VALUABLE Week 4: Boyz

"Do I matter?"

That's the question I've asked myself a whole lot. 
"Do I really matter?" or maybe the question is "WHO do I matter TO?" 

Every girl has the God given desire to be CHOSEN. And if it's a God given desire then you are not wrong for wanting a guy to choose to talk to you, to add you on snapchat, or to sit by you at lunch. Let me repeat: there is nothing wrong with this. But let them do the pursuing, the adding, the chasing, the asking. K? I've messed up in this area but I'll share more on that later, but just trust me on this for now, don't text them first, don't call them first. I'll tell you lovelies more about how I messed up there later so y'all won't make the same mistakes I have...

Anyway, back on topic...

The Bible says in Genesis chapter 2 that God gave Eve to Adam because it isn't good for man to be alone. God designed the whole attraction, male + female = marriage = family scenario. He stinking designed it! That's so cool to me.

BUT guess what...

You know that hole in your heart? 

That emptiness? 

That longing have to be made whole? 

To be told that you matter? 

That desire you have to be valuable to someone? 

That guy you've got your eye on CANNOT fill it. He CANNOT make you whole. He CANNOT fix it by telling you you matter to him. And he certainly CANNOT give you ANY more value than you already have to your Savior. 

So, let's get down to it: if you have more guys who comment on your Instagram pictures than your other friends, does that make you more important? NO, it does not. If more guys text you than do your other friends, does that make you more valuable than your girl friends? NOT AT ALL. I know it might feel like there is something wrong with you because they get the attention from the boys and you don't, but like my mom tells me, that's a lie straight from Satan!! 

You see, here's the deal. God has a plan. A really good, awesome, beautiful, specific one, made just for you, actually. He actually made you who you are and gave you your gifts for very specific reasons, check it out:

For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

And he made that hole in your heart for a reason too...for Him! You see, Jesus is the ONLY one who satisfies. So let's make a deal. Let's not pursue guys, but let's pursue Jesus with everything in us. Intimacy with guys is fake, satisfaction that never truly fulfills because we were made to be satisfied by Jesus alone. And guys are human, just like us, so they are going to let us down, even when we are married to a great Christian man. But Jesus will NEVER let us down, girls!! Never. 

Y'all, we know God has a plan (Jeremiah 29:11). We know he loves us (Colossians 3:16 and countless other scriptures). So let's pursue him, we will be "satisfied as with the richest of foods" (Psalm 63:5). And when God sees that the timing is right, he will bring a man for us to serve him alongside. I believe that because of Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." I believe that if your desire is for marriage like mine is, then we gotta wait on Jesus and His best. He will deliver. He isn't out to trick us. After all, we are his daughters!! He will either answer that prayer of ours or he will totally change our heart's desire. 

To answer the question at the beginning...do you matter?

Mmm, YES! Girls, HE says YOU matter and He is God, so guess what? No one can argue with him :)

HE is the one who gets to say YOU are VALUABLE. 

Not random boys at your school or on snapchat or even your boyfriend or the boyfriend you want to have one day. 

In the same way, no one gets to tell you you aren't valuable. God determines your value and like we talked about last week, you are so valuable that He's the only one who could afford to pay the price for you, valuable little lady. And remember what that price was?  Yep, it was His only Son. 

Love y'all more than reese's and summer,

Amy Lynn

P.S. If you believe you are valuable to Jesus comment "I am valuable!" on  the latest @komokonnection photo on Instagram

VALUABLE Week 3: Friendships

Hey ladies! 

Okay so....

What is it about having friends that makes us feel more valuable? More loved? 

When you see a girl surrounded by a bunch of friends who are laughing and having a big ole time, what do you think? I tend to see them as very valued, cherished, and loved. I see them as blessed, even. 

But when I see someone by themselves, unfortunately, I tend to see them as less valuable, less cherished, and less loved than the girl we mentioned above. I see this girl as being lonely and unloved.

HOWEVER, Jesus disagrees. He doesn't find you valuable because of the number of your friends, the quality of your friends, or your popularity status.

You are valuable because Jesus says you are. Y'all, he left HEAVEN and came to live on EARTH for 33 years (what a horrible trade--heaven for earth!) and then he D I E D. Why did he do this? To prove it. To prove He loves you. To prove you are worth his life. To prove you are worth leaving heaven for. To prove you are worth suffering undeserved pain for. Girls, He loves you more than you will ever know. Ever. No matter how many friends you have or if you have any friends at all. 

He. Loves. You.

So many times in my life I have felt like I have no friends. So many times. Let me ask you this....Did Jesus love me less when I had no friends? Did he love me more when I had no friends because he felt sorry for me? No and No! His love is SO big for us, komos. And guess what? It N E V E R changes. His love seriously never changes. And nothing can separate us from it. It says so at the end of Romans 8, go check it out at the bottom of this post. 

So what do we do now with our friendships?

Love em, ladies. Love em no matter what. But realize this: YOUR FRIENDS (or lack thereof) DO NOT AFFECT YOUR VALUE ONE BIT. Not one bit. 

