The message of the attached music video (below) is so beautifully basic… You are loved!! Maybe the power of it comes from the fact that we don’t always freely receive love. If we truly knew how loved we were, we would be more apt to love others recklessly…especially other women. It doesn’t seem to take much to trigger our insecurities and make us feel threatened. Of course, I’m speaking from my own point of reference and I sincerely never want to feel this way, and I trust you don’t either. Chiding myself first, this is not faith, but fear. The spirit of darkness endeavors to bind our hearts with these chains of fear and discouragement, and take us back to the pit the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us from. When we find ourselves plummeting down there again, we have a choice. We can wallow in the muck and mire of aloneness behind walls of self pity that no one can penetrate, or we can heed the words of Romans 14:23 that says, “…whatever is not from faith is sin.” Yikes! That means every time we feel this way we have a second choice: to escape the tempter’s snare! That speaks to me… I can choose to fall on my chubby knees and confess that this self-focus and fear is, in fact, sin; then turn from it in sincere repentance and trust God as I choose the path of faith again, focusing on His love and faithfulness. People may hurt us and let us down, but we need not fear when we know, ultimately, that we have a trustworthy Heavenly Father who doesn’t miss a second of our lives. When we choose to focus on His faithfulness again, loving Him above all else (Matthew 22:37-40), the path ahead is always more glorious! We find we are more open to loving others, with hearts beating to the rhythm of our Heavenly Father’s…His love flows through us and to them. We begin to love others as we love ourselves regardless of how we feel. We see His truth transform our hearts anew and we realize what a lie those mere feelings were. No longer deceived, we discover we do not even feel insecure or threatened anymore because faith and love took over, reigning on our heart’s throne. It all begins when we give away what we so desperately need ourselves. It sounds a bit backwards, but it is always that way in God’s economy. This is faith in action. The truth is we live backwards in our old selves, and when we learn to live as He designed us we are doing it right side out. My precious friend, feel it or not, you can fully trust Him with this…YOU ARE LOVED!