You Matter To Me

Some things I struggle with a lot are feeling like I am not good enough and feeling like I just don't matter. I'm a person and so I naturally want people to like me and listen to me, and I often spend way more time worrying about that than I should- the insecurities in my brain tell me that I am untalented, annoying, bossy, unlikeable, and that people don't care about me. Even though I know these things are not true, the problems that I have with myself tell me that they are and it's like a battle. I find myself singing "You Matter to Me" from Waitress to myself all the time to try and convince myself that I'm not worthless when the world/my insecurities seem to be telling me otherwise. I know and love so many people that struggle with this, especially people with careers in the performing arts because our whole job is to entertain people and make them like us and if we fail at that, we fail at our job. This is applicable to really anyone but the thing is, God LOVES us all the time no matter what we do. We matter to Him. And the world, its opinions, and the insecurities it brings are all COMPLETELY temporary. God's love is eternal.

The people who you want to please so badly are not God. This is a bad habit we all get into- caring about the opinion of someone SO much that when they seem even the slightest bit disappointed in you, you beat yourself up. Exodus 20:2 says "I am the Lord God. You shall have no other gods before me." 1 John 5:21 says "dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your heart." Nothing could ever come close to replacing God, but our silly human nature of wanting to please people so badly leads us to hold some people in too high of a regard. My favorite verse about this is Jonah 2:8. It says "Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God's love for them"- when we put our focus on earthly things like wondering whether or not people like us, we have idols. An idol is anything besides God that you think you can't live without and when we get caught up in all of that, we miss out on God's grace and love and all of the peace and joy He has for us. Instead, we should try our best to set our minds on things above (Colossians 3:2) like God's love for us. His opinion is the only one that matters, and His opinion is that He loves you!

You are a child of God. Holy and dearly loved, fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 193:13-14 says "for you formed my inward parts. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works and my soul knows it very well." He made you the way you are for a reason! YOU MATTER. God doesn't make people so that they will feel irrelevant and ignored, and He doesn't want us to shy away from using the talents He gives us. He says, "have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go" in Joshua 1:9. In Jeremiah 29:11 He says, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future." God created you for a purpose and He loves you more than you could ever imagine. Even if the people around you don't always show you they care or make you feel good, you can find comfort in thinking about how God cares about you and He wants you to know it. 

Let's not forget that Christ made the ultimate sacrifice- He gave his life so that we might live in peace, love and joy, as free as possible from the darkness of the world. Isaiah 53:5 says it clearly: "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds we are healed." So when you doubt whether or not you're loved, whether or not you matter, and whether or not you're good enough, remember that God created you with a purpose and He loves you and cares for you so much that He died to save you and to know you. You are His beloved and you matter to Him more than you ever thought possible.