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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Question #1- When we compare ourselves to others we compare ourselves on the inside to what we see in them on the outside. Very true. First time hearing that! Was able to share it in a leadership development class at work!!! 🙂
PLEASE pray for my 10 year old grandson. Bullying, lying, stealing…HEART BREAKING. I am showing him today’s song tonight and telling him to picture a 10 year old little boy in every picture. That is who I saw in every frame and thought of through the entire song.
Thanks!
I wish I could see myself more like how God sees me! This has been my struggle for quite sometime now. Thanks for sharing the music video – beautiful!
Also being a little behind I did not answer any of the questions. However that didn’t stop me from jumping ahead to see what the chapter was about. Then to the answers, and I stopped. I was doing the very thing this chapter was about comparing myself to those who are so ahead of me in the study. So I stopped and will get to that chapter when I get there. But will share as much as I can
But I did listen to the song and was also brought to tears. Just to know that Jesus is sitting up in heaven looking down -on me- was enough to make me look up and smile.
I have never heard this song before. Thank you so much for sharing. It spoke right to my heart. Thank you so much for what you are doing for all the Women I know you are touching. Your emails that I receive weekly are always an encouragement, especially today’s email.
be blessed in Jesus’ name!
Amber
This was just what I needed to hear today! Been a rough week & started feeling sick last night which made it even harder to sleep than usual. As a result, am struggling more than normally do with believing that “I am beautiful” and God really does have a purpose for my life. Thanks so much for allowing God to speak through you!
This chapter has really hit home with me. I have been asking and praying for God to reveal my gifts and where I fit in at my church and what my strengths are. I have spent so much of my life worrying and caring about others that my dreams and desires have been buried. I am really doing some searching and talking to God and He is revealing and placing me in some ministries that I can help and make a difference. The best part is that they are things that I already enjoy!! My Tuesday night Bible Study has lessons on the same subject….Our Gifting…..so this must be something God wants for me to know. I am receiving this from several areas in my life. Thank you for helping me figure this out. I absolutely love this study and many truths from it are in my spirit!!
Out of all of the chapters, actually this is the one I’ve struggled with the most! I have done different personality tests over the years as well as different giftings tests to determine my giftings. I identified with you Renee when you said in the book that you felt like a split personality because that’s how I feel too! I always seem to come out even in these tests for all the types and it makes me feel like I really don’t know myself well at all or I’m not doing the test right!
As a Christian this has been one of the biggest struggles I’ve gone through. I think because of my upbringing and trying more to survive in an abusive household that I didn’t really get the opportunity to discover who I was. Then as I got older and became a Christian I think I tried to be the person that I thought others would accept or that I wanted to be because I liked them better than me. So I never really discovered the me God created me to be. I feel like “she” is buried underneath the “she” I created to be accepted and loved through my life. Whenever my husband has asked me what my dreams/desires are, I’ve always come up with a blank. I always thought it was to be a wife and mom and would tell everyone before I got married that’s all I wanted. I think it was more because I didn’t have anything else to say. I am so thankful to be a wife and mom, and am so thankful to the Lord for fulfilling that desire in my life but I know there is more inside of me, and I think I know what a couple of them are, but it’s the struggle of wondering if they’re “my” dreams/desires because I want them to be or if they’re actually from the Lord!
So as I said I’ve struggled with this chapter and really haven’t been looking forward to doing it, especially since I’m actually leading a group of women through the study! Renee, if you could give some direction as to books you may have read or what you did to uncover your talents, gifts, desires and passions, it would be so much appreciated. I so want to be content knowing who God created me to be with the talents and gifts He’s placed in me so that I can be that servant that doesn’t hide what He’s given me and not use it for His glory.
Love and blessings!
Suzanne, the book I read that helped me most was “What You Do Best in the Body of Christ”by Bruce Bugbee and Personality Plus and Personality Puzzle by Florence Littauer.
Instead of looking at the strengths and weaknesses – look at the emotional needs of each trait. Which two describe what you desire more than anything: FUN, PEACE, PERFECTION or POWER/CONTROL? What do you long for most to recharge? People, quietness, beauty or tasks? Those are some of the things that might help you if you can identify them first.
Also, I wanted to share with you is that my husband scores pretty evenly on all of the personalities. I believe Florence Littauer says that is a sign of a Phlegmatic because they are like Chameleons and become what others need or what a situattion requires due to the laid back temperament of that personality. I know my husband is definitely phlegmatic based on his main desires and emotional needs – although he has a lot of the strengths of almost all of the personalities.
And on a good note, I bet Jesus was a little of all four personalities so maybe it’s not a downfall afterall 🙂
Keep seeking Him and simply be available each day to love and serve and rest and relax right where He calls you to!!
Renee, thank you so much for your encouraging words! I really am encouraged with what you shared about your husband’s personality and how the evenness of the personalities indicates being adaptable to people/situations. I never thought of it that way before! I was encouraged too when you said you believe Jesus is a little of all four personalities! 🙂 I love that and will remember it too! So I’m on the hunt for the books you recommended and will continue to trust the Lord as I seek His will for my life that He has me where He wants me now and will continue to lead me to where He needs me/wants me to be, AND I’ll learn to relax and rest in Him! 🙂
Blessings!
