Have you ever felt intimidated—inferior somehow to those around you?

I spent my teen and young adult years as the youngest in every crowd. My birthday is in August, so I was the youngest in my class. I dated and married someone 4&1/2 years older than me, so I was the youngest among our friends. (When we dated his friends used to tease him about going up to ride tricycles with Celeste.) I graduated high school a year early and when to pharmacy school early, so I graduated and was a licensed pharmacist before I turned twenty-one years old. (My pharmacy school buddies thought it was funny that I could legally order narcotics before I was old enough to order alcohol.)

I was always the youngest, feeling like people looked down on me.

Once I began working as a pharmacist, got married, and started a family, my feelings of inferiority began to dissipate. I was in a profession where people constantly looked to me for guidance. My “little girl” status disappeared when I became a wife and mother. My age no longer mattered. I had “value.”

Then, feeling independent, respected, and appreciated, my world came crashing around me. In an instant, my position changed. With the first seizure, I lost the ability to drive or even take a bath alone and my independence was gone. Medication and subsequent addiction crushed any respect I had for myself let alone from anyone else. The resulting depression left me unavailable to do anything for anyone to appreciate.

But I was so accomplished! How could this happen?

So many of us, especially those of us raised in the Bible belt, received Christ as a child and we’ve been on autopilot ever since. We’ve worked hard, reaped the earthly rewards, and our significance has been determined. This is where we’ve messed up. There is nothing wrong with working hard, but our accomplishments should never be the deciding factor of our value.

…I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies; I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved. In the place where they yelled out, “You’re nobody!” they’re calling you “God’s living children.” Romans 9:25-26 (Msg)

God’s living children. He wants us all to accept him as our Heavenly father and Savior. It is a gift. All we have to do is accept His gift. It is in the acceptance of this gift that we find our value, our importance, and our self-worth.

How changed would our world be if we could all see ourselves through the eyes of God? Intimidation is nothing but a trick of the devil (the “DEBIL” as Waterboy would say).

Read the “celestial prescription” for the day and take a dose of God’s love at least every four hours, whether you need it or not!