Learning To Love Yourself Is A Very Valuable Lesson!

The last year and a half has been extremely challenging for me.  I have faced my biggest fears, overcome heartbreaking trials, and as a result I was forced to reevaluate every idea and dream that I had spent the last 20 years creating.   It made me question my identity, value, and sometimes even my purpose.  At times I felt as if the storms would never end, which also made me question what would be left of me when and if the storm passed.   Through all of this, I learned the most valuable life lesson I could have ever learned.

That is...  Our trials, accomplishments, physical appearance, and/or our status mean nothing without God.  I had to face loosing anything and everything that I thought made me, to realize that God made me and that is all that matters.   I had to learn to love myself with or without  a partner, babies, a bigger house, a large savings account, a perfect body, or the approval of others.

For a period of time it seemed as if everything I had invested my life into was being ripped away from me in an instant.  I could not understand why the God I love and serve would allow this to happen in my life.  Now I know that God indeed had a purpose for my struggles.  He was developing a foundation that was not reliant on outside factors.  He was developing my faith and character while teaching me the most valuable lesson I had yet to learn.  The end result is the successful victory over a battle I have fought to overcome for as long as I can remember (a battle to love myself).   In my brokenness I had to rely on God and dig deep within my soul to find the value in me, to survive and overcome.  That I did.

I can not explain how incredible it feels to be at a place in my life that I can finally LOVE ME. I love me despite of me, no matter what I have, or who else approves of me.  I love me because the word of God says that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.