the house that built me

It's been a week since I've been back at home and so far, I've had a lot of time on my hands that I'm not used to. Time to just be, I guess you could say. Time spent cooking in the kitchen with my mom, time spent walking around our neighborhood lake, time spent getting back into my summer routine. Coming home from a crazy year away can be boring and somewhat depressing (I'm sure I'll learn this the hard way), but home is where I feel most grounded, most like myself.

I've come to appreciate living in the same house all my life, even though that didn't use to be the case. I always wanted to move somewhere else, have that thrill of house-hunting and starting fresh. But no, not now. I love coming back here, for home has become a beautiful place of comfort and blissful solitude.

The past couple nights I've stayed awake in my bedroom, my room of so many memories, meditating on something that I feel has been purposely placed on both my heart and my mind.

So many things can tear us down. We compare ourselves to others and feel inadequate; we constantly desire to be loved and praised for our talents and our looks. Someone else will always appear to have the perfect balance of intelligence, beauty, social life, future aspirations, and captivating personality. It can be frustrating, to feel that you can never measure up to this person.

The thing is, God doesn't set standards of perfection. He sees us as His daughters, beautiful and blameless, worthy of His love. He accepts us despite our inadequacies.

Believe, and not just know, that you are treasured, adored, loved, and protected. Let the unwavering truth of our Lord's great affection sink down deep into the foundations of your heart. This isn't something you'll master in just a day, it's a lifelong process of accepting God's acceptance.

"The undiminished radiance, which is the result of abundant joy, is not built on anything passing, but on the love of God that nothing can change. And the experiences of life, whether they are everyday events or terrifying ones, are powerless to "separate us from the love of God... (Romans 8:39)"