To the broken and to the hurting, to the desperate, and to the defeated, to the calm, the average, the plain and the small

I want you to know you matter to God

To the washed up and the worn, out to the helpless, and the hopeless to the cast outs, the dropouts, the last picks and hypocrites to the unimpressive and the underwhelming to the nobodies, and has beens to people just like me

You matter to God

You are not defined by your worst days or your biggest mistakes

And you are not the sum total of all your setbacks, slip ups, failures, and faults, because who you are is not determined by what you have, where you've been or what you've done, but who Jesus declares you to be

You matter to God

Maybe at some point somebody told you something that simply wasn't true, that you're nothing but unworthy, unwanted, and unloved

But I want the loudest voice in your ear to be the voice that breaks the cedars and shakes the wilderness

And he says, you matter to me

Before the galaxies were born, or the first star gave light, before the ocean waves crashed, or the night sky cracked with thunder, before any creature crawled or any bird saying, before the planets were set in motion, he said, in motion the plan of your salvation from the highest heights of heaven, the Lord of all creation looked upon your desperation

He became like one of us to remake all of us, to make an orphan, his child, to make a rebel, his friend, to set the prisoner free

You matter to God

So to all the sons and daughters of God, to all my brothers and sisters in Christ, behold his power and glory and majesty, behold the one who matters most