You were always loved

My history and yours go back further than our childhood – all the way to the Garden of Eden. In the beginning …. God created mankind in His image. And He said, “It was very good.”

That truth struck me when I first read it. The God of all the universe created me and said, “I was very good!” Do I dare believe it? If I don’t that would make God a liar. The Bible says let every man be a liar but God is not.

Could I, dare I look in the mirror and say, “Hulda, you are very good?”

God said it and He says it today.

You were not a mistake nor a random chance that happened. I know that I may sound like I’m repeating myself here but this is so crucial to understand and believe in the depths of our hearts.

To face rejection in its face and overcome it, we must know that we are accepted in the only place that really matters – and that is the heart of our Heavenly Father.

In the Garden, our first parents chose to listen to the lies of the serpent and were ashamed.  But even there, Papa came, shed blood and covered them with animal skin.

What the serpent did in the beginning, he’s continued to do over the ages — to this day. Jesus called him the father of lies. Like our first parents, we are faced with the same decision every day – to whom will we listen? The hissing lies of the serpent who is the accuser of the brethren or the truth of our Heavenly Father?

The enemy’s lies usually sound like this to me – you’re the scum of the earth, Hulda. You suck. Why bother…?

Even after I gave my life to Jesus and became His child, it was so much easier to believe the lies of the enemy. It was the way I’d been programmed in my mind. For most of my growing up years, I’ve worked hard to prove my self-worth by achieving titles, awards and even doing good deeds to cover up the unworthiness I felt.

And for a short while, I did gain some level of satisfaction that this little Peruvian Indian girl had done this or that. But it was never enough. I’d wake up with the same burden — to prove myself yet once again.

Even when I heard the call to go into missions. I wanted to earn my “keep” and prove to our supporters back home that we were working hard to save souls. Looking back now, it’s easy to see that I had an entirely wrong image of who my Heavenly Father is and consequently who I was as His child.

Instead of working out of a place of love and acceptance, I was working out of a place of shame trying to be a “perfect” missionary to prove that I was indeed good enough.

There comes a time when you have to draw a line in the sand and tell the enemy of your soul to go where he rightfully belongs and send him there.

The hooks he claims to have on you … they were undone, crushed at Calvary. And unless you give him a foothold, he has no claims on you.

If you haven’t done it, let today be the day when you plead the blood of Christ over you and declare whose rightfully you are.

Look in the mirror and choose to agree with the Father and say, “Yes, I’m very good.” And remember that you are wonderfully and fearfully made. Choose to hear Papa say,

“You are my beloved child. I am well pleased with you.”