June Twenty-Second

Dear You,

It took you all day, but maybe you're ready to say it now. Maybe you're ready to hold out your hands, wherein there lies the broken pieces you caught when they fell. 

They sparkle a little in the light now. 

You broke open a little, didn't you? Maybe a lot? You staggered backward and you tried to grasp at the threads of something steady, but you fell to your knees--and believe me, girl, that was a good thing. Because you needed to feel the ground like that again. You needed to scrub carpet with your palms and then raise unsteady hands to the One who knows your hurt all too well. 

And then...her words raged like a wildfire, yet it was a blessed heat. She was always afraid that she didn't have the words or couldn't say them right--just like you. How blessed you are to have another one who stammers, another one who grapples with that same fear of failure every time she opens her mouth--she knows. 

She was brave enough to say it when you weren't.

Hey,
Don't lose heart.
You are not alone.

Because in the depths of the night, when you were too afraid to speak it, she spoke it for you--

You're still loved.

You're still loved.

Oh, kid, you're still loved.

She didn't know you needed it--

But He did.

Admit it, you're weak. You can't do it. You're afraid. You make a lot of stupid mistakes and you beat yourself up about it until you're lying on your bed in a mess of bruises and tears and shredded knees and trembling hands and He comes and He says, "Who did this to you?" and you're afraid to answer because you're afraid that He'll be disappointed, that He'll get fed up with you, that He'll turn His back and walk away, that He'll--

You're still loved.

Shut out those voices in your head--they have no place. They're a cluster of well-aimed lies, but you've got the armor of God and He's impenetrable. 

You're still loved, even when you feel like... even when you feel like...

Even when you feel like the most miserable wretch that ever walked the earth. 

Hey,
It is finished.
And it was signed in His blood.

You're 

Still

Loved.

He knows who you are.