"My beloved is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies." Song of Solomon 2:16 (NIV)

Growing up, there were many Valentine's Days I wished would have never happened. In elementary school, it was the year with the long walk home from school. My red paper-covered box, which contained no Valentine from my favorite crush, felt heavy for being so empty.

Maybe when I am a teenager my love life will get better, I hoped.

My hope was in vain. In fact, if I had known how my first Valentine's Day in high school was going to play out, I would have just stayed home. Our student council decided Valentine's Day was the perfect time to host a fundraiser. Students could purchase flowers to be delivered: yellow to your best friend, red to the one you love and white to the one you wanted to ask out.

First period - the predictable yellow carnation arrived with a note from my best friend. Not the color I was looking for. Second period - no flower. Third period - no flower. Is there any way I can get out early? I asked myself as my nemesis waltzed in, arms loaded with flowers.

By fourth period, I was begging for the day to end when in came the delivery girl. "Lynn Martin."

Me?

I sprinted to the front, grabbed the white flower and glided back to my seat. The base drum of my heart pounded through my blouse while my mind spun: Who could this be from? My eyes quickly scanned the note: "I'd like to ask you out. -Scott." Scott? As in a senior?

My excitement lasted only long enough for logic to set in. He's a senior somebody; I'm a sophomore nobody. This has to be a joke, I told myself. Shoving the flower and note in my bag, I shoved down my broken heart too. I just hope nobody saw me was all I could think.

That was the year I began to ask a lot of questions, my heart crushed by my crush: Why doesn't he ask me out? What does she have that I don't? Why doesn't he want me? Answering the question, What's wrong with me? became my mission.

Whether it's a memory from long ago or a pain as fresh as yesterday, we've all experienced rejection in one form or another. We've all wanted to be wanted - whether it was by a boy, a club, a friend or a group.

However, the truth is we've always been wanted and always belonged ... to the Lord.

In other words, we belong to Love Himself. As Song of Solomon 2:16 tells us, "My beloved is mine and I am his ..." Indeed, I am His.

While others have rejected us, He wholeheartedly accepts us. Let that soak in for just a moment. Say it out loud. I am His.

What we have longed for and still want today, we already have. Friend, we belong.

The truth that I didn't have to search to belong, or struggle to find love and be loved, completely changed me.

Jesus, I am Yours. You are mine. Thank You for loving me and filling my heart with exactly what I have always wanted - to be wanted. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

***

TRUTH FOR TODAY:

1 John 4:16, "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them." (NIV)

1 John 4:9, "God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him." (NLT)

RELATED RESOURCES:

Lynn Cowell's book, His Revolutionary Love: Jesus' Radical Pursuit of You, teaches young women how Jesus' unchanging love changes absolutely everything.

For a copy of "5 Love Verses Every One Should Know," visit Lynn's blog today. You can also enter to win a copy of His Revolutionary Love: Jesus' Radical Pursuit of You.

REFLECT AND RESPOND:

When have you felt rejected? How does knowing that Jesus fully accepts us help ease the pain?

We have all experienced times when we felt we didn't belong. Ask Jesus to heal the hurt you felt and fill your heart with the acceptance you need and He gives.

© 2016 by Lynn Cowell. All rights reserved.