#you are precious to god

Not being welcome is your greatest fear. It connects with your birth fear: your fear of not being welcome in this life; and your death fear: your fear of not being welcome in the life after this. It is the deep-seated fear that it would have been better if you had not lived.

[So] here you are, facing the core of the spiritual battle. Are you going to give in to the forces of darkness that say you are not welcome in this life? Or can you trust the voice of the One who came not to condemn you, but to set you free from fear? You have to choose life. At every moment you have to decide to trust the voice that says, “I love you. I knit you together in your mother’s womb” (Psalms 139:13).

Jesus offers you His own most intimate life with the Father… Everything Jesus is saying to you can be summarized in the words “Know that you are welcome.”

Henri J. M. Nouwen