God loves you:

• when you don’t feel lovely.
• when it seems that nobody else loves you.
• when you don’t love yourself.

God designed you, you know. Before the world was formed, he had a plan and a purpose for you.

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

Ephesians 1:4, NLT

God doesn’t make mistakes–so there is a reason for the traits and body He gave you.

Is there something about yourself that frustrates you? Are you:

• A chatterbox or too shy to speak?
• Tall or short, scrawny or muscled, coordinated or with two left feet?
• Logical or intuitive, creative or linear, loving numbers or a plethora of words?

Do you know yourself? What are your traits?

• Which of your traits do you consider assets for the Kingdom of God?
• Is there a trait or characteristic that you wish you didn’t have? How can you accept that trait as part of God’s plan?
• Think of one of your traits or abilities (disabilities) as if it sat on a sliding scale. If you move it one way, it becomes an asset, the other way—a liability. How would this change your acceptance of that trait? How would it change your routines or habits?

Personalize these verses and have a conversation with God using them:

• The one thing I ask of the Lord— the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple (Psalm 27:4).
• Surround me with your tender mercies so I may live, for your instructions are my delight (Psalm 119:77).
• “My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance (1 Samuel 2:1).
• The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him (Psalm 37:23).
• “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations (Matthew 12:18).
  Lord, as you spoke these promises to your son Jesus, you speak them to us. You have chosen us to be your children; you delight in us. Thank you that we can dance in your Circle of Love now on earth and forever in heaven. Amen