When you examine your life and you really think about that one thing you want, that one thing you need, what would it be? Is it that job, or that house? Is it to have a marriage like them? Would it be to have kids that acted like her kids? Let me tell you, all of these have crossed my mind, and settled into my heart at one time or another. But really at the core of all these things there is one thing in common: a lack of worth, acceptance and a lack of true love. As women, isn’t that what we want, what we need? In our deepest longings, in our heart of hearts we are screaming, begging for someone to tell us, “You matter to me. You are so worthy of all my love, and freely I give to you, unconditionally, all that I am. I love you!”

The apostle Paul nails it on the head in his letters to the Ephesians (5:25), and Colossians (3:19). He knows: women need love. We as women, as young girls, are so impressionable. And right now I want to encourage you to seek God as your one true love. It’s not going to be easy, because there are a lot of chains you’ll have to break free from. But if you can accomplish one thing in life, I pray it’s finding Jesus as your source of love, worth and acceptance. Because from that freedom, and from that life you will be able to run the race in such a way that you may obtain the prize (Romans 9:24).

In the book of John, Jesus says this, “For the thief has come to kill, and steal, and destroy” and how does he do this? With society. With the ideas that this is how you’re supposed to look, that you have to be super-mom, or super-wife all on your own, that you need to be happy, and that all the things will make you happy. But then Jesus says, “I have come that they,” (they being those who have chosen Jesus to be their Savior, those who have said, ‘I am sorry Jesus for my sins. I know YOU died on the cross to save me. Please come into my life and change me!’) “may have life.” Note that He doesn’t say happiness, but LIFE, “and have it to the full.” I truly believe that there should be an exclamation point after this statement, I think John might have gotten that wrong. Jesus gives a full life!

In an attempt to find that fullness, to find that worth, to find that love we as women so desperately crave we tend to search in all the wrong places. That most common way (I speak from experience) is men. It’s often easy to find that appreciation and worth from your boyfriend or husband. But what happens when they behave in a way that is unkind, or hurtful in some way to you, whether intentional or not? You no longer feel loved. And, you know, as well as I do, that they are not perfect. [But let’s be honest, we do the same thing to them].

Where else have you sought for love in all the wrong places? Drugs, alcohol, disordered eating, disordered health conscious choices, clothes, makeup, worldly wisdom and knowledge. Been there, done that. NONE OF IT FILLS THAT HOLY HOLE! Only God can give you the love you truly need! While the Beatles may have gotten the lyrics right when they sang, “All you need is love…” they certainly had no idea that the love they were singing about was God’s perfect love.

I’m not saying that I have this all figured out, I still struggle with finding my love in my husband; I struggle with finding my worth in my daughter; I struggle with finding my acceptance in my friends. But all these people will let you down. Only God will love you wholly, unconditionally, and in all the ways you can’t even imagine.