SEEN by The Heavenly Father

“Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning.” Lamentations 3:22–23 NIV

When I look at where I am today, I know that I cannot take any of the credit.

It is only because of God’s grace and mercy that I am where I am today.

When I think back over my childhood and some of the experiences I shared in Searching for Love, I realize something now that I couldn’t fully understand then. There were so many times when I didn’t feel seen. I didn’t always feel valued. I spent years searching for the love and affirmation that my heart wanted.

But there was one place where I remember feeling different.

Church, the house of the Lord.

As a young person, the church became one of the places where I truly felt seen, valued, and like I belonged. I directed the youth choir, served as a junior usher, MC’d church programs, and stood before the congregation to give Christmas and Easter speeches. I traveled with the youth choir and built genuine friendships with other young people in the church. I wasn’t just attending church, I was involved, serving, growing, and discovering that I had something meaningful to contribute. When I look back now, those memories bring me such joy. The friendships, the fellowship, the laughter, the music, and serving in the house of the Lord are some of the sweetest memories of my childhood. In a season of my life when I was searching for love and longing to feel valued, God gave me a place where I could experience belonging.

Looking back now, I wonder if that was one of the ways God was allowing me to experience glimpses of being SEEN before I even had language for what my heart needed.

I Survived What Was Meant to Stop Me

Recently, I was talking with a sister in Christ, and she shared something with me that stayed in my spirit. She told me that she believed the Holy Spirit had shown her that I had survived what was meant to stop me, silence me, and take me out.

Those words made me think… revisit some places in my life…walk down memory lane. Because when I look over my life, particularly my adult years, I can see how rejection has been a loud voice.

For more than half of my adult life, I have wrestled with feeling invisible.

Not enough.
Not chosen.
Not valued.
Not SEEN.

Rejection had a lot to say. And for a long time, I listened.

When rejection speaks long enough, its voice can begin to sound like truth. You can start measuring your worth by who chose you, who didn’t, who stayed, who left, who acknowledged you, and who overlooked you.

But rejection doesn’t get the final word. God does.

His Voice Is Becoming Louder

This is one of the things I thank Abba for most regarding SEEN by the Heavenly Father™.

Through this journey, He is teaching me to hear His voice louder than the voice of rejection.

Rejection says, You weren’t enough. The Father says, You are Mine.

Rejection says, Nobody sees you. The Father says, I have always seen you.

Rejection says, You weren’t chosen. The Father reminds me that I was chosen by Him before the creation of the world. (Ephesians 1:4)

Rejection says, What happened to you determines your value. But my Heavenly Father says my value comes from whose I am.

And ladies, I am learning that healing doesn’t necessarily mean that I never remember what happened. It means those experiences no longer get to tell me who I am.

Grace Was There All Along

There is something powerful about looking back with healed, or healing, eyes. I can see things differently now. I can see the little girl who was searching for love.

I can see the teen girl who found friendship and belonging while serving in the house of the Lord. I can see the adult woman who spent years wrestling with rejection and invisibility.

And now I can see the woman God is teaching to view herself through her Father’s eyes. Through all of those versions of me, there was one constant:

His grace.
His mercy.
His hand.

Even when I didn’t recognize it or understand it. Even when other voices were louder. God was there.

Maybe that’s what grace and mercy look like sometimes. Not a life without wounds, disappointment, or rejection, but a faithful Father who refuses to allow those things to have the final say over His daughter.

And Here I Am…

I’m still healing, learning, and still allowing God to uncover places where rejection left its fingerprints, but I’m also hearing something different now.

His voice.

And His voice is getting louder and louder

Through SEEN, Abba is teaching me the truth that my heart has needed for so long:

I am SEEN.
I am CHOSEN.
I am KNOWN.
I am LOVED.

And if you have spent years feeling invisible, rejected, overlooked, or not enough, I pray you begin hearing His voice louder too. You survived. You’re still here.

And as you look back over your own story, you’ll discover what I’m discovering in mine:

Grace carried you.
Mercy kept you.
And the Father saw you the entire time. 💖

A Prayer

Abba Father,

Thank You for Your grace and mercy that have carried me through places I didn’t think I would survive. Thank You for seeing me in every season, even the seasons when I felt invisible to everyone else.

Help me recognize the voices that have spoken rejection, inadequacy, and unworthiness over my life, and teach me to hear Your voice louder than anything else.

Heal the places in my heart that are still hurting. Help me see myself through Your eyes, not through my wounds, rejection, relationships, or past experiences.

Thank You that my story did not end in the places that tried to stop me. Thank You for keeping me, carrying me, and reminding me that I have always been Your daughter.

Today, I receive Your grace, Your mercy and Your love.

And I declare:

I am SEEN.
I am CHOSEN.
I am KNOWN.
I am LOVED.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.