Her Worth Is In Him

Founders Note: Today on the blog we have a guest post from Kristin. You can learn more about Kristin in her bio at the end of the post. 

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Observe and consider the ravens; for they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn; and [yet] God feeds them. Of how much more worth are you than the birds! --Luke 12:24 (AMP)

In my mind's eye, I can still see her. Scrawny and late-blooming. Fair-skinned with a dark "beauty mark" beside her nose. They point and stare and laugh. She feels like crawling into herself.

As a newlywed and graduate student, she tries to feel comfortable in her own skin. They intimidate and observe and critique. She's old enough to know something, but not old enough to know much.

Once a mother, she feels out of her league and once she's no longer "professional," friendship seems hard to come by. Finding her footing in a new role proves challenging and a little painful. Where is she to find her worth now?

But as a mother to four, and quite a number of years older, she tries to accept the incapable parts of herself and give them to Him. The struggles of outward worth are still there (though the problem is no longer scrawniness). But she knows, somewhere deep within and past appearances and perceptions, that her true worth has little to do with herself and much to do with her Father.

You know me inside and out,
    you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
    how I was sculpted from nothing into something. --from Psalm 139 (The Message)

You see, He made her. Lovingly, carefully. Where once there was nothing, He brought her about. He put thought into her fair skin and dark hair and blue eyes. He marked the exact place He wanted that beauty spot to be - like a mark of ownership or claim. He didn't want her to look like the rest, because He sets all of His children apart - from the inside out.

I’m an open book to you;
    even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
    I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say
    before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you’re there,
    then up ahead and you’re there, too—
    your reassuring presence, coming and going. --from Psalm 139 (The Message)

Her Father reads her like a book, and she is part of the grand story He has written. He follows her and is before her and He keeps her, and when she lets herself, she actually feels kept by Him. Cherished. Those are special times, because she will let herself wander from that love. But He always calls her back to Himself.

And He placed her heart right there on her sleeve and so the opinions and thoughts of others, whether perceived or actual, can be quite painful to her when she doesn't let herself think on things above. And she knows that left to her own devices, she is unworthy of His keeping, affection and love. She feels small and stained at times. But He sent His Son to redeem her, and so when she remembers this she can feel Their love so deeply.

This is where her worth comes from.

Because she was made by careful creation and He set her apart and He redeemed her and purpose was assigned to each of her days and when her work for Him is accomplished, He will take her home. And when He does she will finally be complete and whole.

This life, therefore, is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished, but it is going on. This is not the end, but it is the road; all does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified." ~Martin Luther

It's only always the love of the Father and the Son that give her worth. As she strives to live in the direction of obedience and gives room for His work be done in her and through her, she finds that she cares less and less what the world thinks because she wants to please Him and she knows that when she puts Him first, all else falls into place where He wants it to be. And it's not always easy, but she tries to trust.

He is worthy of her whole heart and it is His love for her that gives her any worth at all. And at this realization she smiles and she is given courage to try it all for Him again tomorrow...

For your listening pleasure, a beautiful song that fits this post: You Know Me by Bethel Music

I'm Kristin. A daughter of the King, a follower of Jesus, a wife to my favorite, mother to my four loves, daughter, sister and friend. I feel called to write of how His goodness follows me each day. This life is not always easy. Actually it's rarely easy. But it's always good...

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