A Journey of Faith

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Positively uplifting

I have a worn and well loved piece of green paper tucked away in my bible cover. It is creased and slightly faded, not too much though, as it is well taken care of. It is a 'souvenier' from one of the women's retreats the ladies from my church have every year. During this activity we all had a piece of paper taped to our backs. We then walked around writing something on each person's paper, recording our thoughts or feelings about that person. I don't know who wrote each thing, but I have this wonderful little slip of encouragement I can pull out and be lifted up by whenever I am feeling 'down'. But why is it that, even when we have tangible proof that we are loved and respected, we still defer to the negative voices in our heads? You know the ones, the voices from our pasts that aren't so kind and loving. The ones that whisper at us in our dark moments "I knew you weren't any good at that" "You will never succeed at that, you aren't smart (pretty, funny, outgoing...) enough" Why do we listen? Why is it so hard to ignore those 'ghosts of the past' and listen to that still, small voice that tells us we are loved, adopted, redeemed, precious, saved, cherished and strong in HIM who created us? Our GOD loves us so much, HE stepped down from HIS throne and became one of us so that we could spend eternity in heaven with HIM. Why would HE do that? Why would HE make such a sacrifice if HE didn't think we were worth it? And why should we believe sinful, fallible man over the perfect, infallible GOD who never lies?
Lord, help us to hear only YOUR voice and YOUR assurances. Help us to forget the barbs others have thrown at us in the past and remember that YOUR approval is the only approval that we should seek. In JESUS' name, Amen

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