Hello, Heartlifter!
Read this post fironline coaching center for "all things healthy": a healthy sense of self, healthy behavior patterns, and healthy communication skills, which lead to robust, healthy spiritual growth.
Dear Heartlifter,
Why is it so hard to believe “You deserve good things?”
Maybe it is the word, “deserve.”
The Cambridge Dictionary defines deserve as “to have earned or to be given something because of the way you have behaved or the qualities you have.”
I don’t know how many times my mother said to me, “Good. You deserve it.”
Every time she said it, I cringed a bit inside.
Why would I do that?
Maybe because I grew up in a faith culture that pre-conditioned me to believe the only way I deserved anything was to do good work(s).
Maybe because I heard over and over again that I was a wretched sinner who didn’t deserve anything at all.
While there is some truth to both of those beliefs, the Jesus I now know and love deeply affirms that He loves to give me good things…whether I deserve them or not.
He gives good things because He is a good Father who loves me…just because I am His daughter. He makes this very clear in James 1:17 (AMP):
Then this week, one of my clients, we’ll call him Joe, said he was taking his twenty-year-old daughter on a shopping trip.
“Really?” I asked. “What’s the occasion?”
“Oh, no occasion. We haven’t done anything together in a while, so I asked her what she wanted to do and she said, ‘Go shopping at Tysons Corner.”
“Wow,” I said. “That is the sweetest.”
“Well, I love her. We have a blast together. It makes me happy to see her happy.”
Pause.
Heartlifter, here is our lean-in moment."
You can imagine that his words, “It makes me happy to see her happy,” rang out in my ears.
His daughter hasn’t done anything to deserve such a lavish expression of her Father’s love.
He loves her.
He likes seeing her happy.
Sweet Elena Rose, my granddaughter, expressing sheer and utter joy. I want this.
Heartlifter, I’m going to ask you a very hard question, “What good thing do you deserve?”
Even typing those words pained me.
But, right now, I’m going to implement a practice I ask of my clients: Move against the uncomfortable feeling.
Yes, make a counterintuitive move towards the thing that scares you or makes you feel really uncomfortable.
I’m going to pretend that my heavenly Father invited me to go on a shopping spree. I can choose (5) good gifts from His hands.
I’ll share two with you right now:
I deserve a calm nervous system that helps me move through life with greater ease (Philippians 4:7, KJV).
I deserve “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8, AMP).
Okay, it’s your turn. What (5) good gifts do you deserve from God’s hands?
If you are willing, would you share one or two of the “good gifts” you wrote down?
Was it easy to do?
Or, maybe like me, it was a counterintuitive growth point.
Let’s keep this conversation going so we can keep growing!
Thank You for this word today. You are so encouraging. I first heard you when you were a guest speaker with Dr. Michelle B.
Looking forward to diving in to healing with you more! Nice to meet you! 💕 You are such a blessing! 💕