Beautiful and Loved

I had to take a drive today, about an hour south to a smaller town, to pick up the quarter beef we'd recently put some dibs on. That's just where the steer lived his life and where he died, so it's where he was butchered. I had a pretty clear schedule today, so I took the opportunity to spend some time admiring the beautiful valley south of us while I gathered our meat.

I really wish I would've remembered my real camera. It was so beautiful  with the clouds, changing color trees and snow-kissed mountains. What passes for a camera on my cell phone really did not do it justice.

As I drove, I turned on the radio and sang along. I love being in the car alone and being able to sing at the top of my lungs. No one else really likes to hear my singing-if you could call it that. Lately I've been drawn to  the Christian radio station more than any others. It inspires and encourages me, but I also like that I can listen to it with the girls in the car and not have to worry about what lyrics they are singing--they are all good!

It was so refreshing to listen to the encouraging music while admiring the beauty around me--I could almost feel my heart lifting. It made me think that I need to make more time to just be still and think about all the ways God loves us.

This was one of the songs that just spoke to me this morning. How easily we forget that God thinks we're beautiful and his opinion is the only one that matters!

I am reading a book right now about security, which is something that we as women struggle with quite a bit. I am learning about how we need to anchor or feelings of security and acceptance onto God and not all the others things we try to measure ourselves against. It doesn't matter what others think of me or even how I feel about myself. What matters is that God loves and cares for us, and here's the part that gets me--he loves me no matter what I do.

And this song is one of my absolute favorites right now that says just that:

And now I not only do I feel refreshed and ready for the day ahead of me, but I have a freezer full of meat (including the tongue!) to  enjoy!