“Listen to no man who has not listened to God.” A.W. Tozer

Instead of cherishing myself because Jesus cherished me, I spent years taking to heart what others said. I ended up discouraged because people make beautiful family and friends, but they fail miserably at being my God. 

I ran from some of those people. Defended myself against some. Gave up on some . Lived up to the negative things some of them said.

The conversation between Julia Roberts and Richard Gere was one of the more memorable scenes in the movie “Pretty Woman.” 

“People put you down enough, you start to believe it,” said Vivian.

 “I think you are a very bright, very special woman,” said Edward. 

“The bad stuff is easier to believe. You ever notice that?” she said. 

Why is it that we hear one insult in the midst of 10 compliments and obsess about the former for days, weeks, sometimes years? We may not recall the kind comments, but in a decade we can repeat word-for-word the negative one.  

When we replay an insult, we also replay our pain. I hit repeat again and again because I thought if I could understand why they said it, I could figure out a way to stop hurting from it. Instead of eliminating pain, I opened the door to more. 

My restoration began when I replaced their hurtful words with Jesus’ gentle ones. In yesterday’s blog post “I Am Who You Say I Am, part 1,” I listed some of what God said about us because whatever we repeat to ourselves, we echo to others. We all need to hear the same good stuff – we’re treasured, we are known, we are protected, we’re lovely – all because of what He did for us on Resurrection Sunday.

Let’s repeat Jesus’ good words to others and to ourselves too. It’s a way to heal our hurting world. Make somebody feel like they’re some bunny special.  

In This Together,
Kim