Love Yourself Like the Lord Loves You

Most days, I consider myself unlovable. I look at myself in the mirror, I see all of my flaws, and I think, "How could anyone love someone like me?" 

For instance, I have crushing anxiety. It makes me question every single thing in life, especially about people and what they really think of me and if my friends, my boyfriend, my family actually love me and want to be around me. My hair is an ugly shade of brown, my laugh isn't cute and bubbly like I think it should be, I have cellulite on my legs, I'm a totally mentally unstable mess, all I seem to do in everyday conversations is make bad jokes...and the list goes on and on. I could spend all day in front of the mirror picking out my flaws. But the thing is, these aren't flaws. These are the things that make me me, the differences that separate me from being exactly like everyone else. And despite these differences, I am loved, by not only my loved ones on Earth, but most importantly by my Heavenly Father.

God reminds me of just how carefully He put me together, and His perfect love for me every time I look in His Word. One specific passage that comes to mind is Psalm 139, where David describes how well God knows him, because God is the one that created him. He says, 

"For you formed my inward parts;     you knitted me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;     my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,     intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them,     the days that were formed for me,     when as yet there was none of them."

Psalm 139:13-16 (ESV)

God knew exactly what He was doing when He made each of us. He designed each of us with a purpose, and created us in the way that He felt we should have been. God made you from nothing, like Adam and Eve were created from the very dust of the Earth. God created you, and He knows you to be beautiful, because everything that God creates is beautiful. And since God knows us to be beautiful, we should know that too, as a fact. 

We are beautiful not only because God sees us to be, but also because we have been brought back to life, resurrected from our old, ugly and twisted past selves. We were once dead in our sin, but now we can embrace the life in Jesus Christ, as new creatures whom God loves. And though we may still be imperfect and messy, God no longer holds us to our mistakes; everything has been erased and renewed. 

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

Finally, ladies please remember that you must learn to love yourself before ever getting into a serious romantic relationship, and that only God can truly reveal your value, more than any guy can. But most importantly you must love the Lord first before starting a relationship as well, and it should be with someone who loves the Lord just as much as you do. And if any guy truly does love you, He will see you as God sees you: beautiful, and someone who is worth loving.

And on a last note, think fondly of these words once spoken by King Solomon, but think of them now as what God would say to you every time you take a look in the mirror:

"You are altogether beautiful, my love;     there is no flaw in you."

Song of Solomon 4:7 (ESV)

Sisters, take these words to heart, and know that God loves you, just as you should learn to love yourself. If the Almighty King of Heaven knows you to be beautiful and flawless, that's the way it is. So the next time you see those "flaws" or "imperfections", see them as marks of beauty, and see yourself as God sees you: a beautiful daughter of the one true King. Our Father aches for His daughters to know their true value and beauty, and to see themselves through His eyes. In short, love is the center of this whole idea, love for yourself and love for your Holy Father who created you. Love is the center of it all, and it is where everything begins.

Much love,

Em