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 may feel invisible … like you’re just one of millions of others.
But there’s no comparison. God sees you friend.
And when God sees you, He sees someone He loves.
Listen as He whispers…”You are precious and honored in my sight …. and I love you.” Is 43:4
He also sees someone He knows.
“You have searched me, LORD, and you know me.” Ps 139:1
Since God knows you, has a purpose for you and loves the way He made you, I’m confident He wants you to feel the same way. Watch, listen and let Him sing these truths over your heart today. {And if you’re reading this in email, click here to watch it online.}
You really are…
Beautiful
Loved
Cherished
Chosen
Treasured
Sacred
You are His!
May God’s sweet affirmations replaceall those comparisons. As you identify, understand and embrace who HE created you to be, I’m praying you will be able 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)
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Want to find out more about who God created you to be?
Here’s a link to a FREE Spiritual Gifts Assessment to see what your gifts are!
It’s FREE for everyone!
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ENTER TO WIN: I’m giving away 5 copies of the personality assessment that I talk about in my book A Confident Heart {on sale now for $6.99}
In chapter 8, I share an in-depth section about personalities and how our unique traits play a key role in our God-given purpose. Today’s giveaway is called Wired That Way Personality Profile and includes a time-tested profile with definitions, instructions to eliminate confusion, a detailed explanation of your scores, and a handy team-building chart that shows how the different Personalities interact. To enter: Share a little bit about what God is showing you as you continue to read chapter 8, or today’s blog post and/or music video. Simply click “share your thoughts” below. And let me know if you’ll be on our Conference Call tomorrow night!
FREE Confident Heart Conference Call
Thursday, May 9th, at 9pm EST
Topic: You’ve Already Got What It Takes
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Thank you so much for posting that video. I have heard that song before so many times, and have always loved it, but for some reason today it really got to me and made me emotional 🙂 We are beautiful, we are unique, we are His!!!! I am a daughter of the King – how awesome is that!
This chapter has been intriguing, validating, and challenging for me. All my life I only desired to make my home and my children my life’s career. We started a family quickly and by the time we needed a minivan, I felt I’d “arrived” driving it for the first time. When my children came to school age I began hometeaching and reveled in this! This was my dream! Life was wonderful. This lasted almost 3 years and then God called my husband to basically call an end to hometeaching. I was devastated. there was no way I could have obeyed had God HIMSELF not put immense peace and confirmation in many, many ways to submit and obey my husband’s desires. I grieved for 3 years. In that time I felt lost, I questioned who I was. I questioned my purpose. I felt I’d lost part of myself. I began questioning my very identity. God answered by scooping me up and beginning a journey grounding my identity in HIM alone. It has been really hard at times, many things I have needed to “prune” out of myself, past beliefs, old thought processes, old patterns… but He accomplishes the works of His hands and He is faithful in every way to complete the desires of His good heart towards us. I have leanred how easily and quickly I can turn doubtful and unfaithful to Him. I have learned how easily I will steady myself upon other things instead of Him. I have learned how steady He truly is, an unshakeable undeniable unfailing Rock. A fortress of protection. A father for the wounded. The Commander in Chief worthy of my complete trust. But still, sometimes I struggle. He isn’t done yet. I still need help. I still need Him. Just recently (I’m talking within mere months) He has placed a passion in my heart towards a service that has never been there before, with something I never knew even existed. For 15 years I have thought over and over of returning to college, but could never decide on any chosen career path that just “grabbed” me, that said “Yes. This is worthy of time away from your growing family. Yes, this is worth money taken away from them. Yes, this is worth the amount of effort it takes to achieve”, until now. And it quite plainly dropped into my lap, very unexpected, and dealing with subject matter I have absolutely no previous experience with. I had to laugh when I took the personality quiz and “faith” came up as my number one! I never in a million years would have chosen that for myself, yet I feel like that’s exactly what I’m forced to lean on in pursuing what He’s leading before me… a leap of faith that He knows what Hes’ doing because I sure DON’T! The other giftings line up as well with what He’s leading, except a few that have me a bit confused, but that just reminds me you can’t outguess God. I can’t take a few quizes and go “oh yep! totally sums up my entire life! *gives head nod of approval towards God’s direction*” God is God. He wants to show Himself as such in our lives, and sometimes that means trusting all these puzzle peices laying before us have purpose and will somehow interlink with eachother (because they were MADE to) even though I don’t see how this red piece over here is going to blend with the blues and purples on this side. Sometimes I fret a bit over the lost pieces that have fallen on the floor, waiting patiently for God to bring it back to the table top when it’s time. Reading about the talents was a bit hard. Several people ave told me I should be a writer but I’ve always said I would never pursue that until God Himself led me to. 3 years ago I asked Him, in the midst of that confusion and pain and grief of losing homeschooling and questioning everything of everything around me and of myself, to take that “gift” of blogging away. My feelings engulfed me. I could hardly breathe, and the thought of carrying “one more thing” was overwhelming, so I prayed for Him to take it away. And He did. “blogs” no longer “just come” to me as they used to. I no longer feel that fire within that if I don’t write, I will explode from the inside out. Just quiet. All the time. Quiet. And now I’m fearing a bit! Lord, what have I done? Have I made a terrible mistake? Have I buried your personal treasure and asked You to stamp the ground with Your “okay”? SO, that’s where I am. I trust Him. I know His heart is full of so much love for us. I prayed then and I still pray now, that He will bring it back when He so chooses. I hate stepping on His toes though…
Chapter 8 really spoke volumes to my heart. I read the chapter Sunday evening and I have come back to in every day this week. I wake up with this study on mmy mind and go to bed with it on my mind. My favorite line in this chapter is the last sentence of the chapter. “The only change He desires is that you become more like Him as you become more like you!!!”
