Special, we are special

Living through a troubled time can cause your self-worth to deminish.  You start to beat yourself up over something over and over again and feel like you aren't loved. 

As I relaxed last night, I started playing in my head the song "In the Garden."  It's an old hymn we used to sing in church when I was a child.  It was referenced in a novel I read recently. 

The first verse and refrain are as follows:
I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses,
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.
Refrain:
And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

As I thought and sang through those lines, one line really stood out.
"And He tells me I am His own."
He calls me His.  God calls me His.  It doesn't really sink in until you say it aloud a couple of times. 

1 Peter 2:9 NIV says this, But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, Godʼs special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Not only does He call us His, He calls us His special possession.  Now I don't know about you but I have a thing or 2 that I would call special. I take extra special care of that thing to ensure I will have it forever. 

God does that for us.  He says we are special and takes care of us.  He wants us to feel loved because we are.  Jesus died on the cross so that we don't have to be receive the punishment for sin that we deserve.  We don't need to live in guilt or shame.  No beating yourself up over and over again is necessary.

When you mess up, no matter how bad you think it is, give it to God and let Him forgive you for it.  He paid the debt for you because He loves you.

I don't know about you, but I sure feel loved even when the world says I'm not or don't deserve to be.  God calls me His own special possession.