Voice.

I let people tell me who I am.

I always have.

Do you know that book, "You are Special," by Max Lucado? A simple children's book, only a few pages long.

But filled with truth.

It is the story of a little wooden toy who is covered in little red dots. Little red dots that were placed on him by others. Marks that send a message of inferiority and failure. A little toy, labeled by his peers as broken, less than, and not much.

Not all the stickers in the story are bad. There are stars that are given as well. Shiny gold ones. They are good marks, marks of success given from one peer to another.

Simply put, it is a story about value. A story about striving and approval. A story about our unceasing desire to obtain an image that is gold, shiny, and admired.

I am valuable if they label me as so. I am something if the many voices of those around me agree: "She is special."

The message behind this simple tale has always resonated with me, but never so much as it does right.now.

Because right now, at this very moment, I am at a red-dot phase in life. You see, recently I made a choice (a big choice) that many people don't agree with and don't understand. That one big choice continues to lead me to even more choices that people don't agree with and don't understand. Choices that have been marked.

wrong. ungodly. unbiblical. selfish. ugly. sinful. untrue.

And until right now, I didn't really realize.

I didn't really realize how often I cling to my bright, shiny, golden stars.
How much I strive for them, every single day.
How I desire so badly to be admired by my peers.
How I work and long and strain for the image.

I want it.

I want that mark of value and success, and I want it given to me from people. from peers. from loved ones...from EVERYONE.

And I didn't realize just how much I really do want the image until I started getting covered with little red dots.

Those dots crushed me. They left me broken and questioning who I was. They ripped my heart open and left me weak.

I was surprised to find out that all along, all this time, I have been listening to the voices of people to discover my value. I have been working and striving and sweating all these years for the approval of man.

What does she think of me? Does he think I'm beautiful? Does she believe I'm capable? Does he think I can do it?

...Who do they say I am?

Thankfully, Today, this very night, my Creator pursued me in my confusion and in my pain and reminded me of what matters most. He opened my ears and allowed me, through His incredible grace, to hear what is true.

His Voice.

Because ultimately, when the rest falls away (or sometimes, as is neccessary for a turning/repentance, when the rest is ripped away), it is His Voice that remains.

The Voice of the One that formed us.

And through His Voice (His blessed Word) He tells us that we are blessed. beautiful. radiant. brides. stones. heirs. sons and daughters. capable. sheep. powerful. full of love. disciplined. chosen. led. protected. passionate. zealous. comforted. healed. priests. grafted in. graced. good. disciples. like Him. His.

And when we begin to listen, once again, to the Voice of our Maker, we start to believe that we.are.who.He.says.we.are.

We start to hope and trust that we are all of those things. Because our Creator believes that we are. And He would know...because He made us.

He made us (and continues to make us) those things.

The more time we spend with Him, the more time we allow Him to speak into our lives and refine us, the more we become those good things.

And tonight, I needed to be reminded of that.

I needed to listen to His Voice. I needed to open up His word and read what He thinks of me. What He says of me. I needed to remember that I have been labeled by Almighty God as valuable.

Today, I ask you to allow Him to do the same for you.

Let Him remind you.
Let Him speak good things about you, pour blessing over you, begin to peel away your stars and your dots.

Allow His Voice to rise above the others.
Allow Him and Him alone to refine you and make you new and whole and better.

And when He speaks, believe.

You are all the things that He says you are.