about this blog post for a while and it needs to be written. It is about Isaiah 43.

I need to be honest, I am not immune to anxiety, doubt, struggle, anger, sadness, and all of the human emotion. I am not immune to negative thinking & stress. I went through a big struggle when we moved to the UP. It was so stressful and I was deeply sad about moving away from our home, friends, and church in Howell. Moving was so jarring to my nervous system, and it led to a lot of anxiety and insomnia. I went through a really hard year (although it was a really fun year as well, with ups and downs).

I have had to learn how to rest in God’s love for me and make more time for Him in my life. I have had to surrender again and again and throw myself at His feet, in childlike trust, continually. I have had to learn to choose to believe God’s word over my feelings.

This has been a huge learning journey for me, and I would so much love to share it all, but I will start with God’s love.

I took a few coaching programs to help me get out of fight or flight, which I was stuck in, and get into rest and digest, and calm my nervous system down. I learned how to calm my body down, rewire my brain for truth, peace, and love, and I learned how to experience the love of Jesus more deeply, and completely rest in Him.

What I have come to know is that the word of God is true, and we need His love more than anything. 

Sitting with these truths have brought so much healing to me:

I am precious in the sight of God.

I am deeply loved and fully known.

God cares deeply about me.

God holds me.

Jesus left the 99 to chase after me, hunt me down, and carry me back to Him.

As much as God loves Jesus, that is how much He loves me.

He rejoices over me.

As the Lord knit me together in my mother’s womb, I was fearfully and wonderfully made. He made me with so much intention, love, and purpose. He rejoiced over me, even before I was born. I am His precious, beloved creation, that He is so proud of because I am His most intricate creation, made in His image. (You are too!) 

Jesus holds me, defends me, and cares more about me than I can imagine.

I know this is all true, and I often imagine God holding me as a father holds a baby, rocking me, singing over me, “I love you, precious Amanda, I love you. You are beautiful and wonderful, and you are safe with me.” Using my imagination has brought the scriptures that describes His tender, Fatherly love from head knowledge into my heart. It has left me weeping and overcome and overwhelmed by His immense love for me. 

There is a song by Abbie Gamboa, called “Daddy’s song” that I love. I imagine God singing this over me. “You were made to be loved by me, I’ll hold you close to my heart until you see, that even if you never did another thing, you were made to be loved by me.”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KFpajbeDz4&list=RD3KFpajbeDz4&start_radio=1

This is what I have been searching for all of my life. This is what I still need every single day. I need to be held by my Father, and be loved by Him. To know that I, Amanda, who thought for most of my life that I was not good enough, am PRECIOUS in His sight! I am just floored by this! He looks at me and calls me precious! That is all I need. Nothing can change that or take that from me. His love heals the wounds of my soul.

“But now thus says the LORD,

he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

For I am the LORD your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Because you are precious in my eyes,

and honored, and I love you,

Fear not, for I am with you;

everyone who is called by my name,

whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made.”

Isaiah 43:1-7

(I deleted the parts that do not apply to us, as this was written to Isreal. But the parts about Him loving us, does still apply! This was a prophesy in the Old Testament.)

God has redeemed me, called me by name, I am His. When I go through trials, He is with me, and I will not be consumed. I am precious in His eyes. I am honored. God says to me, “I love you.” I was created for His glory.

This is the life. This is everything to me. I am treasured by God, and so loved that Jesus went to the cross to suffer in my place.

I pray you can feel this deeply. I pray that your heart can be softened, and you can know, no matter how you feel about yourself, no matter what you have done, you are PRECIOUS!!!

Hear me say this again, YOU ARE PRECIOUS in His sight. You are worth the sacrifice of Jesus. You are deeply loved. You were made with love, purpose, and intention in your mother’s womb.

Even before you were born, before you did a single thing, you were precious, treasured, and God delighted over you. He cares about His priceless creation. You are His very best handiwork!

Our sin has separated us from God, and if you have not turned to Him for salvation, He wants you. He made you. He purchased you. Jesus suffered, bled, and died for you. Because He loves you and He wants you back. He came to rescue you. He came to redeem you. He came to restore your soul. He came to set you free. He came to restore your union with the Father. He came so you could walk with Jesus, and be filled with His amazing love. He wants you know know how much He loves you. He wants you to love Him back in return.

He wants you to know that you do not have to make up for the bad things you have done. He just wants you to come to Him. Like the prodigal son, the Father RUNS to you and CELEBRATES as you return to Him! He throws a grand feast! Do not shrink back away from Him in shame. He sees all that you have done, and yet, He wants you to come back home to Him. He wants to embrace you, and heal your soul.

This is what Jesus does. He came to bind up the broken hearted, and set the prisoners free. He came to make you a new creation, shining brightly for His glory! You were made for this! You were made for Him! You were made to be filled with all the fullness of God and walk with your loving Father on this earth. You were made for His glory.

God has very important purposes and intentions for each and every one of us. He has given us gifts that He wants us to use for His Kingdom. He wants each and every one of His precious people that He made to know His abounding love.

The only way to know this love is through Jesus Christ. He is God. He came to die for your and purchase you with His own blood. So you can be God’s child, forever. Embraced, fully known, and deeply loved. Full of purpose and meaning. He wants to guide you, bless you, teach you, and see you changed into His image. This is what He made you for.

So if you are not sure about this, not sure if you are truly loved by God, just run to Him. Get on your knees, and just ask Him, “God, do you love me? Am I precious to you?” Seek the word of God and choose to believe that it is true!

And for those who are born again Christian’s, we can struggle and double His love at times. I encourage you to take time today to rest in His love. 

For myself, with the trial I went through in the last year, I had to write out certain scriptures and post them by my sink, and read them all the time until I believed it.

I had to read Jeremiah 29:11-14 again and again, and hold onto it, and choose to believe it, even when I didn’t feel like it was true. Even as a Christian for 8 years, the anxiety I was dealing with was leaving me doubting God’s love and care for me. I had to choose to beleive God’s word over my doubtful, incorrect thoughts. Our feelings can FEEL so true at the time but they are not necessarily true!

Do a google search of bible verses about God’s love. There are so many golden ones. Meditate on them. Write them out. Post them around your house. Memorize them. His love is greater than we can comprehend and His love is so worthy of meditating on.

His love heals us. His love transforms us. His love redeems our brokenness and makes us whole. His love is redemptive and I just want everyone to know, you are precious. You are loved. You matter so much to God. You are called by name, to come to Him, and become His beloved child. He wants to gather you and hold you close like a hen gathers her chicks. You were made for Him, and He wants you.

We got lambs this year for the fair. When we first got them, they were really scared of us. Juliet wanted to cuddle them and hold them so bad. But they were scared and kept running away! I asked Juliet how badly she wants to hold them. She said, “Oh mommy, I want to hold them so bad I can’t stand it!” I told her that Jesus wants her close to Him even more than she wants her lambs. She said, “Wow, He wants me a lot.” And He wants you too.

So many people struggle with self-worth, and Jesus shows you, you are precious, you are loved and accepted as you are. Just come to Him, just as you are. He will hold you and show you, you are loved.

You are worth Jesus coming and sacrificing His life for you. He does not regret laying His life down for you. He just wants you to receive the gift of love and life He is offering to you. He does not force you to receive His love and the gift of eternal life. You have to choose to receive the gift and embrace it.

Come to Jesus, and embrace the love He has for you. Embrace the gift of eternal life offered to you. It is the only way to true life, joy, purpose, and healing.

"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

Ephesians 3:14-21

"How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings."

Psalm 36:7

"He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young."

Isaiah 40:11