thank you for this great book. What evidence of how God has taken such difficult circumstances, Renee, and used them to extend this great message to so many women. Thank you for the encouragment.
I love the promises to personalize! They help me remember I am a daughter of the King and am Very special to him! I have learned so much from this book about how to stop thinking negative thoughts and using the scriptures to combat what is going wrong in my life. God always has a word for me that I can store up for myself to get through the tough times and the daily little stuff that happens.
I cried through it all. I am slowly chipping away at the ugliness inside of me and gaining that confidence I need. Most days I don’t feel beautiful, inside or out. I’ve heard from people all my life about how beautiful I am, but I’ve never really believed them. I’m working on seeing it. I’m working on getting past the things I’ve done that make me feel ugly inside. i’m working to become more spiritual. It’s comforting to know that God truly sees me as beautiful. It’s something I’ve needed to be reminded of lately. It’s been a rough couple of weeks for me. 🙁
Dear Renee,
beautiful picture- beautiful song–> thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to encourage us. I am sure your message put a smile on most of those who read it.
One of the many statements that you draw our attention to that spoke to me was “God deliberately gave you the personality He wanted you to have so He could impact certain people through your life.” It comforted me quite a bit esp. since at times I go thru waves of self-criticism on why I am not more like others in certain character traits.
It is so hard for me to fell like I have worth, I know God has shown me time and time again that He cares, the same as my husband- he always says, “when are you going to believe me that I love you”. It is so hard to recover from the hurts of the past, they still affect my presence!
I particularly needed this reminder today as I begin a new project in the office. Its so comforting to know that God treasures us, He loves us and is thinking of us much more than we think of our own children. There is nothing physical or otherwise in us that He doesn’t love…just as we are. I pray that this words from the video and scripture are engraved in our hearts always
I suffer from extreme social anxiety, so it’s taking every ounce of courage I have to post this, but I feel God leading me to do so. I hope it speaks to someone else as much as it did me. See, I’m going through a year long bible reading plan and today one particular verse spoke to me in a big way that I also feel is relevant to everything I’ve been reading in A Confident Heart.
In John 5:41-44, Jesus says, “Your approval means nothing to me, because I know you don’t have God’s love within you. For I have come to you in my Father’s name, and you have rejected me. Yet if others come in their own name, you gladly welcome them. No wonder you can’t believe! For you gladly honor each other, but you don’t care about the honor that comes from the one who alone is God.”
It left such a big impression on me because the whispers of doubt and insecurity that burden my heart originated from hurtful, destructive words that people have said to me. People who I cared about, but who rejected me and didn’t care about speaking the encouraging, uplifting truth of God.
And when Jesus says that we gladly honor each other, but don’t care about the honor that comes from God, I feel my heart stir. I’m left wondering… why do I let their words or approval define me when God says I am so much more? Why do I care so much about what they think about me when my Father, the one who loves me the most, carefully designed me on PURPOSE and made me who I am for His divine plan?
I need to turn away from the approval of others and instead look to God’s promises for security and confidence. This is the thing I struggle with the most and the biggest source of my anxiety, but this book has been an immense blessing in revealing God’s truth about me and the desires He has for me. Thank you so much, Renee and God bless you! Your honesty and vulnerability has made it possible for me to be honest with myself and vulnerable with God about all of my needs, desires and insecurities.
