God loves you. It’s as simple as that. YOU are beloved. Just the way you are. Just because you are. God loves you! That’s the message of Grace today.
I was at a retreat yesterday, and I guess I never realized how many of us have trouble believing that God loves us. I was struck with how intricately woven our struggle to love and care for ourselves is with our difficulty in knowing, undoubtedly, that we are beloved beyond all imagining by the very Creator of the Universe.
I am convinced that self-care, true joy, the ability to listen to ourselves, listen to God, listen to others, to align ourselves with God’s mission in the world, is dependent on a core belief that we are of value and loved by something greater than ourselves; that we are a beloved child of God.
At that Grace-filled retreat, I was reminded that many years ago when I was healing from some very hard experiences and at a place where I wasn’t sure God loved me or forgave me, (and I certainly was not loving myself), my professor, mentor and friend Rev. Dr. Rudolph R. Featherstone gave me three statements to repeat to myself in the mirror every morning and every evening until they were ingrained in my core being. I share them with you now:
- I am someone because God made me someone and made me good.
- God loves me, yes, even me.
- I can be anything I want, if it is being faithful to God.
These words changed my life, I hope they change or enhance yours as well. Be gracious to yourself, take these words and phrases, use them daily and remind yourself that the God of forgiveness and new beginnings, the God who created you, the God who created everything, the God who Was, who IS, and who Is to Come, the God of Grace loves you beyond measure. I believe this is THE MOST important piece of information that forms us, reforms us, renews us, guides us and binds us together.
YOU are loved, I am loved, We are loved by the very Creator of the Universe. There is no greater Grace than that.