He WANTS me!

"No matter what you've done, God still wants you."

Isn't it amazing how sometimes the simplest of concepts are the hardest to grasp?  I started reading "Crazy Love" (by Francis Chan and one of my Christmas presents) today.  The author sends you to a website to watch a couple videos as you read through the first chapter.  The second video contained the quote above.  It's a thought I have heard before, but today the words settled in a different part of my heart and sank in, bringing peace and healing.

Satan has done a very good job of trapping me in guilt and shame and convincing me that because of what I have done in the past, no one--especially not God--could want me.  Over the last year, God has been working to break the chains that have held me captive to those thoughts.  I guess He's finally cleared enough of the weeds that there was actually dirt available for those words to take root today: "No matter what you've done, God still wants you."

What does that look like in my life?  It means I can be free from the obsessive need to make sure that my friends want me or that one day a man will want me.  In comparison (and hopefully none of my friends will take offense at this), whether or not they want me just doesn't matter.  God is so much greater than any of them.  His love is greater and deeper and fuller than theirs.  He will never fail me or disappoint me or leave me or hurt me.

Please note that I used the words "can be" in the previous paragraph.  Hearing those words today was powerful, but it's not magic.  God's still in the process of changing me, which means I'm still going to struggle with this concept.  But I'm trusting that "He who who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion."  In the meantime, that phrase will be on the tip of my tongue so it continues to take root and flourish in my heart.