Check this out: If you were being sold in a store you would be worth so much that no one, NO ONE, could pay for you except God, who owns the whole world.  And the only way even God could afford to buy you to be his Child would be for him to send his Son to take your place. But guess what...the price wouldn't change regardless of how many friends you had. It wouldn't change depending on your looks or achievements either. And it wouldn't change based on how many boys have texted you today (next week's topic). 

 Girls, the number of friends we have, the quality of our friendships, and our popularity status do not affect the immeasurable value we have in Christ.

So love those friends. Love em big. But remember, they don't give you value at all. Jesus does. So tell them why they are valued as well, not because you love them. But because Jesus does. 

Love y'all much,

Amy Lynn

Romans 8:38-39

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

VALUABLE Week 2: Appearance

I think one of the biggest challenges young women in America face is learning to accept and love ourselves for who we are, and for how we were created. Part of that is accepting and loving the way we look on the outside--and that can be very hard to do.

The world tells us a lot of things about our appearance that just isn't true. We're told we need to slim down, tone up, get tan, wear more makeup, wear less makeup, straighten our hair, curl our hair, have expensive clothes, have flawless skin--and the list goes on and on! What we end up with is a massive heap of confusing and conflicting expectations for the way we are supposed to look on the outside.

Sometimes, we can get so overwhelmed with all the ways we aren't meeting the world's expectations, that we can forget Who we are living for. 

The truth is, God created us intentionally and for a purpose. Listen to the words of David in Psalm 139:13-14...

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

Ladies, the Bible tells us that God created us, and He created us wonderfully. If God Himself declares that you are wonderfully made, let me tell you--IT IS TRUE! 

The most powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, mighty being in the universe has declared that you are beautiful--that you are VALUABLE--just as you are. The world may tell us we have to fix our faces and bodies and hair and nails and clothes before we can be declared beautiful. But our God, the knower of all things, says otherwise. He says you are valuable and beautiful because He knit you together exactly the way you are. He gave you your freckles, your hair, your height, your eyes, your skin. And He absolutely adores you.

So friends, the next time you begin to doubt your outer beauty, remind yourself of the truth: you are beautiful and valuable the way God has created you. WONDERFUL are His works. He doesn't make mistakes. :)

Abbi

VALUABLE Week One: Achievements

Hey there beautiful ladies! I am so glad you made it to our blog! Amy and I are beyond excited to start our Valuable study with you over the next four weeks. The truth is, each one of you is so incredibly valuable! And though you may already know this in your head, we want to help you truly believe it in your heart by reading and reflecting on how God, our Creator, values us. Who's ready?!

Week One: {A C H I E V E M E N T S}

achieve (uh-cheev) -- to bring to a successful end; carry through; accomplish.

Can you think of something you have achieved recently? How about your greatest accomplishment ever? Maybe you broke a track record at your school, got the lead part in a play, made it onto the volleyball team, made great grades in school, or got a special award for being a great classmate or student. Knowing you girls, with all your amazing gifts and talents, you are probably achieving some pretty awesome things!

When I was in 10th grade, one of my greatest achievements was making the top choir at my school. I was so happy when I saw my name on that list! When we work hard for something and are rewarded for that, it feels so good. It is in our nature to crave that recognition! We want to be proud of ourselves and we want to make others proud. When you accomplish something great, who do you tell first? I know that for me, it's always my mom. She is usually even more excited than I am to hear good news! I think we can all agree that achievements are great--they give us confidence in our talents and abilities, and they give us a chance to celebrate and make memories with our families and friends.

The tricky part is what comes after these achievements. It feels great to have everyone happy for us, but unfortunately the things we accomplish on earth don't last forever. Eventually, someone will beat us at our best sport. There will be days when our test grades are less than perfect. There will be teams we don't make, choirs we won't sing in, and special awards that go to someone else. But when this happens, it doesn't mean that we lose our value! And that's because our value is NOT placed in what we achieve, but in something greater! SomeONE greater. So. Much. Greater.

.....do YOU know who it is?

I'll give you three hints:

1. He's 100% perfect
2. He loves us unconditionally
3. He sacrificed his life so that we could be forgiven

Any guesses? {J E S U S} is where we should find our true value! Why? Because it's His love for us that is eternal. The love of the Lord does not depend on what we accomplish. Unlike many people in the world around us, He won't treat us any differently if we fail or come in second place. Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8). We didn't have to do anything to earn the love of Jesus, yet he found us valuable enough and worthy enough to sacrifice his own life on the cross.

"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." 1 Peter 1:18-19

Ladies, I am SO proud of the women you are becoming. Keep setting goals for yourself, and keep working hard to achieve them! Just remind yourself, whether you win or lose, that you are not made valuable by your talents, brains, determination, awards, or accomplishments. 

• You are valuable because you were made by God and forgiven through Christ. 
• You are valuable because God loves you and delights in you! 
• You are valuable because there is only ONE you that has ever existed and that ever will exist. 
• You are valuable because God placed you here on earth and has a plan for your life. 
• You are valuable because God values you!

Lots of love to each and every one of you! 

Abbi