When I was young, we enjoyed many a good game of hide-and-seek. You see, on a dairy farm, there were myriads of hiding places.
Behind the big oak tree.
Around the bulk tank.
Up in the hay loft. (My brother built the most awesome tunnels).
One could hide all day long and never hide in the same place twice.
Even when we weren’t playing, we would be thinking and looking for that ultimate hiding place for our next game.
It was always great innocent fun.
But sometimes we hide for other reasons.
We hide because of our shame.
We hide because we have done something wrong and we dread exposure.
Or maybe we hide because we have experienced something awful and we want the memories to go away.
- Adam and Eve hid in the garden after their sin.
- Soon-to-be king, Saul, hid in the baggage because he felt insecure, unworthy of such an honor.
Satan does that to us.
He tells us lies that we are unworthy of love … unworthy of recognition .. just plain unworthy.
But it is all a lie.
I struggled for years fighting the lie of unworthiness. #young #unworthy Share on XEven with a name that means worthy of love, I could not accept love outside of my family. I could make a list of my good traits and all my talents but still, in my mind, I was unworthy. The truth is, I actually pushed love away when it came my way because I could not accept it.
Because I felt unworthy, I found myself hiding behind my extra weight and blaming it for keeping me from love. But it was really only a lie from Satan himself. He knew that I could love others and show them the love of Jesus. Satan wanted to stop me from serving the Lord. He didn’t want me to expose the lies that he had tricked so many into believing.
It took years of fighting it and love and support from friends and family, but slowly and surely I learned that God loves me immensely just as I am. I don’t have to fix things or do something special.
He just loves me. Oh, how He loves me.
“I want to reach through this screen, grab you by the shoulders, and tell you how much God loves you.”
Christine Caine, Unashamed
I felt these words ring true. Reminded of times I have tried to convince young girls that they are worthy of love. I have been there but I have never known how to help others fight the fight that I fought. (And still do at times.)
I love the reminder from the Psalms of how wonderful you and I really are.
In her book, Unashamed, Christine Caine reminded us of the prodigal son and his father, who loved his son so much. He kept looking for him to return home. And as soon as he saw his son coming down the road, he ran to him and embraced him.
God is waiting and watching for you to come home. He is waiting for you to give up the shame and run to Him. He Our Father is our ultimate hiding place.
God promises to take away any guilt and cover any shame and throw them “as far as the east is from the west“. [Psalm 103]
So go for it.
Stop running to food or drugs or sleep.
Stop running to food or drugs or sleep. Run to God. #unworthy #selfesteem Share on XRun to God and He will run to you.
I know that He will because He ran to me too!
This post was inspired by Five Minute Friday prompt: Hide and published on August 23, 2016 on ggmandy dot com. Now revamped for the prompt: Young
Pastor’s Wife (retired) & Chronic Pain Warrior blogs about how to make it through anything by relating her own life experiences to her writing. She is passionate about her love for the Lord and desires to spread that passion to others. She has a great desire to encourage women who are following behind her.
Oh yes this is so true and foundational to our walk with Jesus! Why is it so hard for us to just cling hard to His unconditional love for us? You are right, it is that lie from the enemy to keep us away from God! Even now, years later, I still catch myself giving in to that old feeling of unworthiness! Thank you for these precious words of encouragement today! –Blessings!
So many of us struggle. And Satan never quits feeding us the lie.
Mandy, I love your new site. It’s beautiful! Thanks for reminding us that God is our hiding place. We just need to run to Him rather than looking for hope in all the other places.
Blessings to you!
Thanks. My brain is like mud now but I am pleased with how it looks. I’m not really finished making changes but just wanted to get going again. Thanks for dropping by.
He is our hiding place. I love that picture of the hands and the trees.
Yes that’s a good one. Got it from Unsplash.com free I showed have added photo credit. 🙁
Lovely post, I love the psalm verse. I struggle with this a lot too, the feeling that I am not enough. As I heard this past week at Church, have to continually ask God to come into those parts of our lives where we are not letting him love us and I have thought of that often this week so this post is fitting!
Yes, I believe that many of us struggle in this area. I hope that my writing will continue to uplift you in the future. Thanks for dropping by.
Oh, how he is our ultimate hiding place. What an image! You captured my heart with those words. (or he did—you know what I mean!) Keep writing this truth, sister! We are so loved and we need to be reminded every day. Thank you for shouting this to the world! Visiting from FMF in the spot right after you:)
I need to check out Christine’s book. So glad God is loyal to us. Oh and I love the new look. I’m over in the 35 spot,
The book is AWESOME. the study guide uses completely different texts so the book is optional when doing the study HOWEVER, if you can afford it, buy it
we do need to stop hiding in less than secure places don’t we? Good post. Visiting from FMF 17
thank you for stopping by.
I’m running rom the tumours,
I’m running from the pain.
I’m running toward the rumours
that spring may come again.
I’m running from the sleepless nights,
from days spent in the dunny.
I’m running unto Vegas lights
where I can win some money
to pay the quacks what they want,
if they can fix this thing,
but my days are running rather gaunt,
and wealth may not bring
the cure that seems some magic spell;
oh, God, I need a miracle!
Great poem. Wish I had your talent. Thanks for coming by.