I watched a short video about Mr. Rogers defending his public television show on Facebook today. In it, he described the need for children to understand that they are loved the way they are on a daily basis. It got me thinking about how I feel about myself. I’m not talking about how I feel about how I look. Do I feel loved every day? Do I feel valued and worthy every day?

The word “love” is mentioned 310 times in the Bible. That’s almost one mention of love for every day of the year. I think it’s worth reminding you, my dear girls, that God’s loves reaches even you. Yes, you. You weird, odd, strange, unique, broken, hurt, scarred, growing, lonely, awkward girl. God loves you.

Hold on: I think you may have overlooked that last statement.

God. Loves. You. Exactly as you are, even with every secret and every sin and every hurt and every imperfection you hold. Romans 8: 35-39 tells us, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

There’s a phrase I say often that goes, “To love is to be known and to be known is to be loved.” You see, you can’t really love someone until you know them. I’ve heard the stories of love at first sight: I even know a few couples who are still happily married years and years after they “fell in love” at first sight. But even those couples will readily admit that their love for their spouse has grown only as they’ve spent days upon weeks upon months upon years getting to know their spouse better. God’s love is like that.

You see, God existed since before time existed. God knows all (He is omniscient). God has also never changed. That means He has known you since forever to today and from today to forever He has still known you. If to be loved is to be known and to be known is to love, then imagine the love Someone could have for you if He’d known you, literally, forever?

Sometimes, we need that reminder: God loves me. Especially when there doesn’t seem to be much love coming from any other people in our lives. Here’s some practical ways to remind yourself that you are loved by God when things get lonely:

1. Read about His love. Read your Bible: you know now that there are 310 mentions of love in the Bible, but think of all the verses that describe specifically God’s love for you. Search out Scriptures for stories about God loving someone who is like you or who is experiencing something similar. Find verses that speak about Who God is and what He did to prove His love for you. The psalmist wrote, “My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.” When his soul was heavy, he found strength in the Word of God. 
2. Talk to Him about what’s making you feel unloved. I know it seems like prayer can be kind of awkward, especially if you haven’t prayed in a while. But this really helps! God calls Himself our Father, our Friend, our Comforter, and our Spouse: He specifically fills each relational need we may need Him to fill. You don’t have to approach Him only as your Lord and God: there’s no need for fancy speeches said towards God like, “O my Lord who art above all, please O Lord, please love me God.” If you need a Father’s love, you can come to Him as a child would to her Daddy. If you need a Friend’s love, you can approach Him as your best friend. The more often you speak to Him, the more present His love will be to you.
3. Write down His love. If you know that you struggle with feeling loved or that you struggle with depression, write down some of those verses that you read or quotes that you find on God’s love onto sticky notes or onto note cards and put them up around the places that you live or work. Proverbs 3:3-4 tells us, “Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.” God tells us to bind the byproducts of His love for us around our necks as a reminder.  While actually having them around our physical necks could be a little hard, we can keep visual reminders of His love around us. My favorite place to put these kind of reminders is on the steering wheel in my car. When I’m sitting at a light, I can look down and get an instant reminder “Hey there! God loves you. Even though you’re beating yourself up or think you might be unlovable, there’s a God Who does– see right here? Love, love love just for you!” It may seem a little silly at first, but there’s science (aka smarter people than me) who say that having visual reminders helps a person confirm a truth.

God loves you just as you are where you are in the time you are at the age you are looking the way you are and acting the way you are. He loves you uniquely and holy. But we must work at accepting His love.

Love,

Meghan