This was written for you

You are so beautiful. I know I’ve told you that, maybe you know it partially though I’m also sure that you have plenty of things about yourself that you don’t care for. It doesn’t matter. You are beautiful, you are so, so valuable and precious and a treasure. I can’t write this enough, if I were to spend the rest of this letter writing just that.

I want to say, before I go on, that I know I’m not perfect- I know I’m not close to perfect. I want you to know that as I write this, I’m not writing from a place of – “Follow me so you can be like me, I really have my life together and you can too!” I’m not even a little bit like that. The world seems full of people who have that message. So many webcourses, so many facebook ads full of women with workout plans and “hustle” plans and housecleaning plans, web seminars and coaching and all kinds of things where they claim that if you just take their 30 day course, or sign up for this introductory session, you too can be Just Like Them. Long haired, ship-lapped, big bootied and blessed.

I’m not saying that.

As I write this, I have a sink full of dishes and a porch floor covered in dried dirt. I am overweight and my bed is unmade. I have less than $1000 in my bank account, and my husband and I definitely bickered before bed. I’m not here to sell you my lifestyle- I’m not here to sell you me. I’m not writing this so that you can be impressed by me, and so that I can say- Hey! Here’s some advice! Are you hopeless? You don’t have to be, because I can give you the map to end up like me!

I’m not doing that. Because guess what? I already know you’re probably more put together than I am. You probably have a better workout regimen, better teeth hygiene, a bigger retirement account, and, to be honest, less irritability and laziness than I do. And I say that with utter, absolute honesty.

I’m not saying that to be… shocking. I’m saying it because I want you to know that I’m writing from a place that is not ME. I’m not writing about ME. I’m writing this about Him.

He loves you.

He looks at you, and loves you. I can’t say this enough, enough, enough. He loves you.

He doesn’t care if you’re a wreck, a screw up. If you’re behind on bills, soaked in debt.

He doesn’t ask you to fix yourself.

He just loves you.

He sees- I mean, he really, really sees. He sees where you’ve been abused and neglected and wounded- and he also knows the reasons you blame yourself, and where you’ve been horrible, and he loves you. LOVES YOU. He’s tender towards you, he really is.

I’m writing this to tell you that- I am no prize, I mean, I’m ordinary low-class, bad housekeeper, middle aged- and he treats me like I am his prized treasure, not because of who I am, but because of Who He Is. That is my God.

I’m writing this to you, today, to tell you that that is how He longs to be with you. He longs to love you, to caress your wounds, to heal your broken heart. He longs to fill your emptiness and satisfy your longings. He sees the dreams and the destiny and the gifts inside of you (-that HE put there, long ago-) and he doesn’t call them useless or wasted!! He rejoices in your future, and he doesn’t call it impossible or hopeless.

The thing is- I know you know. I mean, I know you think you know. I know you’ve been to church, you’ve heard about God, you think you know. I know that you have had some rotten experiences with people who say they are “God’s people.” I know. And I’m sorry.

But there is no difference in that, and the terrible gyms you’ve quit. Just because one gym was crappy doesn’t mean you give up exercising. The Lord is God, whether his people do what is right or not.

People aren’t perfect. But He is. I’m not perfect, but HE IS. You aren’t perfect… but God Is. His Son Is.

His perfect love casts out all sin. Casts out your sin. Throws it as far as the east is from the west. He doesn’t come to condemn you, he comes to pick you up, clean you up, fill you up, and set you up on the Rock where you were intended to live.

He doesn’t ask you to be perfect before you come to him. He doesn’t want you to “clean up” your life so that you can come to him. That’s the old way- that’s the old model. “Clean yourself up so God can talk to you.” That’s the old, religious mindset of the Old Testament. It had it’s place, it did- but there is a NEW Testament now. A NEW day- where God himself walks in the dust, and you, bloody and unclean, touch him, and instead of dying instantly of a lightning strike, he turns and looks at you with eternal eyes and says, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.”

He reaches down into the mud, and opens your eyes.

He kneels down in the sand, and writes a new name for you- a new future, where you are no longer ashamed, no longer full of fear, no longer a laundry list of things you’ve accomplished or failed at- You are Something New. You are a New Creation, born not of flesh but of Spirit!!!!

I’m writing this, dear, dear sister- beloved, chosen of God, daughter and friend… I’m writing this to tell you that if you’ve been longing to be filled, He is the source of life. If you’ve been hurting for love, he is the wellspring of hope. He calls you, beloved, to run on the heights. He calls you, beauty, to put away your amusements, your temporary fixes, and to take his hand, and climb towards Zion.

So don’t miss out! Don’t delay, don’t tell yourself you’ll do it this weekend or when this episode is over. If you can hear him, if you can feel the Spirit pulling at you as you read this then RUN to him! Turn off that tv, throw down your phone, and say “Speak, Lord, I’m listening!”