I know you sometimes feel ordinary but you’re not.
You are one of a kind ~ a unique and beautiful blend of all God wants you to be.
You are God’s prized possession, a valued treasure of great worth.
You may feel invisible…like you are just one of millions of others.
But God sees you.
And when God sees you, He sees someone He loves.
In Isaiah 43:4, God says, “You are precious and honored in my sight …. and I love you.”
He sees someone He knows.
David said in Psalm 139:1, “You have searched me, LORD, and you know me.” God knows you, too.
Since God knows you, has a purpose for you and loves you just the way He made you, I have no doubt He wants you to feel the same way.
He’ll do whatever it takes to help you get to a place of accepting and embracing your His heart for you so you can become the woman HE created you to be!
Here is the song I feel like God chose for you this week. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch, listen and let Him tell you just how beautiful you are! {If you are reading this via email, click here to watch it since it’s not viewable thru email.}
You really are…
Beautiful
Loved
Cherished
Chosen
Treasured
Sacred
You are His!
May God’s sweet affirmations replace all those comparisons. As you identify, understand and embrace who HE created you to be, I’m praying that, like the psalmist, you’re learning to say with confidence, “Lord, You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb, I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Ps. 139:13-14)
***
To celebrate God’s heart for you — my friends at DaySpring have graciously given me 5 sets of “God’s Heart For You” giveaways to share with 5 of you!! {{so excited!!}}
To enter the “God’s Heart for You” GiveAway share your answer to one or more of the questions at the end of the chapter 8. OR if you haven’t read that far yet, share your thoughts about today’s music video or blog post. Can’t want to hear from your heart :-).
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I love being able to pure my heart out without the worry of being judged! While I am saddened to read about other women’s struggles, it is nice to know we are all in this together and are here to try to ease the burdens. I woke up the other morning feeling completely overwhelmed with life in general. Not being a morning person in general, getting out of bed was so difficult, especially with added burdens of anxiety. So, I took it one step at a time…got out of bed, trudged to the shower and just let the hot water soothe my aching, sleepy body. I then sat down in the shower, with the water at my back and prayed. I poured out my heart to God, telling him that I just can’t do “it” anymore…living with the anxiety, loneliness, depression and please help me! I try to stay “in control” while balancing it all, but I’d just had it! I stood up, a bit relieved after my little breakdown. Interestingly, I felt a fascinating sense of peace and contentment. Being a person who typically needs to be knocked in the head to realize when God is trying to each me, was overwhelmed with the subtleness that drastically changed my heart and mind. While I was not cured of my emotional stresses, and did not hop out of the shower a completely new person (I know I still have a lot of work ahead of me), I had a new sense of God right beside me, saying “Yes, life may be difficult, but I am right here” andI finally believed it! It’s amazing what can happen when we feel like we are at our lowest, and finally give it all to Him! While my day was quite ordinary, my changed attitude and outlook brought great joy and I had a fantastic day, enjoying the simple pleasures of everyday things! Thanks, my friends, for listening! I am truly blessed!
Renee, I loved the video and The scriptures on your blog today. The video meant so much to me because I could see myself in all the ladies in the video. I am a sad person and I am so thankfull god choose you to write the confident heart to help me see me in a different way . Thanks Renee and thank you my King and the one who loves me.You are wonderfull
I have a question for anybody who would like to answer. Is it possible to be Melancholy and Sanguine? I test high on both but they are complete opposites. Any input? Would appreciate it.
Hi my sister Cindy…It was the same for me…I strive for that Sanguine personality to override the melancholy in me, even though it to has it’s good qualities…I want to be that outgoing Sanguine filled with life and vigor all the time but find myself quiet, pondering and to much!! So I feel and Renee stated we can have two different types but to me they are exact oppsite also. That is why it seems I guess, I never feel balanced…I tend to feel one way or the other and it makes me crazy. Someday I am happy and positive and outgoing ready to take on the world, other days I don’t want to go out of my house…
I am not sure I helped but it is how I feel with these two personality traits…that is why i am not crazy about these “categories”…I am a child of the most High God and I strive to be like Jesus not go with a stigma of a personality type, I tend to analyze it to much…I guess that is the melancholy side…See…Thats what I do!!!
Love you my sister….
I tested high in both also. I even had some Phlegmatic points. Peggybythesea, I never thought about never feeling balanced, but now I can see that I have that tendency also.
One thing for sure is that I know that God made me this way and that when I am one or the other He still wants us to trust in Him. He loves us all the same.
