I was doing my devotions the other night, after a particularily stressful day, when I realized something. I had just finished my Bible reading (Luke 9: 18-28) and it was talking about how Jesus is in the drivers seat of my life and how we should not run from suffering, but embrace it. So, I had just finished reading that in my Bible, and I was sitting down with my journal and my lovely purple gel pen. I was re-capping my day, when I had one of those aha moments. It's like a moment where everything finally clicked and I got it. I was journaling about something I found, about how pain is pain. Every situation is unique. Like no one can know exactly how you're feeling because they have never been there. I found this quote on a website earlier that night (Before I was journaling) and I hope it sort of sums up what I'm trying to say. It says "Don't ever let anyone tell you that it's wrong or even feel guility for feeling what you are feeling. Yes, there are some who have it worse. But right now... what you feel is all your own." So I was journaling about that quote, when something hit me. My pain is all my own. No one gets how I'm feeling because no one has been there. yeah, it might not be the biggest thing in the world. But it matters to me. Just like what you are feeling could be way different then what I feel, but neither one is more importent. Pain is pain, and right now, the pain you're feeling matters to you just like the pain I'm feeling matters to me. I also realized that my pain matters just as much to God as that girl over there or that boy. It's not that somebody's pain is more importent. My pain matters to God because I matter to God. He cares about the things that hurt me, because He cares about me. He's going to be there for me, no matter what. He created me and He loves me, so much. Ok, my pain might not be the worst thing in the world. It probably isn't. There are a lot of worse things that are happening right then. But this is my pain and this is my hurt. It's hurting me, and that's hurting God. Yeah, there is so much going on in this world. Children are starving, parents are fighting, teenagers are trying to find that love they never felt when they were growing up. Bad things are happening and there are lots of things that are hurting people. What I'm going through might seem really un-importent compared to all those people. But you know what? What I'm facing matters to God. Even with all that stuff going on, what's happening to me matters to God. Does that not just blow your mind? Even with everything going on in this world, You and what you're facing matters to God. and, you know what? That hurt you feel is no less importent then the hurts of millions of people around the world. Your pain matters to God because YOU matter to God. My pain matters to God because I matter to God. I find it strange to think that with everything going on in this world, that God would still have time to care about those things that hurt me, that are probably so tiny compared to some of the other things people are going through. But what I feel matters, because I matter. I totally love just saying that, because it's true. I matter to God. He loves me and He delights in me. He has written my name on the palm of His hand and my laughter echoes off of his heart. He carries me when I don't have strength and He holds me when I cry. He's not leaving me alone to do this. He is with me, always. He does this all because He loves me, more then I could ever imagine. He loves me. I matter. Someone like me matters to the KING OF THE UNIVERSE!! Did you get that? Someone like you matters to God. He's not going to leave you out there alone. He always has time for you. Your hurt matters to God because You matter to God. What you're feeling matters because you matter. Do you love hearing that as much as I do? It's like, no matter what happens to me, if it hurts me, it matters to God. If I care about it, so does He. Why? Because I matter. Because you matter. To the KING OF THE UNIVERSE, we matter. If it matters to you, it matters to God. Because He is crazy about you. He loves you and He is never letting go of you. When He died on that cross, He thought of you. He thought of you, and even though He could have saved His own life, He didn't. He died, because He loved you so much. Isn't that the perfect love story? You matter to God. He loves you more then you will ever know. He is never too busy for those things that matter to you. He is always there, and He is never letting go. Do you believe that, really believe that? Do you believe that God could love someone like you? That you matter. He loves us. More then we will ever know. We matter. He has picked us and chosen us and taken us just as we are, broken and bleeding and at the lowest of lows. He has found us there, and He loves us anyways. He know's we'll mess up. He know's we're only human. He get's that we'll make mistakes sometimes. But no sin is too big for God to forgive. Nothing we could have done is so bad that God won't take us back, that He won't run to us with open arms when we come home. He loves us. Oh How He Loves Us.
