Learning to Love

Hello everyone! It’s Bailey here, & I am just so excited you have decided to join us on this new experience: Our Blog! Abounded In Grace has truly been such a “life-altering” business for me. If someone told me a year ago that I would be spending my time senior year painting bibles, I honestly would have told them they were crazy!! For one, I didn’t know the first thing about painting… Let alone, starting a business! But it is safe to say, A in G has been one of the biggest blessings in my life. It has brought on new relationships with some of the sweetest customers I have ever met. It has taught me time management and valuing free time LIKE NO OTHER. But most importantly, like my sweet friend Vail wrote about last week, A in G has taught me to love my imperfections and all those silly mistakes that come with a messy business like ours. Paint SPILLS. Misspelled words DO happen. Miscommunications are a REAL STRUGGLE. However, it’s been one of the most incredible things in the world to be able to work along side my sweet friends & truly figure this thing out.

Today I’m going to be talking about something that has been on my heart for quite some time… Confidence. & Honestly, this isn’t going to be very easy for me, but I’m learning more and more each day that it’s okay to be open about your insecurities. For me, I think I’ve always kinda struggled with my confidence level. If you know me at all, you know that I’m very outgoing and positive!! I love making new friends and learning about others interests and passions! I find joy in encouraging and loving on others, but often times, I find myself lacking in the department of “self-love”.

For one, Abounded in Grace was something that was placed on my heart Spring of 2018. I truly felt God beginning to tell me something BIG was coming, but I wasn’t quite sure what that was yet. Then, one afternoon in April, I found out I had a LOVE for painting. I had a bible painted for me about 3 years ago, & I have found it to be one of my most cherished items I own. So as the weeks went by, and I was preparing to go back to Ecuador for my seventh time, I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to make a small painted bible business.

“Who are you to think you can do something like this?” “You have no experience with painting. You’ve never even taken an art class.” “You’re not good enough.”

All of these thoughts, and plenty more, crept into the back of my brain… What was I thinking? I couldn’t do something like start a business. So I quickly disregarded the thought of ever owning my own little business and tried to push this dream of mine to the back of my brain. It’s funny though… Although I may have thought painting bibles was out of the picture, God’s plan prevailed anyway, just a few short months later. Flash forward to just a few weeks ago when Vail first began mentioning the idea of the blog. I could hear the lies beginning to whisper back in my mind.

“You’re not a writer… In fact, you’re a terrible writer.” “What do you think you’re doing?” “People aren’t going to be interested in what you have to say.”

I battled with these thoughts over and over again. I felt as though I wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t qualified. Truthfully, writing hasn’t ever been my favorite thing. But as I began praying over these thoughts and feelings I was having and what I was going to write about, I kept hearing God whisper:

“The devil works in silence. Share your heart so that others can see Me through You. You will always be enough.”

If I’m being 100% honest, I still am somewhat nervous with sharing this with everyone. However, I do believe that every single person, at one time or another, has felt that they are not good enough for something. Maybe for a job or a team or a class; whatever it may be, you are more than enough. Just the other day, I was reminded one of the most valuable and encouraging statements by one of my precious eighth grade girls in the bible study I help lead.

“There are so many people out there working to tear you down. Each day you have a devil fighting to try and get inside your head. Why would you ever want to take part in adding to those lies about yourself?”

W O W. Here I am, trying to teach these girls how wonderful and loved they are by their Creator, & I’m forgetting how loved I am, myself.

Genesis 1:27 states, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” We were created in His image. Even before we were born, God chose every aspect down to the number of hairs on our head. He chose us. & He chose to LOVE and PURSUE us.

For me, it’s easy to love God and love others, but it’s so often that I forget to love myself. Our God calls us beautiful one and worthy. Each day I battle with thoughts rushing in my mind, but I am constantly reminded of how loved I am by my Creator. To my sweet friends, thank you for knowing my struggles but loving me anyway and finding small ways to remind me to be confident every single day. To my wonderful family, thank you for supporting me in everything I do and reminding me every day how loved I truly am. & To those reading this, I pray you learn to love yourself and are always aware of how much He loves you.

“You are worthy of great love, You are worthy of the pursuit, You are worthy of being known to the endless depths of you.” - Morgan Harper Nichols