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With each passing day I see the disease of depression spreading, more people complaining of anxiety, a rise in stress induced health problems and people falling deeper and deeper into poverty. When I look around and see all of this... it grieves my heart. For those that don't know Christ I get it... until you know Him - life can seem hopeless. BUT- to those of us who do know Christ - Wake Up! We have hope!

Before you go and get all judgy - let me state my credentials - As a child I was scarred by a tramatic event (I'm still not ready to share it but I'll get there), as a teenager/young adult I suffered a suicidal depression, as a married women I've faced divorce, financial uncertainty and so much more, as a mom I've had to deal with many attacks on my children whether it be rare sicknesses or them being bullied. I've had friends turn thier backs on me and even to this day I am brutally judged by others saying that the ministry I'm involved in is all about me and not Jesus. Oh - I could go on - but this isn't a pity party for me... this is - We have HOPE in Jesus!

Jesus came and died for all of our sins. He said to cast all of our anxiety on him. He said He sticks close to the brokenhearted... and again I could go on and on - because the bible is filled with wonderful amazing promises that are ours for the claiming. This isn't prosperity preaching - this is the word of God! He loves us and wants us to have life and have it more abundantly. Yes - the bible also warns us of trials and tribulations... but then let's go back to the previous statement - He is with us through all of it! ALL - He doesn't pick and choose what trial He wants to walk us through. He is there with us in all of it.

So what's the problem? Why do so many continue to reject the goodness of God, His blessings, His favor, His love for us? The same people that believe He died on the cross for our sins... are the same ones living miserable lives. Why? It sounds silly to say that people would just rather complain about their problems or stay stuck in their ruts rather than let God handle the situation for them, but this is the depressing reality that I see every day; people rejecting God and His saving grace. I have pondered this “why” question many times... and in my stubbornness I refuse to stop seeking an answer. Just like the women in the bible who continuously knocked on the judges door...I got my answer.

I was cruising the Rappahannock River with my beautiful family. I was laying on the front of the boat with my mind completely clear and focused on the beauty of God’s creation that surrounded me. Suddenly, I felt a tug in my heart. I opened my eyes, took a refreshing breath of salty sea air and in that moment - God spoke to me - I started the conversation in my mind with, “God I don’t deserve this, to be here, to be experiencing all of this luxury while so many suffer... I am so unworthy, forgive me Lord and thank you for blessing me in spite of myself.” The words that filled my spirit next were completely unexpected. He responded immediately and softly whispered, “Don’t you know who you are? You are My child and I died for you - because - I love you”. If we had been going any faster I would have fallen off the port bow. I was humbled, thankful and fell deeper in love with my God right in that moment... my precious Savior.

In that moment my question was answered. People do not know their own worth. We are sons and daughters of the most High God! And - Yes! He wants us to live a blessed life! For whatever the multiple reasons are... (most of them I blame on the devil) we let our minds stay in this state of thinking we are unworthy. Jesus' blood makes us worthy! It isn't about deserving or not deserving... it isn't about anything more than the fact that Jesus died for our sins, our healing and to be our intercessor straight to God Himself. He tells us to pray about everything. So whether it's your stumped toe or your $5,000.00 overdue mortgage payment or your son's drug addiction... pray... and don't stop praying.

In 2 Corinthians 5:15 we are once again reminded that Jesus died for us all. "And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." This is the concept we need to grasp. He DIED, D. I. E. D. - for all of us. With His death he brought us victory. Some people think that is only the stuff you see in movies. The hero pushes their loved one out from in front of the moving car and takes the hit. Well, Jesus took the hit for all of us. With that hit He made a way for us to live a beautiful life. Again, because I’ve said it before, I'll say it again, not a trouble free life, because the devil is still among us - but we are equipped to have victory over him and therefore can live a beautiful life. A beautiful life is ours for the taking. The bible teaches us ways to deal, cope and handle all of life’s troubles without losing our peace and our joy. Our part... is simply to study it.

Our children are worthy to live in our homes, eat our food, be clothed, taken care of and loved because they are our children and we brought them into this world so we feel even more compelled to take care of them. Our Father, the Lord God Almighty feels the same way about us. Just as I was watching my kids tube and knee board down the Rappahannock River and feeling such joy from their happiness, my God was watching me watch them, and feeling the same joy from my happiness, a happiness I was able to have because of Him. He brought us into this world and therefore, because we are His, we are worthy to all He has promised us. We should never feel like we don’t deserve something. God wants us to have it all. Just a side note, so there aren’t any misconceptions, I am not talking about material things but the things that money can’t buy. If you have your mind set on money, homes, cars, clothes etc then you will continue to be miserable, feel defeated and lonely because you can’t pursue God and stuff. (Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.)

The things that we are worthy of are things like the fruit of the spirit. When we pursue God we are supernaturally given, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness, and goodness in our life and in our situations. We are given promises like we are never alone, we don’t have to worry about what we will eat, what we will drink or what we will wear. (Matthew 6:31) While we are pursuing God He is providing our needs. It is when we take our minds off of God and try to start fixing our problems ourselves we run into trouble. We start looking to other people to meet our needs, fix our problems give us what we want and then God has to let us go through the testing and the trying for as long as it takes for us to get our mindset back to where we realize we are His children and He is going to take care of us and we can’t look to others to do God’s job for Him.

Realizing our worth in the Lord can be a difficult task, especially if we have been abused in some way or another throughout our life, but God came to heal that too. You must believe that Jesus died for you. (John 3:16) Read that verse as a personal love letter from God to you. You are so valuable, so important, so worthy to be loved that God did not take a chance with your life, but paid for it Himself that you would have the keys to all that He owns; which is everything. A ticket straight to heaven when you die and access to His supernatural power while living on earth through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Your part is to seek it. That’s it. So instead of wasting time beating yourself up, letting the devil feed you lies- choose to spend your time reading your Word and finding out about all of the cool amazing things that God has planned for you while you're here on earth. It will blow your mind.

If you claim to be a Christian then you must know who you are. You are a child of God. I repeat the promises of God to myself almost daily. “I am a Child of God, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. My daddy owns the cattle on a thousand hills. All that He has is mine. He will make my enemy my footstool. I have every fruit of the Spirit. I am victorious in Christ.”  My dialogue is usually much longer than that but you get the gist. I claim healing, protection and blessings over myself and my family. This is a regular part of my day and I feel it is time well spent. It sure beats sitting around telling myself, I’m no good, unworthy and helpless.

As an Evangelist of the Good News I can’t say it enough - read your bible. The bible holds every answer you will ever need. As you begin to read it and discover who you are in Christ you too will fall more in love with Jesus. You will find yourself seeking more of Him and less of you and desiring less material things and more of the things of the Spirit. Then one day you will wake up realizing you are far more blessed than you ever thought possible. You will throw your hands in the air and praise Jesus for His goodness in your life and wonder why in the world it took you so long to discover who you are in the Lord.

*Please share with someone who needs to know their worth in Christ.*

Titus 3:4-7 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.