READ: PSALM 139:13-18; JEREMIAH 31:3; LUKE 15:3-7

The sun is setting, and as the long grass sways back and forth in motion with the wind, a young woman is walking down a dirt road after having left her newborn baby by a tree in the woods. She hopes someone will soon find her. Tears run down her cheeks as she wishes she could provide for her baby, but she knows she can’t. Her life in Africa is one of hardship and survival, and since she is unmarried, she lacks resources to raise a child alone.

When I was a year old, I was adopted. I am now Ethiopian-American. Psalm 68:6 says, “God places the lonely in families.” I was welcomed into a loving home with a Christian family, and I thank God every day for that.

Do you struggle with feelings of belonging? It can be hard to accept love, especially if you have experienced rejection and loss. But the truth is, you are loved by a Sovereign God who created you and watched you grow in your mother’s womb.

Though I was raised in a Christian home, I struggled with believing that my family loved me. I felt different, and I was buying into society’s lies. I thought that I didn’t matter. I worried about whether my friends thought I was weird because I was adopted. I didn’t like my skin color. I started pulling away from people in my life.

But then I talked to my mom about how I was feeling. I realized my parents loved me so much that they traveled halfway around the world to bring me home! This reminded me of a parable Jesus told in Luke 15 about a shepherd who left his ninety-nine sheep in search of the little lost lamb. The Bible says God loves me no matter what. That’s why Jesus came to die on the cross and rise again so I could be with Him. I can rest in Jesus’s love and saving grace.

You are loved. You matter to God! • Chalyse R. Smith

• We all go through times when we struggle with our identity, even after we’ve put our trust in Jesus. And, especially when we feel unwanted, it’s easy to believe things about ourselves that aren’t true. That’s why God invites us to come to Him and let Him tell us the truth about who we are. Consider taking some time to read Luke 15:3-7, Luke 19:10, and John 10:11 slowly and consider the question: How does God see me?

• What are some practical ways you can encourage your friends and show them that they matter to you and to God?

God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)