He does…I just have a hard time feeling love…For today…love you my sister…
I too am behind in my reading – still on chapter 6. I have a question. (And this is from the perfectionist in me).
Is it okay to memorize Bible verses that are “altered”? By altered I mean like the following example..
Eph 2:10 NLT is:
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
An altered form of that would be:
For I am God’s masterpiece. He has created me anew in Christ Jesus, so I can do the good things he planned for me long ago.
The latter version is of course more personal. Which is correct? (Or is there no wrong way?)
Personally I’ve been told you can personalize them. make them yours, after all God is speaking to you. To me these help plant them in your mind and heart.
Carol,
I say there is no wrong way. God spoke to you in this way and you have made them yours, like Debi said.
Authorine says March 9, 2012
What a beautiful song . The words just melt your heart. While reading this book I am looking at myself in a different way,realizing that God want to use me in the unique way He made me. I surrender my pereonality, heart’s desires, abilities, spiritual grifts, and experiences to God’s purposes…I delight myself in God,trusting God to shape the desires of my heart to match His. I want to seek and serve Jesus in all I do, .Renee I am so glad that I am reading and studing this book and I am praying for all of my online Sisters.
May God bless you.
.
I was driving down the highway a few mornings ago listening to a Christian radio station and thinking about this study. As I was looking out over the praries and fields, with everything looking dead, and I know to many ugly, God spoke to me that not all can see the beauty in His creation. He sees the beauty in those dry prarie lands that are dormant. But He also sees the beauty that will be blooming in the next few weeks as the weather warms the ground. I felt His promise to me was that he sees the beauty in me now but perhaps more importantly He sees the beauty of what I am becoming through pursuing Him and trusting in Him more each day. I hope this is a promise others of you can hold onto as well. Have a great weekend!
I love reading that God MADE ME, everything about me – He knows me inside and out! What a life changing realization that was for me. And, I love sharing that message with all my friends and my daughter and her friends. We are EACH special and loved!!
This is a great song and one that a friend made me listen too. She knew that I had some really bad things in my past and that I needed to hear this.
I have always liked the song. It’s helped bring me up many times. The video was superb. I cried more actually seeing it. In one of the pictures was a little girl with blonde hair held by Jesus that could be me. It’s hard though to believe that I am beautiful sometimes. And not just in appearance though that’s what most women look at first. I’m 5 ft and 225 lbs. so I know I don’t fit appearance beautiful. I am accepting of how I look most days. It’s more I have trouble with feeling beautiful on the inside. It’s really about accepting ourselves faults and all, letting go of the that to see the beauty in us.
I am treasured, sacred, HIS. WOW! I am learning to fight more than letting the hurt live in me. Thank God for HIS TRUTH that fights for me. Thanks for posting and writing!!!
Thank you, Renee, for sharing this video. The Lord knew I needed to be reminded at this very moment that I am beautiful in His eyes, created by Him for His purposes. He loves me unconditionally. I am not my own. I am His. Thank you for encouraging my heart today. May God bless you and your family, as well as your ministry.
I absolutely LOVE this song…I had not seen the video till today and it gives the song a whole new meaning to me. I have always thought of my son when listneing to this song. He has learning disabilities and has been made fun of by his classmates since grade school. His father and I continuously tell him how beautiful he is in our eyes and in the eyes of God. We tell him that God gave his this disability to use for his good and that he needs to let it shine through to show his beauty. He is now 16 and doing just that. He is using his disability to help others with more severe disabilities. God shows me beauty everyday in my son and brings me to my knees with all he is showing me through my son.
In my opinion, this is one of the most ‘beautiful songs ever written! On my way home one evening, after a lovely evening with a dear friend and her husband, a feeling of lonlyness hit me. Actually, it was much more than that. My heart was breaking. Mistakes made, failures, the consequences of sins committed by me and against me; coming at me full force from the enemy! My flesh wanted to turn to old ways. I literally prayed for Father God to keep me going straight (towards home), not turn left into town. Abba Daddy, in His goodness and mercy (and perfect timing) allowed me to hear this song for ‘the first time’ at this moment! It more than got me home, it helped me to continue with the healing of my heart I so long for.
This is what I got from Chapter 8 – probably the chapter that I appreciate most even though I love the whole book!
“Up to that point in my life, I’d never taken time to ask or answer those kinds of questions. Instead, I had tried to be who others wanted, expected, or needed me to be. I was fairly good at it. But I also suffered symptoms common to those with the ‘disease to please’. I lived with an uneasy feeling of just not being happy, whether at home, at work or in ministry. I was also a constant candidate for burnout and never felt like I measured up to other women.”
