Summary: <br> I’ve spent the past week way down yonder on the Chattahoochee and I’ve found out just how hot a hoochie coochie is. Ends up, not real hot in November. Yes, for real, we’ve been tiny house living in Georgia on the Chattahoochee River. Inspired by Alan Jackson’s old song, I started listening to some country music and ya’ll it’s been a hot minute since I was boot scootin’ and root tootin’. I don’t even own boots! I heard a song for the first time called “God Must Really Love Me.” Ends up it’s 10 years old, but like I said, it’s been a while since I listened to country, but being on the Chattahoochee, I felt obligated.<br> The song says:<br> When I showed the worst, He saw the best<br> He pulled the world right off my chest<br> Everyday I wake up I feel blessed<br> God must really love me<br> Do you know that’s true? God always sees your best. Even when you’re acting a fool and giving nothing but your worst, he sees your best. He never loses sight of your potential and your value. He never questions your worth. He never doubts who you really are because as your creator, he knows you intimately. He imagined you in his mind, then formed you with his own hands and his creation is what he sees in you.<br> There’s nothing you could have done, and nothing you could do in your future that would change the way he sees you. You are his beloved. You are his prized daughter. You are his chosen one. Darn it woman, when will you really buy into that and walk in that as your truth? This is what changes everything. This is where your confidence comes from. This is your power and strength to change and walk a new path … see what God sees. He sees the best, even when you’re showing the worst.<br> Back when Saul was still hunting down Christians to cut their heads off, God knew this man would change the world. He knew one day Saul would surrender, he would be touched and forever changed, he would be given a new name as Paul, and he would be the one to write the majority of the new testament we read today. Back when Paul was still acting a fool as Saul, giving nothing but his worst, God saw the best.<br> Is there something in you God wants to change? Something in you that’s been showing off as the worst, but God wants to bring out the best? It’s time. It’s time for that change. And I promise it’s possible.<br> 1 John 3:1 says “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are.” You are his child and his love lavished on you can change anything and everything in your life!<br> We have a podcast listener who battled a drug addiction for 10 years. For 10 years she experienced her worst. She wanted a different life, but the path there terrified her. She had been warned of the violent withdraws and the hell she would endure to get sober. In fact, that was the fear that held her prisoner for so long, the painful process of change. She had tried before and failed. But this time it was different. This time she was fully surrendered to God. To her God who still saw nothing but the best in her and he pulled the world right off her chest. On Wednesday she celebrates 4 full weeks of sobriety. No drugs … and no violent withdraws! All she had to do was take that leap, pour out those pills, and God swept her up and carried her through.<br> Now today, she’s experiencing what God always saw in her … her best. You couldn’t make her turn back now. She’s living and experiencing the life that’s always been waiting for her. This can be you too. Maybe it’s not drugs, but maybe it’s regret. Maybe it’s guilt or shame. Maybe it’s a crippling fear of failure. Understand these things effect your life in the same way, they keep you from your best.