Ah Bethany, Thank you for writing this! It has truly touched me. That passage of scripture is so riveting to my heart also. I have also struggled with grasping for approval from others when usually God has *already* given me His approval… but it’s like I don’t count it “enough” and seek out man’s as well. (shakes head) I have had to ask forgiveness on this so many times, for truly He is enough. More than enough. And really, when you think about man’s approval it is quiet a shaky source. Usually “man” may agree with you, what you have done, or what you’ve had to say, only to whatever extent it serves or resonates with them at that moment in time. You could speak the SAME words of truth in another season or circumstance and they would choose not to agree because they are at a different place in their lives at that moment, yet your words of Truth would still be words of truth, or your Godly action carried out by Him through you…etc. Yet we’d look at that and think, “maybe that wasn’t quite right, maybe I did that wrong, maybe my thoughts aren’t as lined up as I thought”… man is shaky. man is always changing according to their circumstance or current feelings. God doesn’t though. He stands sure. His heart is full of truth, and genuine love and care for us. He will not lead us wrong, nor will He go back on His thoughts or directions towards us because someone else decided it didn’t “fit” them for that time being. God is truth and He is trust worthy… so they WHY do we lean more on man than Him? (I am talking to myself here too!! I have gone rounds with this myself! Still do!! I am constantly repenting of it! lol) Anyway, thank you for sharing your experience, your struggle, and the truth from the Word. Sometimes it just helps knowing you aren’t alone. ((hugs))
I really enjoyed this post I felt like it has confirmed truth that God has been speaking over me. Right now I am working through some difficult things and how they have affected my trust in His love and protection and who I am. Thank you for your encouragement and reminder of who I am in Him.
I have struggled with all of them but especially the “You are really….beautiful, loved and cherished.” all of my life. I am married to a great man you loves me and finds me beautiful but since my biological father told me “I love you because you are my daughter, but I can’t truly love you because you are fat and ugly.” and walked out of my life numerous times from the time I was 6 months old until he left permanently at age 13, I have never seen myself as any of those. I was taken to every doctor and put on every diet as a child to try to figure out why I was fat and right now, I weigh more than I have ever weighed. A lot of my weight now comes from Lupus, Fibromyalgia, CFS, Thyroid Cancer, etc… but I have never had success in dropping the weight and keeping it off…now I’m to a point where I really could lose 170 pounds and would still be okay. I have even had the lap band surgery but I have continued to gain weight instead of losing it. I know a lot of it is me sabatoging myself. I keep trying to remind myself that I’m not truly believing God and having a relationship with Him if I don’t believe EVERYTHING He and His Word says….I can’t just pick and choose what I want to believe, I just can’t seem to find a way out of this pit and to stay out of it for good.
The song says it all. I’ve heard it many times but never really listened closely to what it said. You know how you sing along but it never really clicks in your mind what the song is actually saying. Thanks for sharing. I have really enjoyed this study. Thanks for all your hard work to make it possible. You do an awesome job.
That’s how I felt watching it too. I’ve heard it before but never actually let it click in. We are beautiful!
What a great chapter this is – Chapter 8. I have learned so much from this chapter on gifts, personalities and abilities. It’s not that I haven’t heard about these over the years that I have been a Christian (47 to be exact), but Renee put’s it all together in such a way that it’s easily understood, all in one chapter. I love the verse Ephesians 2:10 – that shows God made us so that we could do good works, that He planned for us long ago! What a promise! The video is awesome too! Sorry I won’t be able to do the conference call – I hope the rest of you are so blessed by it!
Blessings to you Renee and to the rest of you!
My church is having a planning meeting for a special week of prayer in June. We are walking in faith to grow in corporate prayer at my church. So this meeting is very important. BUT immediately after, I am planning to be the phone for the Confident Heart conference call with everyone tomorrow night! Looking forward to it – thank you!
oh my goodness this chapter could have been a whole book! I am a little overwhelmed trying to digest it all, and exactly how to use all the verses in my life, in the dark situations that pop up. I have already decided I will be compiling a notebook to refer to later on when I know I need a “confident” refresher. Thank you again!
I love this song and the video is powerful. I am becoming more and more confident as we go on I. This study. I highlight almost everything in the book. Between this book, my Pastors sermon series of finding joy and the small group God has placed in my life I am really starting to feel Gods love for me and how to turn my thoughts around and it’s still a daily struggle but I am truly grateful for this study, this book and for Renee. I am still reading chapter 8 but I have a feeling I will be re reading this book over again once I finish the first round. Thank you God and thank you Renee.
What an important message, and what a “beautiful” video. I have so much trouble applying this to myself— I find it so easy to see the beauty in others, but I struggle with it on a personal level. Since my husband left, it seems the words that try to permeate my mind and heart most often are all just the opposite of these. Words like worthless, not good enough, boring, betrayed, ugly, unworthy……. I so pray that God will firmly plant this lesson in my heart. I don’t want the pain of my past tokeepme from the joy of the present and the future He has for me.
Powerful video. I’ve heard that song several times on the radio, but have not seen the music video for it until now. What a blessing. As I’ve shared, this chapter was for me “the chapter” that was written for me. I have struggled with the sin of comparison, and through this study and through the help of my Life Purpose Coach, I am learning that I am uniquely His. I am understanding that each one of us has special talents and gifts that only He can give to us. There is no need to be jealous or compare myself to others because He packaged me just the way He wanted to. That Truth is powerful to own.
Thank you for the video/ music, I can’t wait to share that with my daughters!