my heart beats for you...

Today I spoke to a group of about 15 middle school/junior high girls and their moms at a monthly event they do for their group (they're called G3 - Girls for God's Glory...clever :). I love talking to girls. I love it. It's weird how God works...how He gives people hearts that beat for certain things. And how it's different for every person. How His body - the church - is made up of people who have hearts that beat for totally different things...and that's what makes it work! So cool. I was looking at 25 girls/women that I'd never met in my life and my heart was just overflowing for them. My heart was racing...and it wasn't because of nerves...it was because I was getting so excited speaking to them and sharing my heart - and better yet, God's heart - for them. It was in that moment that I was remembering what God has given me a heart and a passion for...there's nothing like that.

I basically had one hour with these girls. So I was faced with a big question: if you only have one hour to spend with a group of girls, what do you want to tell them? And as I was preparing for today and even while I was speaking, of all the things that I wanted to tell them, the thing that was heaviest on my heart was this: I wanted those girls to know who they are in Christ. I wanted them to understand their identity, see their worth in where it truly lies - in HIM.

I wanted every girl (and mom) in that room to hear that she is loved and she is beautiful and she is the bride of Christ...that she is royalty...that she is prized by Majesty...that He is enthralled by her beauty...captivated by who she is. Man, how the world tries to tell us otherwise! Culture is screaming at us that we are only physical objects, that we aren't tall enough or skinny enough, that we aren't worthy of love, that we aren't "enough", that we aren't seen, that we are unpure...Satan is throwing every lie out there that's possible. And I realized that at least for girls (I don't know about you guys...y'all are a mystery to me :), but at least for girls, almost every decision we make in our lives is going to come from how we see ourselves - where we've put our worth and our identity.

We were all designed with a need for something outside of ourselves to tell us who we are. It's amazing who and what we give the right to define us and give (or not give) us worth. The voices of the world and of other people are so loud. But by letting those things define you, you are getting a completely inaccurate sense of self-worth and identity. The only place we're going to find our true identity and our true worth is in Him.

What would happen if every teengae girl - if every woman for that matter - started to use Christ as their mirror? Ah...one day...we will see. Oh man, if we would only believe that what He says about us is true. So that's it...I had only one hour to spend with those girls. And this was what I wanted them to hear. And even in that experience, I think God was trying to show me more of what my heart beats for - it's not just girls. It's that girls would know and believe in who they are in Him.

So what does your heart beat for? You're not just a random creation. God gave you passions and talents and a heart that beats for something in particular. And the world needs you to find it and live for it. So seek it out...as Erwin McManus says, "The future is not waiting for us. It is waiting within us."