OH Wow! The perfect reminder for me today! I’m behind on reading but your post & the video ministered to me just when I needed it. Thank You!
i havent started reading chapter 8 yet,still on chpt 7. but i did see the video by MERCY ME on your beautiful. it was very good and has alot of truth in it. sometimes i dont feel beautiful or have any self-worth. but its a beautiful song and hits to the heart. thankyou for showing this video. i will continue reading chpt 7. but have been busy. i do ask for prayer for my brother,hes struggling with cancer. its hard right now. but will try to keep up in the book.
sincerly
judy.
Praying for you and your brother Judy. So sorry for all you are going through – but so glad you have a copy of the book and can read as time allows. Take your time and just let Jesus love you through each page!! I’ll be leading another study so you can go through it again if you want to if you need to take more time this time around.
Renee, am glad you will be leading another study. In a past devotion, there was a gentleman who had read through the Bible 17 times, and each time he said that there was something new he discovered. Your book, Renee, has touched so many lives. In reading the comments of those sharing their hearts, encouraging one another, praying for each other, one can see the changes and growth of the ‘sisters’; it’s exciting to see the Lord working in lives.
Rene PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, tell me the artist of that song You are Beautiful. It ministered to me at the Exact Time I needed it. All day long I have been feeling UGLY, FAT, UNLOVED and UNAPPRECIATED. This video gave me a BREATH of FRESH AIR and I will be able to complete the rest of this day HAPPY. Thank you and please let me know who did this song so I can go and buy it IMMEDIATELY. I also believe this song should be the THEME SONG for so many hurting teens in the world today; not just teens, but ALL CHRISTIANS/NONCHRISTIANS who are HURTING.
Cynthia, the artist is Mercyme! I so love the words to this song. I have listened to it many times and it never gets old. It’s a reminder to me how God feels about me. 🙂
As Michelle shared the song is by Mercy Me. They are an amazing group of worshippers/artists! LOVE so many of their songs!! So thankful Jesus knew it was just what you needed to hear – just WHEN you needed to hear it!!
With my 12 year old daughter having surgery in the morning, I have been having issues getting this week’s lesson done. I did complete it this morning. PTL!
I love the song by Mercy Me! It fits with this chapter, because that is one of the truths that I have to keep telling myself! God loves me because he created me. I might have issues with other people, but I can rest in God, for He loves me no matter what!
When I was reading the prayer outloud this morning, I was brought to tears!
What did you read in this chapter that can help you break free from the comparison trap?
Page 143 – “Am I doing what God may be calling others to do, while leaving undone what He is calling me to do?”
Lord, please reveal to me who it is that You want me to be, not who I think I need to be…not my will but Your will Oh Lord! – In Jesus name, Amen
(I am a little behind and have not finished Chapter 8, so I will not be answering any of the end-of-chapter questions.)
WOW — what a wonderful message and video!!! Of all of the images, the ones where Jesus and a child are embracing grip my heart the most. I absolutely the love the feeling of my children’s embrace. Just think of how much my Heavenly Father delights in my embrace (and vice versa!).
God has blessed me so many times today with his encouragement and his acceptance. This has been a GLORIOUS day in the Lord. Thank you for deliverying his message!
I want to add that today is a new beginning for me. Although I have been a Christian for a long time, God spoke to my heart so clearly this morning and made it clear to me that I needed to turn everything in my life (small and large) over to Him to take care of. I have heard that I should do this a thousand times, but my heart “got it” this morning. Looking forward to what God will do with my life now that I have completely turned it over to Him and His plan.
PRAYING FOR YOU MISTI – SO THANKFUL FOR YOUR RESPONSE TO GIVE HIM ALL OF YOU!! YOUR WHOLE HEART MIND AND SOUL!
Renee I do not have your book but it is on my list to purchase. This song spoke to my heart. Last February my life was a mess and I really did not know what I was going to do. I actually ran away from home at the age of 65 and did not return for 6 weeks. Once I returned I started attending Celebrate Recovery and God is putting my life back in order. I know that in God’s eyes I am beautiful and no matter what comes my way He will take care of it and the trials I have gone through will make my faith stronger. With God in my corner I have everything I need!!!
I SO needed this right now. Struggling…..and watching the video reminded me how I need to lay my burdens at the cross and rest in His arms. Hearing “you are beautiful” over and over is a blessing. Thank you!
I, like so many of my sisters out there in cyberland, have really struggled with the past few chapters. It’s humbling to realized just how worthy I am.
My prayer while learning more and more about myself through these questions and Bible verses, etc. is that my daughter will be given this gift of confidence NOW at age 16, not when she’s 42, like me. Thank you, Renee, for showing me this message from God for my daughter. I know that I’ll be a better Mom because you used your gift of writing to share this message with all of us.
Thank you for reminding us, on International Women’s Day, how beautifu we are!
THis chapter for me was very enjoyable. I loved finding my “gift”. I have always known I had a gift of teaching and helping children with learning disabilities. I learned that is actually a “gift” in God’s eyes. I always thought God had a plan for me but I have not totally figured it out but I am not suppose to, he will guide me and I should put my trust in him and he will let me know. This chapter made me smile and feel happy. I am loved unconditionally by God. Nothing could be better.
Got goosebumps! How timely for me…someone said something critical about my appearance yesterday. This video reminded me of who I am in Christ! I plan to read the book after I finish my “Made to Crave” discipleship group. Keep up the wonderful work for the Kingdom!
Love this song, wish I had this to listen to when I was a teenager!
Jenn: I feel the same way about needing this a long time ago. But then again as a teenager I probably wouldn’t have been able to believe it. However, I can now! And that is all that matters.
Blessings.
Amen Jenn so do I