I couldn’t have written the above paragraph any better myself. When I read it (several times, actually) I was close to tears with the realization that this was me – just a few short weeks ago. God has been showing me this for a while and I just finally started seeing it.
A lady at church told me just recently that she had always wanted to talk to me but I seemed unapproachable. Talk about a blow to the gut. I told her that I was sorry she had gotten that impression but it was actually not so much that I was unapproachable but rather that I slid in and out of the church and tried to stay under the radar. If I didn’t get too close to people they wouldn’t see my faults, failures and short falls.
Just before Christmas, I realized that I was burning out. I couldn’t keep the smile on my face when it wasn’t coming from the inside. I had to do something but I didn’t know what to do.
God knew….and He did it. He brought me to my knees with the startling realization that He was all I could truly depend on in this life and that He was more than able and willing to meet my needs and be all that I need. He made me see that I belong to Him and that it doesn’t really matter what others think about me or how they think I measure up. It’s God’s standards that I have to measure up to and He isn’t nearly as hard on me as I am on myself.
So, today I stand with renewed strength and with a sense of feeling “good enough” because I know I’m more than good enough, I am truly loved and accepted by the One who made me. How could I not be good enough?!
I love the video and really needed that reassurance today. I am way behind in this study (chapter 2)and it’s really bothering me. Also, I struggle with self-esteem. I’m waiting for my husband to come back to the Lord. Sometimes when I sit at church and see all the other ‘pretty”, “slim”, “happy” women with their husbands sitting next to them with arms around them, I get jealous. Don’t get me wrong, I love my church and my church family very much. They are praying for my husband and me. It’s just that sometimes I allow my focus to slip off from the worship and the sermon and then “those thoughts” start creeping in. The they’re better than me, they have kids and I don’t, I bet their houses are spotless, ect. The video reminds me that God loves me just the way he made me and that just because of outside appearances, others lives aren’t perfect either. I need to be thankful for the life He has given me. We don’t need to be perfect, we need to allow Him to forgive us and to love us.
Thanks for the reminder Renee!!!
So I read this chapter today – really good stuff! The amazing thing is that my husband and I got talking last night about our purpose in life and what we should be doing. Then when I opened the book this morning….the chapter spoke directly to that! I hope to work through it with him this weekend. 🙂
What a blessing this post is for me today! It seems a constant struggle in my heart, where I can teach and help others understand their value and beauty, yet doubt it myself. I have an incredible husband who is so patient and reassuring to me; he is my “Jesus with skin on”. I’m so thankful for God’s unending mercy and gentle love that never lets me go!
I have really been enjoying the book, even though I am behind in the weekly readings. It doesn’t matter when I am reading, it always gives me the words I need at the time I need them. God’s timing is always so good. The song is just wonderful and it moves me to tears everytime I hear it. It explains so much going on in my life right now. This study came at the right time and has followed in line with what I am hearing from sermons and church too. Again, God’s timing is so perfect. Thanks for the study and all you do.
For I will worship the Lord thy God
He will lift me up and carry me.
He will mold me and make me.
He will mend my heart and take me from the wilderness into His presence.
He will take me from captivity into His freedom.
I offer my heart, mind and will to the Holy of Holies.
He will establish my steps and lead my coming and going
His words are precise and sketched as stone, written upon my heart
he will be my stronghold and keep me from sin
I will listen to His voice,
His hands are stretched out to me
He will delivery my soul
He will make me a testimony of His faithfulness
I will trust in the real and living God
He will protect me from the wasted highways of life
For I will fly on eagles wings
I will not feel ashame,
For I will cry out in His name
My joy will overwhelm me
For I know my God is great
He tranforms the los, comforts the hurting
He remembers me when I feel heartache
and fear takes hold of me
He satisfies my every need
He takes away my sins
And builds in me a sanctuary of blessing
I love my Lord! I am His child!~joyce
I am so sorry this posted twice and I did not mean for this to happen.
I don’t how to take it off here. I hope you can.
I fixed it for you 🙂
I’m a bit behind in the reading, too, but I loved the song’s reminder that we are beautiful, sacred, treasured. How often do we need to hear those words of truth, and yet much more often do we believe what the world tells us instead? I love your quote at the beginning of the chapter: “… what the world needs most is people who come alive.” Thanks for leading the way in helping us all come alive in Christ, Renee!