Unbeloved

Unbeloved

My heart aches. My spirit is low with unworthiness. I’ve held it in for days. I’ve held it together so that not a soul sees how I truly feel. I’ve gotten good at wearing a mask. It’s like a costume party every day. Sometimes I grow tired of being someone else on the outside.

Why do the little things bother me so much? My rational side knows the silliness of it all, but my heart still aches with the feelings of low self-worth.

What will be the trigger today? Will I make it through without a single tear?

It was a good day. I even felt joy while I took a walk and the sun shined down on me. Almost out of the woods I see the thing that causes my anxiety today. I try shaking it off. I remind myself that it doesn’t matter.

That I am loved.

I hug my daughter and give her a tickle hoping that her giggle makes it all better. For a brief moment, I forget about the thing that made me feel this way.

The dishes are piled high. I make my way to the sink. As I scrape the pot with my fingernail in an attempt to remove the stubborn stuck-on food, the resistance is all it takes to remind me of the thing. The tears begin to well up and my inside begins to show outside. I don’t want to let it out because it makes no sense that something so simple can cause me such hurt. If I even say the words out loud, I may seem crazy. As the tears start to roll down my face, I blame it all on the pot and its stupid macaroni leftovers. I try very hard to keep them inside, but each one fights its way out despite my efforts.

Why do I question my value based on worldly circumstances?

The voice of truth echoes in my head with Psalm 139.

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. – Psalm 139: 13-14

fearfully

There is a silent battle over what I will believe in this moment. I give into the lie and I let out a big, fat, ugly cry. I feel…

…UNBELOVED.

Sometimes letting it out and being honest with ourselves is the best way to heal. I have my moment. My mascara (which claims to be waterproof) runs and my feelings turn me into a raccoon. I breathe deeply and then there are short breaths like a 5 year-old after a tantrum.

Then, the tears are through and I have nothing left.

After all the messiness is over, I feel a new thing. It’s as though I have been crying on the shoulder of Jesus Himself. I feel mercy in my soul. I have chose to listen to the lie, diving right in, and yet the arms of Jesus are wrapping me up in mercy when I deserve justice.

The sunshine in the morning washes over me in a tidal wave of grace. It becomes impossible to feel anything but joy. 

Weeping may spend the night, but there is joy in the morning. – Psalm 30:5

Grace and mercy have stepped in to remind me that I am loved.

UNBELOVED NO MORE.

The name Amy means beloved. It makes sense that the enemy would try to steal that designation.

I prayed this over myself. I am going to need this prayer for days to come. If you ever struggle with feelings of low self-worth, I think you should pray this prayer too! 

Heavenly Father,

I ask forgiveness that I have given into the lies instead of declaring Your Truth. I renounce unbelief. Your word says I am fearfully and wonderfully made. That I am not rejected, but accepted. That I am beloved. I am the apple of Your eye. I am of great worth and value. I break any agreements that I have made with the devil allowing the spirits of rejection, fear, insecurity, shame, and unforgiveness to manifest. I command all negative spirits to go in the name of Jesus. Help me to resist the enemy and his unloving thoughts.

I thank you for your mercy and grace. I thank you for taking my sin and shame with you to the cross. Heal and renew my mind, Lord. I am surrounded with favor and grace. I lack nothing because of You. I ask for You to supernaturally help me to overcome negative thoughts about myself and ask you to take authority over my mind, mouth, and actions. 

In Jesus name, 

Amen

If this is something that you need to pray to Jesus over yourself, I have made a PRINTABLE PRAYER that I would love for you to download, print out, and refer to when you’re feeling unworthy! Click here to download that!

Wallpaper

I also made this phone wallpaper so that I see this truth every time that I look at my phone. You can download this Phone Wallpaper here. Just save it to your pictures and make it your wallpaper in settings!

10 Things I’ve Learned About Prayer

10 Things Ive Learned

 

I am not an expert on prayer. In fact, you’ll find me to be a member of the PWA. (You’ll find out about that later) But you know, it’s not hard to open the Bible and find pretty clear instructions on how we should pray.

Communication with God

God created prayer as a means for His people to connect with Him. It is literally just talking with him. Sometimes it’s just connecting with him spirit to spirit. It is a means to form relationship with God.

The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. – Psalms 145:18

necessary

To have a relationship with Christ, we have to pray. To praise him, thank him, ask for his forgiveness, ask for guidance, and to intercede for others. It would be practically impossible to walk with God and not pray to him.

commanded to pray

It’s mentioned over and over  in the Bible that we are to pray. It’s obviously very important to God!

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. – Colossians 4:2

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.- Romans 12:12

Physical requirement

If you’re thinking what the heck is she talking about, think bowing your head or kneeling. It most certainly helps us to be humble and to show respect to the Lord. The fact of the matter is, prayer is not physical, it is spiritual.

Jesus hung from the cross and was unable to be in the perfect posture for praying. He called out to his Father and the Lord heard him. How we are standing or holding our head will not make our prayers more righteous if we are truly connecting with the spirit of God. While those things can often help reflect our inner thoughts and humble us before Him, they are not requirements for praying to the Father.

fancy words

You don’t have to be a poet or a scholar of the King James Version of the Bible to pray. For many years I was discouraged from praying because I never knew “the right words” to pray. I lacked biblical language (still do) and I thought it made my prayers less important. The Bible says that we aren’t to worry about fancy words or long sentences. Whew, that’s a relief! I’m not good at that anyways!

When you pray, don’t pour out a flood of empty words, as the Gentiles do. They think that by saying many words they’ll be heard. – Matthew 6:7

know what to pray

The Bible says that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. Hallelujah! Have you ever been in a situation where a situation was so bad that you didn’t even know where to start to pray? Like your head might explode! According to the Lord’s will, the Spirit prays for us!

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. – Romans 8:26

never stop

When our prayer life dies out, so does our relationship with God. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 clearly  states- Never stop praying.  That seems pretty clear enough. I love this by C H Spurgeon.

As we breathe without ceasing, so must we pray without ceasing. As there is no attainment in life, of health, or of strength, or of muscular vigor which can place a man beyond the necessity of breathing, so no condition of spiritual growth or advance in grace will allow a man to dispense with prayer. – Charles Spurgeon, 1872 Sermon no. 1039

always hears

Even when we don’t see results, know that God always hears your prayers.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. – 1 John 5:14

The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.” – Psalm 145:18-19

The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. – Proverbs 15:29

great power

One of the most powerful tools that we have as children of God is prayer. We are ordinary people who serve and extraordinary God. We cannot do the things that He can. Because we submit our sins, needs, and requests to Him, we turn them over to His mighty power. Prayer is HUGE!

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. – James 5:16

doesnt have to be perfect

God has never called us to be perfect. In fact, God Loves Imperfection. If you are communicating with God spirit to spirit, praising, repenting, requesting, you are doing it right. The more that you do it, the better that you’ll get at it. It brings God such great joy when his children humble themselves with their imperfect prayers to talk with him.

book of the year

I got the opportunity to read a GREAT resource on prayer. I wanted to share with you about it. It’s from my favorite Christian author, Max Lucado. It’s all in the video below. I edited the very living daylights out of it because I have come to realize that every other word that I say is “um”.

Please forgive me if you feel like you’re going nuts. 🙂 And PLEASE leave a comment below with anything that YOU would add to the list above.


Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer, Before Amen, Max Lucado
You can get Max’s book Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer at Family Christian. It is currently only $9.99!

I was provided with a copy of Before Amen by Family Christian. All opinions expressed at 100% my own!