I am lovely.

That is what I wrote in the margin of my Bible next to the verse that says

"How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!"

Psalm 84:1

Beth Moore taught me this. We are the dwelling place of the Lord. He calls us lovely. There is no flaw in us (Song of Solomon 4:7).

I think about these types of things often, as I'm sure you do. Even before I read these verses and learned what they meant, I wanted everyone to feel and know and believe that they are beautiful and wanted and worth something. Even before I felt all those things myself, I wanted you to know it. And now that I do know it, and I accept it and believe it, I want with all my heart for you to know the same.

I don't believe that you can just read a couple of verses and suddenly be secure. It doesn't work like that. You will be lied to, by yourself and by others and by the Enemy, and if you just read a verse every once in awhile, you will forget. It will feel forced, and fake, and you will wonder if it's the truth. It is. Sometimes you will just have to believe. Just take it on faith that what you are reading is true. And I believe that the more you read, the more you speak with him, the more you know him, it won't take much convincing. You will begin to feel secure. You are safe with him. Your identity is safe, your beauty is safe, your life is safe.

I wish I had learned these lessons earlier, but at the same time I am thankful that I learned them when I did, and I didn't spend one day longer believing the lie that I am worthless. Do not put this off, because the way you think about yourself dictates the way you think about other people. When you think less of yourself, you will either think more of people than they deserve, or less of them than they are really worth. But, when you realize the truth about yourself and internalize that, you will love people where they are. Bring them to where you are in loving yourself. It all starts here.