What You Need to Know About Yourself When You Think You’re a Loser
I had both hands on the steering wheel, while I drove through the fine, gray mist hanging in the air. If you could have looked straight into my heart, it would have looked something like that soupy, sad sky.
I was filling my brain with all kinds of bla-aaah and negative self-talk.
My heart was replaying scratchy, old tapes — the kind that remind a woman of some dumb thing(s) she did years ago. In that moment, the enemy pounces, whispering in the ear, “What makes you think you’re any better now than you were then?”
I sank deeper in the car seat, like I had a big, fat “L” on my forehead.
Just then, I felt other words — better words — deep inside my heart: “Do you know how much I love you?”
I caught my breath, surprised by joy. Surprised by God.Â
I replied, out loud. “I do. I do know!” I sat up a bit taller.
And it went on like that for miles and miles, the inaudible whisper of the Lord, drowning out the enemy’s lies, with one question, over and over again: “Do you know how much I love you?”
And I said it again: “I do. I do know. I do. I really do.”
“Do you know how much I love you?”
“Yes, I do. I really do.”
The guy at the stoplight might have thought I was crazy, going on and on like that, talking into the air. But, hey, it worked. Because pretty soon, the enemy wasn’t saying a word anymore.
Poof!
Gone.
***
Sometimes, I forget how much He loves me.
You, too?
I rarely try to speak for God, but I think it’s safe to pass on a message to you. So here it is:
God is crazy about you. Maybe you needed to hear that, because it’s true: God is crazy about you.
Maybe you needed to hear this one question in your own heart–
“Do you know how much I love you?” God’s asking you that question right now: “Do you know?”
Do you?
Friend, believe it.
You were God’s idea. You were not an accident, or a mistake or a coincidence. You, my friend, are a God-incidence. A beautiful, one-of-a-kind, made-for-this-moment-in-history God-incidence.
And you are utterly cherished.
Today, you might not feel loved. Â You might be replaying old tapes, and you might figure that since it’s Halloween, you’ve got the perfect excuse to wear a mask and convince the whole world through pursed lips that everything’s fine, just fine.
But God sees you. He sees behind the mask, to the beautiful person He created. And right now, I’m pretty sure He wants me to tell you this: He loves you for you. And you’re the favorite you He ever created, because there’s no one else on Earth quite like exquisite, never-before-created you.
I thought you’d like to know…
“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.”
~ The Apostle Paul
 “That means you.”
~ Jennifer
Hey friend! We’re writing about God-incidences every Wednesday here. And you? You’re a God-incidence! Trust me. You really are.
Want to join the chorus of words for our God? Pick either button above, attach it to your post, tell your story. Then, link up with the weekly post on the Getting Down With Jesus home page! 🙂
 
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Oh I have known this…when I was young woman…deep into anorexia…lying in the hospital…God spoke clear…told me I was killing myself…I was spitting in His face telling Him i hated who He made me. With tear filled eyes I told Him I did hate who He made me…but this was a turning point and the start of a very long journey to know…I mean really know who much He does love me. …every once in a while those negative voices come…but they don’t stay for long….but it is always good to be reminded…thanks and I love the picture and words~
Powerful, powerful testimony, Ro. So glad He held on tight and never let you go.
This is something we all need to hear, Jennifer, both because Satan tells us the opposite, and because most of us feel the shame of our own sinfulness. But GOD LOVES US despite all that. And if we ever doubt it, we need look no further than the Cross. Once, after a period of eighteen, endless years, when I couldn’t forgive myself for a heinous sin I’d committed (though I’d long since confessed it to the Lord), He literally took me to the ocean at a journaling retreat, and as I poured out my soul in confession to Him, He told me that He had buried my sin in the depths of the ocean. All I could see was water, water, water, fathomless, eternal. I had never seen the ocean before, and in that moment, I felt He’d created it just for me to show me the depths of His love (quite literally). I hope you will continue to tell that Big Blah-Blah-er and Father of Lies to GO PACKING! (or mabye to drown in the ocean)!
This is a great image, Lynn … the depth of the ocean. Our sins, all there on the ocean floor, forgotten and gone.
What an amazing and beautiful post. These are truly inspirational words. Thank you for passing along God’s voice and message 🙂
I’m glad you’re here, Amy. Have a blessed day, and know how utterly cherished you are by the King!
Thank you for this beautiful post, friend.
Hi Elizabeth! Glad you’re here. You are dearly loved by the Lord. xo
That old liar still tries to catch us having a pity party, and then God steps in and reminds us that we are His and all is well.
Yes, Hazel, the enemy is a sneaky one. Grateful for God’s affirming words in our hearts. Thank you for being here.
I’m working in the psych ward and I heard some of the patients telling each other the day, “God doesn’t make trash.”
They were working hard to convince themselves that anyway.
And now, I wish they could read this.
Thank you for sharing this, Duane. What a tender moment you’re sharing, these broken people trying to lift each other up. And we’re all broken. Yes, we are.
