Top

Renee Swope

Encouraging and equipping moms to parent with God's grace and confidence.

You’re Beautiful

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 :-).

Discover more from Renee Swope

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Comments

  1. I haven’t had time to do much with this lesson but working on what my gifts are and what God wants me to do with them. We are on vacation.

  2. Thank You so much for posting the video…today has been really hard..and I sure don’t feel beautiful…but the video…made feel special and loved…thank you…It so nice to know that God loves me…
    God Bless

  4. I haven’t gotten to the questions yet. but I remember taking a class a few years ago about gifts and I started thinking – what was mine? I completely understand your memory of being in the class and “hoping to get some ideas from others” as they came around to you. What are my gifts? What would I do with my free time if I had some? I’m struggling to answer those questions. I know I can organize because I do that a lot and would love to have my house organized (it’s to small for us to have a spot for everything). I also know that I can lead others, from my Awana experience. I just don’t know what my dream is. What do I want to be when I grow up? I don’t know, I don’t know how to live completely happy or content in what I am doing. I’m looking forward to the questions and the rest of the chapter to discover gifts.

  5. I am sending Him the link to this song right now! Thank you for sharing it!

  6. My son has been to Iraq 3 times and he has been struggling to fit back into society without all the adrenaline rush he’s used to. This last sunday I sent him a text that had these scriptures in them and he texted me back saying that I had stopped him from making a bad decision. He said he was laying in bed with his pistol asking God to forgive him for all the things he had done and was about to do and to take care of his family. These scriptures literally saved my son, bless his heart form putting that gun to his head and pulling the trigger! I had read them in the chapter and the Holy Spirit moved me to send them to my son and I am ever so thankful that I was obedient! This study has literally saved lives and I thank you and the Father above! Please keep Joshua in your prayers, I already lost my 21 year old daughter, dont think I can handle losing another of my kids.

    • wow – praying for you and your son – a heavy weight to bear for both of you.

    • Kari-
      May God’s presence be VERY near your son and you. Please God, help them continue to feel you, see you, know you, trust you. Bring him from despair to healing! Bless Joshua abundantly. Help him to find help and his purpose. Thank you, Father.

      I am SO sorry you have lost a daughter.

      • Thank you Karen so much for your prayers and I agree in prayer with you, that God will bring him from despair to healing, that both him and I will continue to feel Him. see Him, know Him and trust Him. Thank you Lord for blessing Joshua abundantly and upholding him with Your righteous right Hand! Continue to put Your hedge of protection around his mind and keep the whispering lies of the enemy out of his head, heart and ears! Let me continue to hear Your precious leading where it comes to encouraging and strengthening with Your words that will touch and penetrate His heart. Lord its not about my confidence in who I am as a person but my confidence in Who You are in and through me and my obedience that will give confidence to those who need You so much more than me. Oh I need You Lord but there are so many others out there hurting worse than me and I just lift them all to You. Let them know they are precious, they are loved, they are sacred and they are Yours! In Jesus Name Amen!

  7. Question #7…At this very moment I am in a situation that I know God will use for good but it is one of the most difficult things I have ever had to endure in my 54 yrs. of life. My daughter gave birth to our first granddaughter back in July and since then she has systematically cut us out of her life. She is about 2,100 miles away so I can’t go over there and fight it out with her and she won’t return my calls. The song reminded me of how God feels about me b/c most of the time I’m feeling very rejected and unloved. Like I said I know this is not permanent b/c I serve a God that is good and He WILL turn this around and I have learned a LOT about myself through all of this so that is good too. I just keep telling her through emails and texts that I love her no matter what!!!

  8. I love the song, “Beautiful!” I have struggled my whole life with self esteem issues.
    I don’t think I’ve ever considered myself beautiful.
    Thank you for reminding me that God thinks I am beautiful.

  9. It’s a hard concept for me to think God made me unique with my own gifts and abilities. I wasn’t raised that way. I know it with my heart that God loves me so much. I’ve been homebound for 5 months due to surgeries and recuperating. Please pray for me. The longer I stay in the house the less I want to go anywhere where there is people or even answer the phone. I know that’s not good and God wouldn’t want that. I was very active before. I just don’t know how to get going again.

    • I will be praying for you Sharon – I am sending a prayer up now. I know what “homebound” feels like. Can you walk? Or sit by the window? Praying for sunshine in your life.

    • Stopping and praying for you, too, Sharon! I am so sorry you are homebound right now. I know that the Lord works all things together for good for those who love Him…so I am praising Him that He WILL use this time of being homebound for good in your life. I pray that this will be a time of growing closer to Him. I pray that as the enemy would want to take this time and use it to make you feel totally isolated that the Lord would take this time and use it to cause your roots to go down deeper in Him. Praying the Lord strengthen and encourage your heart by His Word and His tender presence!

