May you experience the love of Christ, though it is
 too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all 
the fullness of life and power that comes from God. (Ephesians 3:19)
By Sheri Rose Shepherd
Bestselling Author and Bible Life Coach
There is a battle within most women's hearts to believe they are worthy 
of love. If we believe the lie that we do not deserve love and are 
hiding behind feelings of unworthiness, even the most loving man in the 
world will not be able to break down the wall around our hearts.
Can you imagine if every night when you went to tuck your children into 
bed they refused to let you hug them or express your love because they 
did not feel they deserved it? As a parent, you would embrace them every
 time you could to prove to them they were indeed worthy of your love. 
If they refused to receive it because of how they felt, it would break 
your heart.
I believe that is how our heavenly Father feels when we refuse to let 
Him love us. But there's so much more at stake when we feel unworthy of 
love. When we are locked up inside, we cannot become the women we want 
to be in our men's and children's lives. If we do not love ourselves and
 do not let God lavish His love on us, it will hinder us and hurt 
others.
There are many reasons we may fight feelings of unworthiness. Some of us
 had fathers who never expressed how much they loved us, and others had 
mothers who did not feel they deserved love and did not know how to show
 love, so we began to see our worth through their eyes and not through 
God's. We may have been abused verbally, emotionally, or physically. 
Maybe our first love made us feel we were worthless. Some of us had all 
the love in the world from our families, but we felt rejected by our 
peers. 
The list of things we women believe when it comes to love is endless. 
But the truth is, how we feel will never change how loved we are by the 
Lord. And nothing that we have done or that has been done to us can keep
 God from loving us. The question is, will we open our hearts and let 
His love in? I believe if God wrote us a love letter, it might read like
 this . . .
My Beloved Daughter,
I love you with an unconditional, everlasting love so you can be free to
 love. My precious daughter, don't allow those who have hurt you to keep
 you from experiencing the joy of loving others. I know giving a piece 
of your heart away involves risk, but I am here to heal your heart when 
someone hurts you. I want you to choose wisely whom you allow in your 
heart, and I also want you to give those you love the freedom to fail. 
Remember that no one else can love you as perfectly and completely as I 
do. Don't look for a perfect love in people, or you will always find 
disappointment and heartache. If you allow your soul to settle into Mine
 and become one with Me, you will never doubt that I am forever and 
always devoted to you.
Your Prince Jesus, who can't stop loving you
May you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how 
wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. (Ephesians 3:18)
For more teaching from the Your Heart's Desire book and Bible study, visit www.biblelifecoaching.com.
Quotes to Live By
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
(John Quincy Adams)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. (Aristotle)
Every artist was first an amateur. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. (Thomas Jefferson)
It takes ten years to build up a reputation, but only five minutes to ruin one. (Anonymous)
(John Quincy Adams)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. (Aristotle)
Every artist was first an amateur. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. (Thomas Jefferson)
It takes ten years to build up a reputation, but only five minutes to ruin one. (Anonymous)
Amazing. Thank you for sharing.
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Thanks again for a great article!