If only I could sit down with my teenage self today and give a few words of encouragement. I never really had anyone growing up that I would have called a mentor. You know, someone who would just tell you the truth. I feel like if I only would have had someone tell me once that I had purpose and meaning, I would have made much better decisions in my early life. Instead, I heard messages about how I was never doing anything right. I tried hard to please everyone; some in good ways and then again, in some not so honoring to God. Would you let me be that friend and mentor that I never had? May I speak to your heart today and tell you the truth that was never shared with me as a teenage girl?

First, God made you unique with talents and gifting like no other person in the world. He created you from the inside out starting with your heart and soul. He created you to love and share a deep, intimate and trusting relationship with Him. There is no reason in the world to believe that He is waiting at every turn to beat you up and want to punish and reject you because you are not perfect. The very second you were formed in the mind and eye of God, you were called “perfect” because you were formed in His own image. Yes, you were made in God’s image.  God’s opinion of you and your immense worth to Him never changes.  There is nothing that could ever stop Him from loving and adoring you.  Nothing. Take Him at His word when He says “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” You can trust God. Don’t measure His promises and His love by the acts of others. He is trustworthy and has your best interest in mind at all times. He has an amazing plan for your life and you can depend on that always. There will be a tendency to measure yourself by what others do and say.  Looking for acceptance by others and measuring your self-worth by what others say rather than what God says about you is dangerous. Choose your friends well. Make sure that you and they are building each other up with God’s opinion instead of what the world would want you to believe.

Believe that you were made with a purpose.  You may not see your unique purpose today, but the people you meet and the details of every day are strategically planned by God. He tells us in His word we “are His handiwork, created in Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The great news is that not only do you have purpose but God, who made heaven and earth, trusts you to do His work! He trusts you and only you and His confidence is in you. Yes, there are days when everything seems to go wrong. Remember you view your life as if you are walking in the fog.  You cannot see ahead of yourself clearly. You keep going on but don’t see the full picture. However, God sees all things in the big picture of your life and how your life will intersect with others. As you lean on Him for direction and guidance, He cheers you on and says, “That’s my girl!! I am so very proud of her”.

You see my friend, never ever forget God is for you.  He is proud of you, and trusts you in the amazing plan He has for your life as He cheers you on.

Pam, USA