Every little girl who has ever read, watched, or listened to a love story or song has imagined the surreal feeling of experiencing the ideal romance and being considered a young man’s favorite. It’s been acted out with their Barbie dolls (sometimes with Star Wars figurines too), it’s the source of diary entries, and the cause of giggles during conversations of who likes who. From a bathrobe converted to a wedding train to the “Do-You-Like-Me-Yes-or-No?” passed notes, little girls envision the guy who will select them as His Favorite. (Not sure the modern text message can compete with that scrawled hand-written note on lined notebook paper), but I digress! Hopefully, the imagery is clear of a little pony-tailed girl’s dreamlike expectations for romance in her future.
Although my dreams of ever being His Favorite have never come to fruition in this life, this little brown-haired, blue-eyed girl has refused to discontinue wishing or desiring for that man to choose her. The Struggle With Singleness is extremely painful and isolating at times when society often provides endless reminders of how you have never been chosen, you have never been considered His Favorite. Part of me would love to sincerely state that rather than dwelling in misery and tears each time these feelings began to drown me, instead I follow Jennie Allen’s advice and make a better choice. Allen shares that when our thoughts begin spiraling, “we have a choice to shift our minds back to God through worship.” Rather than believing one of the three lies: “I’m helpless. I’m worthless. I’m unlovable;” we make a choice to Shift the Spiral.
As I reviewed a passage in Allen’s Get Out of Your Head which had me pondering this concept of being His Favorite, I was reminded of another author who spoke of this topic in her book The Fight to Flourish. Just finishing Lusko’s book a few days before on a trip to the beach, I Noticed a Nudge and returned to a highlighted section addressing the notion of being His Favorite which states, “The ingredients for a fresh and flourishing life are right in front of you: you, your circumstances, your struggle. Your Savior, the hope of glory. You don’t have to have it all together for God to work in you. He just wants you. You’re His [F]avorite.”
The above comment from Lusko is connected to a story she shares that really had me contemplating on whose favorite I really want to be. While dining in a restaurant, after the server is told, “Jesus Loves You,” she responds, ‘Oh, yes, I’m His favorite.’” Lusko’s thoughts mirror my own when she comments, “I had never heard that said before. I am God’s favorite. I was hit by this young woman’s confidence in God’s love for her. She didn’t just think she was His Favorite, she knew. The interaction left a mark on me, and I left the restaurant that night feeling like God has spoken just to me. You’re My favorite, sweetheart.”
Sharing this notion as God’s favorite, Allen shared her honesty of being His Favorite when she writes, “I never would have said it out loud, but I had always lived with a delightful confidence that God liked me. That I was one of His [F]avorites. I don’t know whether God plays favorites, but I liked imagining His affection for me specifically.” Wow! Intellectually, I know His love for me is greater than any worldly love from a man, but His Favorite? Not a chance! What if, instead of spiraling into that black hole of self-pity, I made a choice to deny one of Satan’s lies that I am unlovable and embrace the truth that I might just be one of His Favorites? After all, has any other man ever sacrificed their life for mine or been tortured to demonstrate His undying love for little ole me?
Working on this continuous Struggle With Singleness that will probably exist until the day I enter His loving arms in Heaven, I can actively make a choice to see myself as one of His Favorites today.
References:
Flourishing @ Life 