UNDESERVED LOVE.
This has been the theme of my walk with the Lord this last year. I felt the time was right to start talking to other people about it... I feel that simply sharing my story, and what God has taught me over the course of the year in it, here, with you all, might be a way to encourage someone else who has the same struggles with undeserved Love that I have had.
It "began", if you will, early on this year,...
It was a darker season of life for me, I will confess. I was struggling, inwardly, with a lot of different things, but especially image. .Image. I really want to talk about that, because it is something that ties in so hugely with how we view God's Love. I was struggling with feeling the need to look how the world says we should look physically. There is so much pressure that is put on us by the world to look a certain way as women, and,...dare I say this?... often, even more so, from Christians who say that if we don't look a certain way before God we are less spiritual or not as worthy. Trust me, it really happens. I also struggled feeling that my image was what defined me as an individual. I felt that if I looked a certain way, if people saw me as fitting into a certain "mould", then maybe I could be worthy enough. But after months of feeling so unworthy, and chasing after something that never gives, only asks for more and more,... I came to a very broken place, and I knew I needed God's help and Love. I remember getting on my knees and crying out to God, telling Him I didn't know if He could ever Love me because I felt so unworthy... and that I needed Him to heal me and bring me through this. And I remember kneeling there believing God was going to turn me away and condemn me; and then in the stillness He started speaking to me:
"Tawney, I have created you in My Image, and I will not give that glory to another. You are My Child, and I Love you, and want to make you like Me. Even if you view yourself as broken, desolate and forsaken, I say that you are Loved, cherished, and beautiful. As it says in My word, 'Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken, neither shall thy land anymore be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah; for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.' (Isaiah 62:4). I want to change your name. You are Hephzibah, 'My delight'. "
The Lord used that verse out of Isaiah to completely revolutionize the way I viewed myself in Christ, as well as the Love of God. The chapter of Isaiah 62 talks about how the children of Israel gave themselves "names" as to how they viewed themselves,... such as Forsaken and Desolate. But God says that He wants to change their names, and change their view of themselves to Hephzibah and Beulah. HEPHZIBAH means "My delight is in her." When I first realized that, I was truly overwhelmed. How could God take delight in someone like me? And yet, He said He did... and I was
completely wrecked by that. And it was only when I began accepting that God Loved me unconditionally - no matter what I looked like or how I felt- was when I actually began healing in that area of my life... But it is something that you must accept and let yourself be changed by. God had to use the TRUTH of those verses to change a distorted view I had, by me reading that verse everyday for quite a while, and really putting those truth's in the forefront of my walk with Him. God's Word is what will change us, nothing else. And that truth will set us free in Christ-- and I can honestly say now that the Lord has set me free from that. Yes, there are still struggles as times; but whenever I face that now I turn to God to define my worth, and what His word and Love says I am in Him. It has been so sweet to walk with Him like this; to know that I am truly Loved and delighted in by God. My invitation to you is to do the same. I don't know what names you give yourself,... if it's cutter, eating disorder, depressed, runaway,... maybe it is simply Forsaken and Desolate. But whatever names you give yourself, that is not how God view you. You are His Child, created in His image, and He wants full restoration for you. He wants to take your view of yourself and of how He loves you, and make you like Him... He wants to make you a Hephzibah; His delight. Will you accept what He has done for you? Will you accept the Love and Blood of the Cross that has covered you and be restored, redeemed (even as a saved individual there still is need for redemption in our life!), recreated in Him? Accept it. God is waiting for you with open arms. He Loves you. Will you accept that and become His Hephzibah?
More coming soon,...
Love,
Tawney Rae
Isaiah 62:4
This has been the theme of my walk with the Lord this last year. I felt the time was right to start talking to other people about it... I feel that simply sharing my story, and what God has taught me over the course of the year in it, here, with you all, might be a way to encourage someone else who has the same struggles with undeserved Love that I have had.
It "began", if you will, early on this year,...
