I don’t know about you, but I don’t spring out of bed in the morning with a smile on my face and a song in my heart. My body hurts. I’m still tired. I don’t want to sweep the kitchen again and find spatters on the mirror that I washed yesterday. I need to hit the shower and grab breakfast.
The thing I need most each morning is to start my day affirming who I am, why I’m here, and how much God loves me.
Why? Because every day untrue messages about our identity and purpose inundate our mind, soul, and spirit. For instance,
- You’re not enough.
- Your purpose is to be good, do good, and just keep on swimming.
- If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.
- Money, sex, and power are the keys to happiness.
- Revenge is sweet.
- You can never really trust someone’s love.
- In order to be worth it you need to (fill in the blank).
The only truth we can ever rely on is God’s truth. He alone is unchanging, all-knowing, and forgave every sin and mess we would ever create before we took our first breath. We are incapable of understanding His love for us. In a messed up, broken world, He alone is LOVE we can rely upon in our darkest moments.
- I am limitlessly, exuberantly, endlessly loved by God.
God’s love gives me purpose. He chooses to partner with His children to bring purpose from chaos in the world. We are His disciples, the light of the world. When I get up ever morning, I know that my words and actions set into motion eternal ripples of cause and effect. Ephesians 2:8 tells us, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
2. God gives me a purpose for and in every second of my life–especially in moments when I can’t see it.
God has a plan for your life. He created you with a purpose. One of the most important purposes we can fulfill is one we often overlook and take for granted: God created us to enjoy an intimate relationship with us. We enter into that relationship by believing in Jesus. The Bible tells us that if we have seen Jesus, we have seen the Father (God).
Having a close relationship with God is like any other relationship. We need to spend time with Him. We need to talk to Him in prayer. We need to read His love letter to us–the Bible–to help us better see and understand His profound love for us.
We are also created to glorify God in all we do and say; to praise Him; to grow in the fruits of the Spirit; to use our gifts and talents for Him, and to share what God has done for us with others.
3. I am enough because I am God’s daughter.
God’s opinion is the only opinion that matters. He created me and orchestrates every atom in the universe. No one can diminish my value. God willingly gave His Son Jesus as a sacrifice for my sins. God loved me more than the love that has ever filled the hearts of mankind. He says I am enough and I am His.
4. The most truthful things about me is that I am who God says I am: beautiful, chosen, forgiven, and free from shame.
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe,
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
I am free. I am forgiven. I am chosen. I am God’s beautiful child.
5. I am free to love even my enemies as freely as God loves me.
We find true freedom when we forgive our enemies as God forgave us. Of course, this is not actually possible. We do not possess God’s capacity for forgiveness. But through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to love our enemies and those who spitefully use us.
This is perhaps the most difficult affirmation to claim–especially when we watch others abuse our loved ones. Forgiveness does not mean “off the hook” or forgetting about consequences. Forgiveness means to pardon or cancel a debt. That individual no longer owes you anything. They may owe a penalty to the law or an institution or someone else, but you free them from bondage to your anger.
I challenge you to begin your morning for one month with these five affirmations. Say them out loud as you look into a mirror, and use your name as you speak them. Write them on a card and carry them with you through the day. Then observe how the Spirit of God works in your life.
–Shelly
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