I always seem to be writing out of the wrestle.

The moment I think I’m the only one feeling pinned to the mat breathless, along comes other girls who say they feel pinned too. We all wrestle. We all have days that go sorely wrong. We all hit that moment where we feel jammed and twisted and ask if we’ll ever get out from under the grip this life has on us. We all feel alone at times, defeated, uncomfortable in our skin, and we all gotta dig deep for hope and new beginnings.

I spoke to a bunch of teen girls in the public schools the other day and lots of them signed up to receive this journal. So I’ve been thinking about how it’s hard to be a teen, how your life can feel messed up and your parents can look really messed up, how everybody’s messed up and nobody’s saying it out loud.

So girls if you’re reading this, you might as well know about me that I’m in the Bible pretty much every day – it gives me the advice I need — but it’s rare that the words actually make me cry.

The other day was one of those rare days, the Word took my breath away and gave me breath at the same time and I sobbed myself silly right there in the middle of the living room. I read:

“You will be called by a new name that the Lord’s mouth will announce. You will be a glorious crown in the Lord’s hand, and a royal diadem in the palm of your God. You will no longer be called Deserted, and your land will not be called Desolate; instead, you will be called My Delight is in Her, and your land married, for the Lord delights in you.

… “Look, your salvation is coming, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.” And they will be called the Holy People, the LORD’s Redeemed; and you will be called Cared For, a City Not Deserted. (Isaiah 62:2-5)

Do you feel lonely or afraid? Do you think you’re the only one who feels messed up and messed over, who has hurt bottled up inside? You’re not alone, friend.

God’s got a message for you today: You are Cared For — not Deserted. The name He gives you is “My Delight.” No matter how much you’ve messed up, no matter how much you need to forgive yourself or others, no matter how this day began or will end, you’ve got breath. You can dream.  You have purpose. You have gifts. You can choose joy.

The other night the Cowboy and I watched the movie, The Martian. The main character was stranded on Mars, and he absolutely made the most of it. It made me think: why do we focus on what we don’t have, or all that is going wrong, when what we do have is right before us? To find the good, all we have to do is look for it. In the movie, the main character said, “I wake up in the morning and see the horizon and I walk it. Why? Because I can.”

What can you do today to make it great? As long as you’ve got another day, you have a future, and that future is in the palm of the One who calls you His — and He calls you a jewel. He calls you Cared For.

Your friend,