It was a darker season of life for me, I will confess. I was struggling, inwardly, with a lot of different things, but especially image. .Image. I really want to talk about that, because it is something that ties in so hugely with how we view God's Love. I was struggling with feeling the need to look how the world says we should look physically. There is so much pressure that is put on us by the world to look a certain way as women, and,...dare I say this?... often, even more so, from Christians who say that if we don't look a certain way before God we are less spiritual or not as worthy. Trust me, it really happens. I also struggled feeling that my image was what defined me as an individual. I felt that if I looked a certain way, if people saw me as fitting into a certain "mould", then maybe I could be worthy enough. But after months of feeling so unworthy, and chasing after something that never gives, only asks for more and more,... I came to a very broken place, and I knew I needed God's help and Love. I remember getting on my knees and crying out to God, telling Him I didn't know if He could ever Love me because I felt so unworthy... and that I needed Him to heal me and bring me through this. And I remember kneeling there believing God was going to turn me away and condemn me; and then in the stillness He started speaking to me:
"Tawney, I have created you in My Image, and I will not give that glory to another. You are My Child, and I Love you, and want to make you like Me. Even if you view yourself as broken, desolate and forsaken, I say that you are Loved, cherished, and beautiful. As it says in My word, 'Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken, neither shall thy land anymore be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah; for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.' (Isaiah 62:4). I want to change your name. You are Hephzibah, 'My delight'. "
The Lord used that verse out of Isaiah to completely revolutionize the way I viewed myself in Christ, as well as the Love of God. The chapter of Isaiah 62 talks about how the children of Israel gave themselves "names" as to how they viewed themselves,... such as Forsaken and Desolate. But God says that He wants to change their names, and change their view of themselves to Hephzibah and Beulah. HEPHZIBAH means "My delight is in her." When I first realized that, I was truly overwhelmed. How could God take delight in someone like me? And yet, He said He did... and I was
completely wrecked by that. And it was only when I began accepting that God Loved me unconditionally - no matter what I looked like or how I felt- was when I actually began healing in that area of my life... But it is something that you must accept and let yourself be changed by. God had to use the TRUTH of those verses to change a distorted view I had, by me reading that verse everyday for quite a while, and really putting those truth's in the forefront of my walk with Him. God's Word is what will change us, nothing else. And that truth will set us free in Christ-- and I can honestly say now that the Lord has set me free from that. Yes, there are still struggles as times; but whenever I face that now I turn to God to define my worth, and what His word and Love says I am in Him. It has been so sweet to walk with Him like this; to know that I am truly Loved and delighted in by God. My invitation to you is to do the same. I don't know what names you give yourself,... if it's cutter, eating disorder, depressed, runaway,... maybe it is simply Forsaken and Desolate. But whatever names you give yourself, that is not how God view you. You are His Child, created in His image, and He wants full restoration for you. He wants to take your view of yourself and of how He loves you, and make you like Him... He wants to make you a Hephzibah; His delight. Will you accept what He has done for you? Will you accept the Love and Blood of the Cross that has covered you and be restored, redeemed (even as a saved individual there still is need for redemption in our life!), recreated in Him? Accept it. God is waiting for you with open arms. He Loves you. Will you accept that and become His Hephzibah?
More coming soon,...
Love,
Tawney Rae
Isaiah 62:4
AWESOME.... Failure,,,that`s my word... Always feeling like I`m failing at Something. Beautiful Post Tawney... Beautiful... Keep Writing Girl... I`m behind you 100%...
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad this post was an encouragement! (This is kinda' what I was meaning when we were talking at your house a while back,...)
ReplyDeleteI'll be praying for you about that! God can change those things, for sure, and make us something new in Him... and make us to have a "Hephzibah" spirit, if you will. Remember always how much He loves you, Mrs.Hartman!
Hugs!
LOVE Your Background
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks! I thought it was perfect for this time of the year too! :)
ReplyDelete