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Brenda Bradford Ottinger

Encouraging Women to Live Rooted in the Sacred

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The Confidence to Believe You Belong

It was my first day at a new school—midyear, where everyone knew each other and no one knew me.

Nine years old and naive, I had yet to understand the insecurity that clothed my spirit.

From my first timid step off the school bus that day, till the final bell rang after class, I wore a long red coat; total extra for the wink of winter a southern season contains.

Walking unfamiliar halls as the new girl wearing a bulky red coat, indoors and out, can set you apart in a way that doesn’t serve your social life well; I don’t recommend it. Yet, my antsy insecurity found comfort in my cocoon of a coat that day.

Despite the awkward start, eventually I’d lose my timidity in that new school, but never would I lose the insecurity that gripped my spirit. Long have I lacked an innate confidence to believe I belong.

As the years grew, I sensed God working in my life and trusted He had plans for me. Yet, I still struggled to confidently enter any space believing I was enough to belong.

This mistaken mindset, however, began to shed its grip on me when God met me in the center of my insecurity one day and traded new life for old lies.

That day, as I attempted to skim over a familiar Bible passage, the Lord prompted me to linger with the words rather than rush past them, and I read these truths afresh:

“You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!” (Psalm 139:16-17, NLT)

And, in the quiet of that moment, I felt a freedom I hadn’t known before, as the truth of God’s eternal heart for me covered my spirit with a comfort like no other.

In this passage David declared to God: You saw me before I was born, recognizing that before he’d ever spied a ray of light or cried a breath of life, his very person was intimately known by God.

This is our confidence: Before we had an earthly identity, God regarded us!

Before oxygen filled our lungs, the Lord laid out every moment of our lives according to His purpose. God hasn’t simply recorded the hours we’ve already spent, rather—from the second He sketched our identities, through the futures we’ve yet to reach, He has borne witness to it all.

Oh, friend, we can confidently believe we belong anywhere He places us, because the Ancient of Days, our eternal God, has made it His business to know and adore us, and to tenderly record His trustworthy plans for us.

May we reject the enemy’s lie that we’re not enough to belong, for our confidence is grounded in God’s authority as we walk together with Him into every space He’s already prepared for us.

No earthly brand of belonging can compare to the belonging we have in God.

Dear friend, the God who saw you ahead of your birth, whose precious thoughts about you are greater than numbers can contain, He recorded purpose for you long before your life existed in time!

Shed every lie of insecurity that drapes your spirit today and walk confidently in the truth that your story is already sealed in God’s book. You are a woman precious to your Maker and you belong where He places you, for you enter with the authority of His divine script.

What insecurities can you shed today, friend,
and confidently step into the spaces God’s set apart for you?
We’d love for you to join the conversation in comments today
at Proverbs 31 Ministries! ♥

 

5 Comments

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Comments

  1. Kevin J. Phillips says

    February 17, 2023 at 6:47 am

    Hi Brenda, what a wonderful article, well done.

    Reply
    • Brenda says

      February 17, 2023 at 1:06 pm

      Bless you, Kevin.

      Reply
  2. Becky says

    March 23, 2023 at 9:44 am

    I get so much from your wroting. God has given you such a gift. Thanks so much for sharing it!

    Reply
  3. Pam says

    April 17, 2023 at 5:38 am

    This devotion touched me today. My grandson is currently in middle school and is really struggling with insecurity and a longing to fit in and be accepted. I am going to share this verse and parts of this devotion with him this morning. Please keep him in your prayers. The preteen and teen years can be so challenging.

    Reply
    • Brenda says

      April 17, 2023 at 10:20 am

      Bless his heart; that’s so hard. Praying for your grandson, Pam. Thank you for stopping by and sharing today. 💗

      Reply

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Never can there be too many magnolia pictures. . S Never can there be too many magnolia pictures.
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Says the lens of my eyes; of my soul.
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(“Not so,” says my iphone storage, but that’s a tomorrow problem.)
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Every time I leave my house, I can’t not stop, not stare, not take another jillion pictures.
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This magnolia tree of mine, she keeps a record of time, reaching farther into the sky with each passing year.
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In all her southern glory, she lifts leaves and limbs toward heaven, pointing to the One on whom all glory rests.
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Boldly, yet elegantly, she speaks of a Creator who, year upon year, grows lovely things under the banner of His care in the lives of His own.
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Even in times when life doesn’t feel full of lovely, may we listen to the magnolia’s anthem.
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She doesn’t question the winter, knowing full well that her Maker has yet to deny spring its beauty.
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I wonder how breathtaking magnolias must be in the City of God. ✨
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“Not to us, O, LORD, not to us, but to Your name goes all the glory for Your unfailing love and faithfulness.” Psalm 115:1 💕
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The May calendar has a way of turning our thoughts The May calendar has a way of turning our thoughts toward home, doesn’t it?
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Perhaps, for you, that’s a beloved Home State where the soil smells like childhood and dreams.
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Or, maybe the humble shelter of your youth, where boo-boos were kissed & fairytales carried you into dreamland.
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Perhaps you’re like me, and yesteryear’s home holds heartache and rejection, insecurity and confusion.
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Far too much of my past I spent chasing roots, not sensing an inheritance of belonging within the halls of my kin.
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Layer by broken layer, though, the Lord is healing me from within, showing me that…
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What our hearts long for can’t be satisfied with what our lives long for.
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The temporal can’t pacify the eternal.
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We’re so prone to searching for home in containers not meant to carry its calling—whether in place or people, title or position, acceptance or belonging—that we seek to satisfy its longing with lesser things.
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Having a sense of home within our circles is beautiful and sacred, but—it’s a shallow substitute for the inheritance we have in God.
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No place, no person, no position—no earthly brand of belonging—can ever claim home to your soul like the Haven of Him.
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Quiet your spirit in the shadow of His covering, dear friend, for never will He stop calling you His own. 💕
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Dear friend, do you feel like you’re etching a p Dear friend, do you feel like you’re etching a prayer into the ear of God, day upon year upon decade?
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You’re asking “why,” and “when, O Lord,” yet the situation your heart plays on repeat at the altar of God, remains seemingly unchanged.
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Oh, friend, I understand; me too.
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The life-mending, soul-touching, supernatural work of God takes time to witness from our perspective.
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That outcome you’re praying for? Your God is already there, working out the details ahead of you.
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Even when it feels like you’re crying yet one more prayer into the silence, He hears and is moving ahead of you in ways you can’t even imagine right now.
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I wonder, friend, do the demands of life leave you I wonder, friend, do the demands of life leave you feeling downright weary at times?
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If so, I understand. Me too.
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Oh, that our souls would rest in remembering that Jesus also knew what it was to feel weary as He walked this earth in human flesh.
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You are not alone.
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This one’s for the weary. 💗
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Head over to Proverbs31ministries.org. to read & join the conversation! 💕
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