Being a girl is tough, plain and simple. Beginning at the time when we hit puberty, we see the first glimpse of what being a woman is like. Then we start trying to figure it out on our own way before our time or before we’re ready, which would explain all those EMBARRASSING photos we secretly want to burn from between the sixth and eighth grade.
Move into high school, and we think everyone is out to get us, even our best friends at times. We fall in love for the first time and then get our hearts broken. A few years into college, we have experienced every emotion possible multiple times, not to mention a few bad relationships. We start to see the beginning of all the people we know getting engaged and pregnant, then those thoughts of being a cat or dog lady pop into our heads and the loneliness kicks in. We ask ourselves questions like, “Will I ever find love? What kind of dog should I get? I wonder if that saying ‘always the bridesmaid, never the bride’ is going to be me?”
Whenever I catch myself asking these kinds of questions, I remember about this teddy bear my grandmother got me when I was younger. Every time I gave it a hug, it would sing to me,
Jesus loves me, this I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong;
They are weak, but he is strong.
It reminded me then and still does to this day of how much I am loved, even when I don’t necessarily feel it. No matter how many wrongs I make, it is true; Jesus loves me.
Think about the person that you love the most in this world; your parents, grandparents, spouse, it doesn’t matter. Take the love that you feel for them and multiply it by one hundred, and that is still nowhere near how much God loves you.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Despite all the sin that we commit, Jesus still chose us over his own life. Take all of the anger, being prideful, holding grudges, placing judgment, lying, lusting/adultery; all of these trespasses and more that we on a daily basis make against God, and he says, “But I still love you.”
God says come to me and repent, and I will forgive you. Come to me, your heavenly Father, your creator who has loved you since you even came to be, since the beginning of time, and I will never let you go. He says drop all the anxiety and pain you carry around and remember that no one has loved you more than me. I sent my only son to sacrifice his life for you so that I could have you back. Jesus hung by three nails on a tree so that we could receive eternal life with God, so that we would never have to be alone.
So when you feel unloved, remember:
“But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved.”
Whenever you feel at your weakest, remember that it is okay because Jesus is STRONG. When you feel alone know that God has commanded us to:
“Be courageous, do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
And when you don’t know what else to do, pray and:
“Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
What kind of love could be better than that?
