Have you ever pondered upon the depth of the love the Lord has for us and how it transforms our view of ourselves?
This revealing discussion is about that epiphany - a powerful realization of my journey, embracing divine love and subsequently learning to genuinely love myself. I paint a vivid picture through the profound message in the song Belovednessby Sarah Koger, which has become a cherished anthem for me. Prepare yourself for a deeper exploration of self-love, faith, and the exhilarating experience of owning our belovedness.
During this conversation, I also delve into the beautiful songI am Your Beloved by Jonathan David & Melissa Helser, reinforcing our need to acknowledge ourselves as the cherished ones of the Lord.
What do you need to do to own your belovedness?
The true essence of love is doing what's best for the ones we love. There is a difference between self-love and selfishness. We are called to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39). The Father loves us as much as He loves Jesus (John 17:23).
Join me on this enlightening journey towards truly understanding and owning our belovedness.
Discipling mothers to disciple generations
Kingdom Mothers Rise Up is here for you. There is encouragement and practical steps to improve your relationship with yourself, God, and your child.
Lord has been talking to me about being loved by him and learning to love myself. Well, there's a song called Belovedness. I'll put a link in the description because I didn't think to look up who the artist is, but it's been a song that has been on repeat for me the past few months. And just sitting in, no matter how hard things are, the Lord sees me, he chooses me, he loves me, and that doesn't change. And he is asking me. One of the lines of the song is it's time to own your belovedness. And so I've been sitting in that song, practicing, receiving that he really does love me, he's not frustrated with me, he's not disappointed in me, he's not impatient with me, that I can just sit and be with him and he's good with that. He likes it.
Speaker 1:
The other day, my coach shared with me a song that's I am your beloved, which is by Hesslers. I think I'll put a link to that one too. So the Lord is like okay, so you've been singing and listening for months to the song about how I love you and me saying it's time to own your belovedness. It's time to own your belovedness. And so this song of I am your beloved. Like is a step of owning that I'm declaring like oh right, I am the beloved of the Lord. He bought me with his blood. My name is written on his hand. The Father loves me. His love for me doesn't change Like own that. What does that look like for me to move into owning how loved I am by the God of creation? What does it look like for you To make another step towards owning? This is who I am. This is my reality, regardless of everything else that is going on or might be scary or hard, I am the beloved of the God of the universe. Like that takes some sitting in for me. How do I own that? How do I live like I am the beloved of the Lord? And sometimes it helps to think how would I treat someone else?
Speaker 1:
That's the beloved of the Lord and he calls us to first and foremost, love him and next to love our neighbors as ourselves. We actually have to love ourself in order to love our neighbors well, and that comes from receiving his love. So, looking at and realizing for myself, there was a part of me, a bigger part, a while ago, but there's still a little part that believed loving someone well meant doing what they wanted, making them happy, and that's not the kind of love God calls us to. God calls us to love like he loves, which is love that is doing what's best for the one that we love. So if I'm loving the Lord, first and foremost, I'm doing what's best for the Lord, being in alignment with him, living a life that doesn't break fellowship with him, that doesn't grieve the Holy Spirit. That doesn't mean our relationship is all about correction and getting me back on track, and it's not all about me just bringing my wish lists or my complaints. It's building a relationship of love and letting him love me and speak to me as well as me sharing my heart with him.
Speaker 1:
But then, if he loves me as he loved Jesus, part of loving God well is learning to love myself, because, again, I have to learn to love myself to be able to love my neighbor, who he's commanded me to love. So what does it look like to love myself in a way where I'm doing what's best for me and I feel like this can so easily get taken out of context and twisted to well, now you're just going to be selfish and it's just all about you. No, because, remember, the first thing is to love the Lord, and so what's best for him is for me to be in alignment with how he designed me. So what is best for me is going to come under the Lordship of Christ. So I'm not going to decide what's best for me is to do anything unbiblical. I'm not going to decide it's best for me to lie and cheat or be rude to people. Those things don't come under the Lordship of Christ, so that is not what is best for me. But learning to love myself well and doing what's best for me would mean honoring my boundaries, which means that I have to know what those are. I have to know what I need and I have to know what's okay and what's not okay to be able to even have any boundaries.
Speaker 1:
Boundaries kind of get a bad rap too of trying to control people or putting boundaries on people, and that's not what they are and that's not how they work. A boundary is self-control, ultimately, and saying and valuing yourself Like I am worthy of respect, I'm worthy of love, I'm worthy of being treated appropriately, and if someone is not going to treat me appropriately, then this is what I am going to do, so they might feel like you're putting a boundary on them when you say, if you continue to talk to me that way, I'm leaving the room. But it's not putting a boundary on them. I didn't tell them, they couldn't say those things anymore. I just said I'm not going to participate.
Speaker 1:
The Lord has boundaries. The only way to him, the Father, is through Christ. That's a boundary, that's his standard, his way of operating. So we are okay to set boundaries and say this is how you have access to me. You treat me this way, and if you're not willing to treat me in these ways, then your access is limited. Because I'm worth being treated as the beloved of the Lord that I am. I pray that you can take one more step to owning your belovedness.