That Little Voice

Devotion for the Week...

Have you ever had that little voice in your head telling you you're not good enough for something? It's an awful feeling, isn't it? Whether it's telling you that you're not smart enough, not pretty enough, not likeable enough, not whatever enough, that little voice can be debilitating.

The worst of it is, that little voice is usually lying. Even when we are good at something, the little voice, which stems from our own insecurities, will tell us that we're not as good as other people and so we shouldn't try doing anything with our abilities. And we believe the lie because it fits right in with our fears and our own worst feelings about ourselves, and so we listen and let that little voice tell us what to do.

Feeling not talented enough for something we want to do can keep us from fulfilling our dreams, and the plan God has for us. If we're stuck in fear, avoiding doing that thing we most want to do because we're scared of failing, chances are good we're missing out on what God wants us to be doing too. He's the one who gave us those talents and dreams, after all, and everyone's gifts are important to His plan. See 1 Corinthians 12.

Unfortunately, the little voice often doesn't stop at telling us we aren't good enough to do or be something. Often that voice will continue right on and tell us we aren't good enough, period. As if our worth were tied to our abilities.

That little voice will tell us we aren't as valuable as other people. Maybe it's because the other person is more talented than we are, or they have talents that look more valuable somehow. It doesn't really matter how we think the other person is better than we are because that feeling is a lie. The truth is our worth does not come from what we can do.

Our worth comes from the fact that we are each made by God, created in His image. "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27).

Psalm 139:13, 14 says, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

We have each been created by God, fearfully and wonderfully made as only He could do. In His eyes, we are worth the sacrifice of Jesus, so we are valuable indeed!

If our worth has nothing to do with our abilities, what are we to do with that little voice that tells us we aren't good enough? We talk back to it, of course!

Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." That first one...whatever is true. We know that our worth comes from God, not from what we can do, so when that little voice pipes up to tell us we're not good enough, we can say "That's not true. I refuse to think that way." Then deliberately choose to counter the lie with the truth.

Obviously, this won't be the sort of thing that's done once and then never again. The voice will come back, telling us that we are 'less than' in some way, but we have to constantly remind ourselves that the voice in our head is wrong and then speak the truth.

This is not to say that we are all equally talented at all the things. An honest evaluation of our abilities will show that we are good at some things and not so good at others. My husband plays piano beautifully and sings well too, though he would disagree on the singing part. My son drums and plays guitar and even writes music. Me? Well, I can sing along with someone else, just don't listen too closely 😉 As much as I love music, I am not good at it. That doesn't change my worth, though. It just means I probably shouldn't try to join a band!

Do you struggle with believing in your abilities? Or has that little voice convinced you that you are less valuable than someone else because they are more talented than you are? Whatever the little voice in your head is telling you, know that God loves you and has given you abilities to use to work for Him. To Him you are precious, just as you are.

Della's First Quilt

As part of the 'My First Quilt' link party, I'm posting for those readers who don't have blogs so that as many people as possible can participate and share about their first quilts.

This post is for Della, who writes:

I would like to tell you about my first quilt I made. I have sewn since I was 8 years old but had never done a quilt – only clothing for myself or my kids. So I figured if I knew how to sew I must be able to make a quilt. I wanted to make a quilt for my husband and my 20th wedding anniversary. So I bought a book and found a quilt called the “Love knot quilt”. I figured this would be perfect for an anniversary quilt.

I did not know anyone who quilted so could not ask any advice from anyone. I did not have a cutter, ruler, or cutting board. The pattern said to make templates – so I did and cut them out with scissors. I decided on the colours and bought my material. Once I had all the squares, triangles and hexagons cut out; I started sewing them together. Eventually I had all the nine patch squares and snowball squares sewn together. But low and behold, I had forgotten to add the 1/4 inch seam to the template of the 9 patch squares and so the 2 squares were different sizes! Since I didn’t have anyone to go to for advice I put the project aside.

About 5 or 6 years later my husband was working with a fellow whose wife was a quilter. I brought the project to her and she helped me figure out how to cut down the triangles on the snowball square so they were the same size as the 9 patch. Since I had to take all the triangles off the snowball squares, cut them down, and re-sew them, it took me a while to redo it.

By the time I got the quilt finally sewn together it was ready for our 30th anniversary! I had a quilter machine stitch the Celtic knot on each of the snowball squares and do stitch in the ditch for the rest of the quilt. The quilt has been on our spare bedroom bed ever since.

About 5 or 6 years later I took quilting lessons and am now producing quilts that don't take 10 years to complete!
Thanks for letting me share. 


Thanks for sharing your first quilt, Della! It's beautiful. I'm amazed at your dedication - doing all of those snowball blocks twice was a lot of work, I'm sure 😊

Obeying the Messenger

Devotion for the Week...

With three boys in the house, there are lots of times when I send one boy to give instructions to another. Maybe Nathan is in the kitchen with me while I make supper, so I send him to get his brothers to come and help set the table. Or Nathan is playing in the tub and I send Aiden to tell him it's time to get out.

Whatever the instruction is, all three boys obey what their brother tells them to do. Not because Aiden feels the need to obey Nathan, or vice versa, but because they know that the instructions are actually coming from me. There may be a messenger involved, but the messenger is not the one giving the orders.

Did you know that Jesus actually described Himself as a messenger? He said, "Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me...I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say" (John 12:44,45,49,50). He also said, "The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work" (John 14:10). 

I find that fascinating. My boys obey instructions given to them by their brothers because they know that the instructions come from a higher authority, namely me, their mother. We are to obey instructions given to us by Jesus because, again, those instructions come to us from a higher authority. In this case, the higher authority is the Father, Jesus' Father and our Father. The commands and instructions that Jesus gave while He walked the earth, all of them came from our Father and were spoken with the weight of the authority of the Father behind them.

Jesus commanded us to love one another: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another" (John 13:34). This means loving our fellow believers even if we disagree with them. Even if their personality rubs us the wrong way. Even if they are rude or mean or...whatever. We are simply supposed to love one another, no matter what.

 He told us not to judge: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged" (Matthew 7:1). This is a tough one. It is so hard not to think that other people are wrong while we are right. It is so hard not to let our own imperfections slide while judging people harshly for their imperfections. And yet we have been told not to judge others.

 Most importantly, He told us the two greatest commandments: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:30,31). Loving God with everything we are sounds like it should be simple, but in reality we are often divided, seeking after things other than God. As for loving our neighbor as ourselves...see the previous two commands.

If one of the boys didn't listen when a brother gave him instructions from me, there would be consequences. Most likely it would be me coming to speak to him or maybe a loss of some privilege. If we don't obey the commands Jesus gave us from the Father, there may be consequences too. Those consequences could have a lasting, and maybe eternal, impact, either on our own relationship with God, our relationships with other people or the relationship other people have with God.

Our thought for the week, then, is "Are we obeying the messenger?"