“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” (Psalm 139:13)
The biggest danger to recovery, and a healthy spiritual life, isn’t the pursuit of fame and fortune, or the things we chase because of our egos. No, the biggest danger to recovery is self-rejection. The moment someone disapproves of us, or disrespects us, in any way, our inner dark voice says, “See, they are right, this proves I’m no good.” We then turn to our addiction, or other unhealthy behaviors to soothe ourselves. We turn to gaining fortune and fame and other worldly trappings to hide behind.
Our internal dark voice calls us “no good.” God’s holy voice calls us “beloved.” We must remember that we were loved into being. We are God’s children and He loves us so very much, each and everyone of us. We can learn to silence our inner dark voice by listening to God’s voice. We hold onto His words…His promises…His love.
Many of us found our way into our addictions because of past trauma. Abuse and abandonment drove us to numb our fear that we deserved what happened to us. If we listen to our dark inner voice, and reject ourselves, we risk destroying our recovery. God wants us to love ourselves. His love and peace are there at the asking, to soothe our fear. “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17) God rejoices over you with singing! He loves you! He’s so proud of you.
Remember, you were loved into existence. Your birthright is love. Let God’s love wash away your fear that you are not good enough. Let God’s sacred voice that calls you “Beloved” replace your dark internal voice of fear and shame.