  10. The illustration of sitting down with the ingredients to bake a cake and some being sweet, bitter, etc. reminded me of Forest Gump “life is like a box of chocolates”. You never know what you are going to get. When I was a child I would poke my finger in the bottom of a chocolate to see what I was getting! As an adult, I still want that luxury with life experience;however,. God’s promise to be faithful to complete the work he began in me gives me the confidence to move forward even when I am afraid.

  11. I have been trying to get away from the comparison trap forever. When I was young my mother would use comparing techniques to get me and my older sister (one year apart in age) to compete with each other and do more work, or do it better than the other. Unfortunately I still see us doing this. I love her so much and wish this wasn’t still present in our relationship. I once heard someone say that it is very hard to compete with one another but very rewarding to cooperate with one another. That is so true and I know that God would rather we did and then we all win! And, we can discover who He created us to be and complete each other while we celebrate and encourage one another. Thank you Renee for helping me to put that into words and to see from God’s perspective. It has troubled me for a long time.
    The video is sensational and a blessing for sure.

  12. I have not gotten that far in Chapter 8, but I just love the music. Last time you had Mercy Me on your blog I downloaded You are Beautiful and two other songs. It just makes me cry. The Lord does love me.

  13. Beautiful post today. It really reminded me of something Holley Gerth would write, so it’s fitting that you are doing a God’s Heart for You giveaway!

  14. Hearing this song–along with seeing the lyrics and pictures–gave me goosebumps and tears. We are all beautiful, aren’t we!!

  15. I definitely struggle with what my hearts desire is and I’m making attempts to figure it out as you suggested in Chapter 8 by just pursuing God. I feel like I’m seeing conformation throughout the studies I’m doing in my pursuit to know Him more. Just finished a series with a womens study at church “Faithful Abundant True” (a workbook/video series)..one of the speakers was Beth Moore and not a few days after finishing it…I was reading the quote you placed regarding Beth Moore in your book.. Very cool… I feel like I’m doing what I’m suppossed to do as far as pursuing the Most High…and that in itself…makes me more Confident! Praise God! 🙂

  16. What a “Beautiful” song!! As I listened to the words, I started jotting them down…..”beautiful, loved, cherished, chosen, treasured, sacred…because you are HIS.” I started thinking about several Divine Appointments God had me on this past week….friends in crisis; God giving me the perfect words to share with them. At first I felt some intrusion on “my time” …. but I was obedience and gave my friends all that God laid on my heart. Oh, Precious Lord, HE blessed me ten-fold.

    I’m inspired — going to make some greeting cards with these affirming words on them….to send to these friends in need of lifting up! Thank you for touching my heart in such a BEAUTIFUL way!

  17. You know I heard a speaker on the radio today say “God did not call you to look good (physically), He called you to bring Him glory” Then I read your post today…..Man I know that God sees nothing but beauty when He looks at me. I need to pray to see myself through His eyes….I pray for Him to show me others through His eyes all the time, now is the time to pray “Lord show me what you see when you look at me” WOW, thank you I needed today’s words.

  19. Thank you for all the comments. It’s so nice to hear that I’m not the only one who has these feelings and self doubt.
    I was reading the book and got away from it, but I know in my heart that I HAVE to continue reading it. I loved the picture of the 2 children. I posted it on my FB wall and printed it out for my boss.
    Thank you for your ministry.
    God Bless all you ladies with these struggles.

  20. I have struggled for what seems like a lifetime with who I am. I always was doing what others thought I should do. I have been married for 28yrs. Taken care of 2 children. Who are now grown. I have 3 beautiful grandaughters. So, I have not really known what “I” enjoy doing for most of my life! I will be 52 in May!
    This study has been both hard and perfect for me! I have one too many fears and doubts that have caused me to run, burnout and crash! I am learning that I am a child of God! And He thinks I am all right! And even though I am now trying to figure out what my gifts and what His dreams are, I am trying to trust Him with my life & future. I have always been co-dependant. But, yet within my marriage, as someone has pointed out to me, I have been alone. But, with God’s help I will be okay! So, with the help of this study and my church and most importantly the help of God I CAN Do all things in Christ Jesus and I CAN be all that God wants me to be!!

    • Keep reaching, and walking like the poem that was posted last week! Right with ‘ya on the age, with 3 sons and 1 grand daughter and the realization of not being alone at times is overwhelming and I need to step back a bit. But glad to see/hear you are still here, as hard as it is..like for me looking in the mirror