Here I am before You, Lord,

Again fearful,

Again doubting,

Again shameful.

Lord, teach me to be satisfied

With Your gifts,

With Your grace,

With Your love.

How can I not be satisfied?

You gave up everything,

You gave me life,

You gave me freedom.

Teach me, Lord, that with You

I am blessed,

I need nothing more,

You are always enough!

Lord, today I choose to believe

Your Spirit is living within me.

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
(Romans 8:11)

I am Your beloved child, not an orphan.

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
(Romans 8:15)

Your Spirit will transform me into the person You made me to be.

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
(2 Corinthians 2:18)

You alone will make me bold to live out and to share the good news of Your Son, Jesus the Anointed.

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
(2 Corinthians 3:12)

Only in the power of Your Spirit am I able to choose the right path, speak the truth, and share Your grace and love.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
(Romans 1:8)

I have no hope but in You.

Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.
(Psalm 62:5)

I have no love but Your love.

God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
(Romans 5:5b)

I have no power but the power You give me through Your precious Spirit.

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
(2 Timothy 1:7)

Everything I have and everything I am comes from Your gracious and merciful hand.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
(James 1:17)

Here I am before You, Lord,

Again courageous,

Again trusting,

Again confident in You alone!

Thank You, Lord!

When was the last time someone looked deeply into your eyes and said you were greatly valued? That something you did was excellent? That you were worthy of their time or energy or friendship? That happened to me recently quite unexpectedly — unexpectedly enough that it caught me off guard and brought tears to my eyes.

The values I developed growing up were excellent, but what I seemed to miss was feeling valued. Being products of the Great Depression, my parents stayed extremely busy trying to make life better for their four daughters than it had been for them. One of the unintended consequences of that upbringing was a lack of emotional connection. We were taught to simply do the right thing and to be careful that we not think too highly of ourselves. I remember my mother saying that she didn’t want to brag on us or her grandchildren because she didn’t want us to “get a big head.”

What I didn’t understand I was missing until I became an adult was that basic need to feel special. All of us need to feel that we are valued and that we have the ability to accomplish great things. I’ve tended to do lots of things in my life, probably in some misguided attempt to prove my value — if only to myself. I’ve also doubted the talents God has given me, especially my creative abilities.

It’s taken years for me to come to the realization that my value to God is not in question. I am beloved of him simply because I’m his child. He created me to be exactly who I am with exactly the talents he wanted me to develop.

This year I decided to work on developing confidence in one of those talents by attending the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference (brmcwc.com). Although I asked myself what in the world I was doing there, I decided to sign up for a 15-minute evaluation session with conference co-director Edie Melson. That’s when it happened. When she read one of my attempts at blogging, looked deeply into my eyes and called me a very  good writer, I was brought to tears. I didn’t expect that. It certainly felt good, though.

At that point I decided I had doubted long enough. If God believed in me enough to entrust me with even a small measure of writing talent, then it was time for me to begin to develop it. It was time to admit that I do write and, therefore, I am a writer. I simply need to trust God for my confidence and my ability and keep putting pen to paper … or fingers to keyboard.

This incident also convinced me that I should be looking deeply into the eyes of others in my life to tell them how much I value them and how important they are in God’s story. I believe we could accomplish even greater things in His kingdom if we were to routinely hear that from the people around us.

Do you hear routinely from your family or friends how important and valued you are? Have you ever heard it?

Have you ever said it to someone else? Let’s give it a try this week and see what a difference we can make in someone else’s life.

The Lord will bless our efforts to bless others.

Please comment below how you’ve let others know they are beloved by God and by you or how others have done that for you.

Dee Baker