Friday, June 14, 2013

Who does God say you are?



This week was the start of small group for our high school girls this summer. 
I kinda put off finding a lesson until the very last day-uh um, minute. I searched the Internet and just couldn't decide. I wanted to talk about modesty but really, the more I think about it, the more The Lord has been sharing he doesn't care what they wear, what He cares about is their heart. When he has that, he will take care of what they wear.
Then I came across some material on finding your identity. At first I thought, "how cliche, another study on finding out identity in Christ."
Then I realized, wait, we have never done a study like this with our girls & I personally have never done a study like this either. Not as a high school student and certainly not as an adult.

However there is certainly a needs in young woman's lives to hear this truth.
Why? Because we find our identity in all the wrong things if its not in Jesus alone.
As I sat there and I heard the stories of these girls my heart was filled with love for them. When we got to the tough questions, my heart broke.
One question was, what do you like about yourself. Surely, you only had to name one thing, this would be easy enough, right? 
As we sat in silence for a short time, I encouraged the girls to start sharing their answers, but they just kinda starred at me. And then I knew.
I knew the reason they were  looking at me was the same reason I wasn't able to think of something I liked about myself.
Why was it so hard to find something about ourselves that we liked? What did God think of that? I imagine His heart hurt more than mine in that silence. Wondering why his precious daughters couldn't find anything they liked about themselves when He made them all from scratch. Gave them all special abilities and a heart for different things. 
What was holding us back from speaking truth about ourselves? After all, I could think of a billion things I loved about each of these girls. I could see the incredible things they had done in others lives. I adored their hearts for children, for the broken and homeless. I adored they're silliness and ability to make others laugh. I adored their determination and the ability to defend the weak.  
But they couldn't see any of those things of themselves. 
They had been lied to for so long, by others, the enemy, and themselves, that they actually started believing there wasn't anything good worth sharing. It even took me a while to come up with something that I liked about myself and I had to force it out. 

Finally one of my students spoke up. I don't remember what she said, but I was just so happy that she found something she liked about herself. Soon after, all the girls followed suit and we even started sharing what we like about each other. 
But today, today I am still haunted by knowing how poorly us girls think of ourselves. 
How heartbreaking it is that we think we aren't worth it, that we have nothing good to offer. 
And then realizing that because of this, young girls long to find their identity in other things.
Boys, sports, being popular, being pretty(just to name a few!)

My heart hurts for young woman. For myself even. For the high school girl I was. Trying to find my identity in all the wrong things. Wondering if I would ever be good enough. 
The Lord says, YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH. 
You are a daughter of the most high KING. 
You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
You are more precious than silver and gold. 
You are of more worth that the Lily's in the field and the birds in the air. 
You are loved with an ever lasting love. 
You are worth dying for. 
The lesson I found was no mistake, clearly The Lord wants to speak to these girls (and me!) about how we think of ourselves. 
Most importantly, knowing & believing what HE thinks of us so that in turn we too can learn to love ourselves and speak truth to our own hearts.


Next week I will be at Camp with our jr. highers & my handsome hubby, so I promise, I did not go missing, I just won't be blogging.. and I am not a planner so I didn't prepare anything for the week I am gone!
Please be praying for this week for us!

5 comments:

  1. I love this post. I also struggle to find things that I like about myself and a lot of that is the result of some things others have said to me in the past that has brought me down. Recently I've been trying to find a full-time job and with no luck in that department, it just adds to the struggle to find things that I like about myself. I'll be praying for you all next week at camp! Hopefully many lives are blessed and some come to accept Christ! Thanks again for this post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so much for the reminder that WE ARE GOOD ENOUGH! In today's society, it's definitely a struggle to keep that in mind some days, and it's sad. Oh so sad. I also feel the saying holds true that you can't love another person until you truly love yourself first! Praying for all women out there, young or old, that struggles to love themselves as they are. Great lesson, Jess!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Such an important message! I still struggle with this and I am almost 40. The enemy is very deceptive and I have to work hard everyday to hear God's voice, so that I can feel my true identity in Him.

    ReplyDelete
  4. LOVE THIS! I was one of those girl's who didn't know her true identity in Christ until I was 19. Until then I spent my whole life trying to find it in friends, piers, and who knows what else. I didn't even know I had one in Jesus. It's def something that needs to get out. That's why I'm so passionate in reaching young women and telling them who they really are! I believe women wouldn't be as concerned about boys and dating I don't even think Purity & waiting wouldn't even be such a struggle if they knew their identity in Chirst. I really wish I knew mine back then! :) Much love :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. i am in love with this post. everything you said in it. i really needed to read this, it is so true that girls are way too hard on themselves! we need to see ourselves as God sees us to realize our true potential! thank you so much for this!

    misterandmisseslake.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for visiting my blog! I LOVE hearing from my readers and so appreciate you being here :)

Pin It button on image hover