I am who God says I am
On Sunday morning during Trinity Kids, Cal was given the chance to make a cross and then write his prayer requests on it.
I wasn’t prepared for the things he wrote down.
Friends, house, and (as he spelled it) bullyes.
I’m still not sure what the house part was all about but seeing that my son wrote “bullyes” made my heart hurt.
Cal isn’t one to freely express his emotions so it’s not unusual for us to learn about what’s really on his heart through these kinds of exercises or through our nightly prayer time.
So later that night, after we talked and prayed, I hugged him tight and basically said, “Baby, I am so sorry. I know how much it can hurt when people say or do unkind things to us. I would love to listen if you want to talk more about it.” Meanwhile, my heart was racing with questions and mama bear protectiveness. “Who hurt him? Why did he hurt him? Did Cal do something to provoke this? How will this harm his self-confidence?”
A few moments later, Cal spoke up. “Mom, I just don’t want to go back to school tomorrow, ok?”
Oh I know that defeated feeling of not wanting to face my giants the next day, whatever my giants might be. The giants aren’t always external voices knocking us down. Often the giants are the internal fears, insecurities, and lies that we allow to occupy our hearts and minds.
Lies like, “You aren’t enough. You don’t measure up. She has it so much more together than you. Why can’t you be more like her?”
Maybe you can relate to some of these?
A few years ago I did Beth Moore's Believing God Bible study. In this one particular lesson, Beth was as good as it gets teaching on “I am who God says I am.” Think about that for a moment. You are who God says you are! Beth went on to explain that in Christ, God says I am loved, blessed, chosen, adopted, accepted, redeemed, and forgiven. (Ephesians 1:3-8)
While I was sitting among 15 other women soaking up this amazing message for myself I was reminded how awesome it is that I can also bathe my children in this wonderful truth! No matter where we are or what we’re doing, God is inviting us to speak His words of life and love over our kids. When we are walking along the sidewalk, playing in the yard, snuggling at bedtime, riding in the car, or speaking into their sadness, we can encourage our kids with, “Do you know how special you are? Do you know how much Jesus adores and loves you? Do you know how much I adore and love you?”
While I hate to hear that my kids are hurting, I am so thankful I can encourage them by speaking God’s delight over them. When the outside voices try to knock them down, I use God’s word to build them back up in His love.
I love talking about how God, because of Jesus Christ, adores them, smiles over them, and delights in them, exactly as they are. And I am so thankful that because of Christ, I was able to say to Cal in his sadness and defeat, “Baby, you are who God says you are. Nobody else gets to define you. Only the God who created you and knows every little thing about you gets to define you.”
The Bible is salted with God’s expression of delight in His children. Here are just a few examples:
* He loves you just as you are- His love is unconditional! (Romans 5:8 & Ephesians 3:18-20)
* You are fully known and fully loved. He knows everything about you and He accepts you, understands you, and likes you! (Psalm 139 & Luke 12:7)
* You are the apple of His eye! (Psalm 17:8)
* You are a King’s kid! (I John 3:1)
* He is FOR you! (Romans 8:31-32 , Jeremiah 29:11-13, 1 Corinthians 2:9)
* You are His masterpiece! (Ephesians 2:8-11)
* He delights in you, He rejoices over you! (Zephaniah 3:17)
* You are His beloved child who will never be left alone. You can be courageous in His strength. ( Philippians 4:13 & Deuteronomy 31:6)
* You are loved, blessed, chosen, adopted, accepted, redeemed, and forgiven! (Ephesians 1:3-8)
How awesome is it that we can encourage our kids with HIS truth? And when we speak these words over our kids, we can’t forget that we (you and me!) are also His children.
(Excuse me while I have this little conversation with myself.)
When the internal and external voices proclaim, “You’re not enough - you’re not measuring up- you should be more like this and you should be more like that” remember that God is who He says He is and you are who God says you are.
Life is hard and uncertain. I don’t have to tell you that. But our hope, and our joy, and our confidence is not in the things or the voices of this world but in our all powerful, all knowing and sovereign God who gave His only Son up to death so that we could have a forever and eternal love affair with Him.
The only One who gets to tell us who we are is Jesus, who died for us while we were still sinners, so that we could be called the beloved sons and daughters of God.
1 John 3:1
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
Our kids are the beloved sons and daughters of God! And in the next several blogs (which I am so excited about!!) we will be digging deeper into all the practical ways we can nurture our kid's relationship with Jesus and help them grow in a vibrant friendship with Him!
In the meantime I'd love to know which verses you use to encourage your children in the love of God, or the ways in which you help ground your child's identity in His love through His word.