I am not placed on this earth to figure everything out on my own. Nor am I here to compete with the world system of success and fame. I am first God’s child. I am a product of His hand and heart. I was made by Him to be loved by Him. And it is His perspective that defines how I live, breath and move.
This world has much to say about who I am. It laughs at my sin and error. It judges my weakness and pronounces my failure. This world also has much to say about a God it doesn’t see or know. Angry, detached, falsified, discontent. Under these lies I have many times rejected Him and myself.
But today I declare that this is my Father’s World. He is my Author, and it is His Kingdom that rules and reigns. And before I can arise and start the day, I make Him the focus point and the source. I am weary and worn down by the cares of this world, by the struggles and the setbacks I have faced. So I cry out for Him like a small child needing the assistance of a loving caregiver. I recognize that I need to be ignited by the love of my Father.
I will not shun Him in my shame or run from Him in my failure. My Father’s love isn’t bothered by the unrefined and dirty places in me. He meets me in brokenness not completeness – for it His job – the work of His grace to restore and transform. He comes like a Builder with the tools to access and smooth the rough edges of my heart. He is meticulous, yet gentle. Caring, yet bold. Relentless yet ever so kind as to offer me the gift of choice.
It’s the gentle whisper of a Father’s heart I hear that I have worthiness. In my anxiety and fear, He declares that I am protected, wanted, watched over, loved. In Him – and in Him alone – this is where my hope rests. My life belongs to God.
The Battle
Many times, our roots of rejection and the sense of not belonging drive us to believe we are forgotten and invaluable. We begin to have a shame-based identity where we move through life feeling not good enough. We give off the message in our relationships that we don’t merit respect or love. We certainly don’t do this intentionally. But it becomes so infiltrated in our inner world, that it ends up creating a reality in and of itself.
Breaking through rejection and the sense of not belonging doesn’t happen by trying to make people think we are good enough for them. It comes from getting our belonging in Heaven, and knowing that exceeds everything else. To counter the lack of belonging, we need to understand that at the family table of our Father, we always a place to call home. We are always sought after, loved, wanted and valuable.
A Prayer
Father God,
I battle to belong. I don’t know where I fit in this world at times. It feels as though everyone has connection and I have somehow been left out. Yet, here I am, belonging to you. I am your child. I am seated next to you. You see me and listen to me. You communicate with my ever thought and breath life and wholeness into me. If only I could believe this reality in the deepest places inside me! Why do I want to belong everywhere else? Why does it feel like being enough for you, isn’t enough for me? Help me unburying those lies and help me to experience the truth of belonging in your heart.
In Jesus name – Amen