Holley Gerth - Gods Heart for You: Embracing Your True Worth as a Woman

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Cover by Koechel Peterson & Associates, Inc.

Cover illustration Hemera / Thinkstock

Holley Gerth is represented by MacGregor Literary.

GODS HEART FOR YOU
Copyright 2011 by Holley Gerth
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN 978-0-7369-3855-6

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in China

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For the Lord and His daughters

Writing a book is a journey, and Im so grateful for the amazing traveling companions Ive had along the way!

Mark, youre the love of my life and a gift from God. Im so thankful you have your feet on the ground so I can keep my head in the clouds (and fingers on the keyboard!).

Dad and Mom, youve believed in this dream the longest and encouraged me the loudest. Thank you for your love, support, and prayers.

Poppi, this all started when I was a little girl in your Christian bookstore with you and Nana. Thanks for the seeds of faith you planted in me that have grown into the words on these pages.

Granny Eula and Grandpa Red, I appreciate your legacy of hard work and commitmentboth of which I needed to complete this book.

For the rest of my family, thanks to each of you for helping me become who I am and for encouraging me along the way.

Im also incredibly grateful to my dear friends who are a lot like familyespecially our small group and the women of (in)courage. Youve been Gods heart to me in so many ways.

Chip MacGregor, thanks for being a fantastic agent and catching the vision. And thanks to the Harvest House team for this opportunity and your commitment to getting my words into the hands and hearts of women. Im especially grateful for my editors, Hope Lyda and Gene Skinner.

DaySpring, Im so glad to be partners with you in ministry and business so we can bring hope and encouragement together.

Most of all, Im grateful to You, Lord, for loving me as I am and sharing Your heart with me so I can do the same for Your daughters. I am Your servant; may it be to me as You have said. Use me as little or as much as You desire.

In Gods Heart You Are

T urn on the television. Spend time on the Internet. Take a walk through your local mall. Everywhere we go there are messages about who we are and who were supposed to be.

And yet in the middle of it all, one voice is quietly calling to our hearts.

Its the voice of the One Who Loves Us.

He whispers, Youre wanted. You matter. Youre wonderfully made.

In our noisy world, our busy lives, those words that express Gods heart for you can get lost. This book is an invitation to find them again.

As a writer and counselor, I connect with women each week who tell me they struggle to find their worth and purpose. I know what thats like because Ive struggled with the same issues. During a season when the lies were especially loud, God prompted me to get up early each morning to spend time listening to Him. (Confession: Im not a morning person. Once I even put chocolate on the alarm clock to bribe myself to get up. I ate the chocolate and went back to bed.) This seemed like quite a challenge, but thankfully, I decided to do it anyway.

The pages that follow contain the encouraging words I heard from Gods heart in those early morning hours. These truths changed my life. I believe theyll do the same for you. Consider this your personal invitation to set aside a little time with Him. (You dont even have to get up earlyalthough I still recommend the chocolate no matter what time you choose!) Grab a cup of coffee or tea, pick up your Bible, and just let God love on you awhile.

Ill be right beside you too.

Holley

PS Knowing Gods heart for us begins with having a relationship with Him. If youd like to find out more about what that means, turn to Connecting Your Heart to Gods on page 169.

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

R OMANS 15:7

I ts easy for me to believe God loves me. I can understand He has forgiven me. But making the leap to believing He has truly accepted me is another story. Perhaps thats because we experience so little true acceptance with each other. The preacher talks about grace but gives us a list of rules to follow. Friends promise to always be there for us, only to turn their backs when we dont meet their expectations. Families boast of unconditional love but withdraw it when we choose a different path. So like Adam and Eve in the Garden, we hide from ourselves, each other, and God.

In Beyond the Masquerade: Unveiling the AuthenticYou, Dr. Julianna Slattery says, Facing others without covering my psychological blemishes is actually more terrifying than going out into the world without a shower or makeup. Far more offensive than body odor are my fears, malicious thoughts, insecurities, shame, and pride.

While we strive to make ourselves acceptable, we also secretly long for someone to catch a glimpse of our true selves and exclaim, You can stop hiding nowI really do love you just as you are! In the Mark of the Lion trilogy by Francine Rivers, one character, Hadassah, miraculously survives an attack. However, she walks away with deep scars and always wears veils to cover them. Most of all, she fears rejection from the man she loves if he ever sees her as she truly is. This moving passage describes what happens when he finally does:

Oh, beloved. The wounds had been deep, the scars running from her forehead to her chin and throat. Releasing her wrists, he touched her face tenderly, tracing the mark of the lion. You are beautiful. He cupped her head in his hands and kissed her forehead, her cheek, her chin, her mouth. You are beautiful. She opened her eyes as he drew back slightly and he looked into them. What she saw melted all resistance, removed all shame.

Those words touch our hearts because we long to hear them ourselves. Yet there is Someone who speaks this way to our hearts every day. When Christ went to the cross, He made it possible for us to stop hiding. All of our sin, shame, and guilt have been erased. The Lord constantly looks at us with eyes of love. His scars bring healing and even beauty to our own.

Will the Lord still reveal areas in our lives that need to change? Yes, of course. But His conviction is about what we do, not who we are. Real friends tell you when you have something in your teeth. They love you enough to speak the truth, and Jesus is our most faithful friend of all. He sees deep within our hearts and tells us when something is stuck there that doesnt belong. His correction always comes with grace, not condemnation.