Just the virtual hug I needed:) My ears are tuned more to hear lies than truth. Thanks for this!
Yes! Consider yourself hugged! xo
I never cease to need this message of truth spoken over me. Thank you, Jennifer, for shouting this beautiful truth above the lies I too often want to believe. Beautiful encouragement here, sweet friend!! Oh how you bless me!
Hi Kris! I say it for you, and for me and for all of us: We are so loved by an amazing and faithful and loving God. This God who IS the embodiment of love. Take care, friend.
Loved this post! So needed to hear it…even after writing my post for today which was sort of the same theme! Thanks for sharing your gift of writing…I love it.
I look forward to reading your post, Amy! It’s fun to hear how God is speaking the same message to two of His girls today. 🙂
Thanks for reminding us that God loves each of us and that He created us each one to be unique.
It is so true when the enemy is speaking lies to us we must drown him out with truth!
For me, the self-accusing and enemy-accusing sometimes come out of nowhere. So odd. But right there? God. Not letting the enemy or my own little self inflict any more damage. Grateful.
Crying at this message today, in this moment! Thank you!
((Wendy)) … Love you so.
Thanks for this message today. It never gets old. Blessings to you and thanks for making your link up available!
It is my pleasure and honor, EvieJo. I love hosting the link-up, and enjoy making my way around the community to see what God has been doing in your lives, too!
Yes! Such a needed message for today. With so many teenagers in my life I hear their cries of unworthiness and this is the ONLY message that can quench those feelings. Thank you for beautifully worded reminder.
Keep up the God work.
And you are such a good mama, always whispering words of hope over your family, ((Lori)).
And this is living worship.
Thanks for worshipping with us, Amy! Love you.
How I needed to hear this – today, of all days. Thanks for the reminder!
I think I need to re-read this every. single. day.
xxoo ((((Jennifer))))
Love how you expressed this beautiful truth! How often those old tapes play, and God reminds me of His wondrous “crazy” love. And how powerful are those words in our mouths. Thanks Jennifer!
Oh, my…God-incidence, as I just posted with a similar theme but from a different angle…You are beautiful in His love…Thank you, Jennifer 🙂
It is sometimes difficult to get the heart to believe what the head consents to. Thank you so much for this Jennifer. My wonder is always that He chose me. It overwhelms me.
Your words here are important and so needed. I “pinned” them, so I would have them to remember.
A powerful post about a powerful God. Since Satan has lost us for eternity, his grand plan is to immobilize us for this earth
I feel SO encouraged! Thank you for sharing your story, which could have been my own! I needed this reminder today…my cup is filling up, up, up!
“You were God’s idea.” I LOVED that! It reminded me of when I get an “idea”…maybe something new or unusual…that “WOW” lightbulb moment…THAT was ME…YOU in God’s mind…a wonderful, awesome thought that came into being…us!
thank you! i needed that today! 🙂
Such a good word for my weary soul. Thank you, Jennifer.
I returned with a post about that liar who comes uninvited, but we must not allow him to remain. Better yet to prevent him from pushing open that door we leave open just a crack.
Kinda like being His favorite, huh? 😉
Yes. Yes. I know this. I do. I really do.
Would you tell me again?
Oh, and *I* love *you.*
Yes, my tapes are playing tonight as I type. I’m in physical and emotional distress and feel like such a burden to my loved ones. The word “burden” has been uttered so many times by the enemy and by people either wishing to hurt me or thinking they were meaning well. It did not do anything “well.” It is a cloak I carry around like a noose. I have it wrapped around me tightly tonight, as I almost had to go into the ER for this physical stuff and was talking with husband over whether he’d have to take the day off work or not. How to get kids to school? How much time off work allowed? Burden, burden, burden. This was a timely post, Jennifer, I thank you for it. It’s been posted for a while, but oddly (or not so oddly since it is a God-incidence) I just had it fly into my inbox this very moment. Bless you, sister. Thank you for your ministering. And God, I thank you for your words of Truth.
I also think of Kary Oberbrunner’s phenomenal book, “Your Secret Name,” – about all the names we have had put upon us as lies…and how to find the true names that our God calls us. A worthy read, indeed.
We all need to be reminded of this, Jennifer. Thank you so much for reminding ME.
Hugs…
Yeah… I could use the reminder this week. Thanks!
Thank you Jennifer! I did need to hear those words today. I’m battling the stomach flu and self contempt at the same time….not a good combination. I’m also feeling very unloved and unappreciated by my husband right at the moment. But, I know he is incapable of loving me the way God loves me. Your precious words reminded me that God’s love is all I need.
Oh, yes! This is such truth we need to remember. It reminds me of the two words, from Song of Solomon, that turned John Bunyan’s life utterly around forever: “MY LOVE”!
When He heard that coming from God to Him, all the chains fell away and he was so overjoyed he wanted to tell the crows he passed in the cornfields on the way home. (Which would look even stranger than what the guy at your traffic light saw! How did he know you didn’t have one of those in-car phones you talk to?)
Thanks for this! God bless!