You Are Worth It: My Journey to Finding Love and Self-Worth in the Father

By Julie House and Brian Kenney

Are you wandering day-to-day, merely existing and trying to make sense of life? Caught up in the fast-paced lifestyle of the world? Distracted by all the noises and busyness called life? I was. How have your life choices and decisions affected you, your future, or your family? For me, I finally hit rock bottom. I eventually grew tired of doing l

• Language: English
• Publisher: JULIE A HOUSE
• Release date: Feb 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736054314

Julie House

Julie désire vivre dans un monde établi avec l'ordre du royaume et voir Dieu comme la plus haute priorité dans la vie de chacun, où l'amour de Dieu remplit tous les cœurs afin qu'ils puissent marcher dans leur destin et leur but, comme Il l'a voulu.En tant qu'auteur, son voyage commence par Vous en valez la peine, qui est le résultat direct de son obéissance à l'appel de Dieu sur sa vie. Découvrez comment Dieu l'a transformée de l'intérieur alors qu'elle planait comme un aigle atteignant son plein potentiel en Jésus-Christ. Julie a un fils, Isaac, et ils vivent tous les deux sur la Côte-Est des États-Unis. Julie aime se pelotonner et lire un bon livre, regarder des films, voyager et faire des activités en plein air.

Book preview

Foreword

You Are Worth It will inspire you to overcome life’s obstacles and pursue your God-given destiny. I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with Julie personally. She has transformed her life inside and out and has come out victorious to talk about it. Julie has a passion to see individuals from all walks of life be obedient to their God-given destiny. I encourage you to read You Are Worth It and get inspired to go after your destiny.

Brian Kenney

Founder of Wellness for Life and

Brian Kenney Ministries

Introduction

I was once told by someone close to me, "Do you really think you can ever live the American Dream—a husband, two kids, and a house with a white picket fence—with the choices you make? I still wonder to this day about that statement. Why did I make the choic es I made?

Our lives were set in motion long before we took our first breath. We all had different starting points, family histories, and circumstances dealt to us. Have you ever sat back and imagined what your life could have been like if you had made different choices and different decisions? They seemed right at the time based on the information we had or that we chose to consider.

Close your eyes, turn back the clock, and imagine what it would be like if you were born to different parents, lived in another neighborhood, state, country, or even another era? Or what if you were raised by two parents instead of one or by your grandparents?

For me, what if I had chosen: to master all the languages I was exposed to over the years and spoke them fluently; to practice my clarinet or saxophone a few more hours a day each week and became an accomplished musician; to study more intently and graduate as the valedictorian in high school; chose a different university to attend; put more effort into developing my volleyball skills rather than basketball skills and my Division I scholarship had taken me in a different direction; or to declare a different major, crossing paths with different people, looking further than college and creating a strong New Jersey / New York network to re-connect with once I was finished playing basketball in Europe? So many what if’s—all the experiences, missed opportunities, heartaches, and even pain. A change in any one of these could have permanently altered my destiny.

On the other hand, what if our lives have happened exactly as our Creator planned? What if there was real purpose for all our trials, storms, struggles, heartaches, and pain? I believe that after all these years there is a divine purpose for my life. I cannot say that I totally see the big picture yet or the precise direction I am headed in, but my steps have been ordered. In Psalm 37:23, it says The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him.

I am on a new journey these days. My purpose and destiny are being unfolded and revealed to me daily. I now trust the Lord daily for everything, totally and completely. That has given me a peace that I have never felt or experienced.

I now know the first half of my life was for a divine purpose; every wrong turn I took, my good but not great decisions, all the mistakes I made and failures I had, the people I touched, the life experiences I had, the countries I lived in, the relationships I entered, jobs I held, books I read, friends I made, roads I traveled, tears I cried—all these served to transform me to be able to make a difference and to impact you.

My Beginnings

For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

Isaiah 41:13

1: A Father’s Love

I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

Jeremiah 31:3

I do not remember much of my early childhood, only what I was told or repeatedly saw in family pictures of Easter Sunday prior to church, birthday parties, or Christmas morning. I sit and search my memories, but there are not many that I ca n recall.

I was one of three girls growing up in the suburbs in the mid-1960s. I was the middle child, which made me the peacemaker; never wanting to make waves or deal with confrontations. In Matthew 5:9, it states Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. That was me! Besides a peacemaker, I was a loner as well. My older sister once told me that I would go off into my own little world. As a little girl this is how I began to cope with circumstances that were out of my control.

By age five my family structure had radically changed. My parents decided it was best to separate, which led to them eventually divorcing. My mom relocated my sisters and I back to Hagerstown, Maryland. By the time I was able to remember, living in a fatherless family environment was my normal. We did have contact and visitations on a regular basis, but it was not the same as having your father living under the same roof.

My opinion now, as a born-again Christian, is that God intended for a family to consist of both a mother and a father working together to raise their children. And, more importantly, to raise them to serve Him. But my circumstances were beyond my control and me was set in motion. I had no idea the impact this would have on me, but I now understand how everything impacts our spirit and heart, as it collects in our roots to form our foundation.

A critical part of our foundation is establishing God at the center of the family and planting His seeds when children are young. In Proverbs 22:6, it says, Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. What my spirit and soul needed was to see a godly male presence and role model daily in my life. All little girls need to see and be taught from their father’s real-life examples of how they are to be loved and treated in different instances and relationships. It is so important to show them God’s love in different life situations from the beginning.

I’m not sure that fathers really understand the responsibility they have to their daughters. Fathers have many different roles in a family. He is, of course, a father to his girls, but he is also the husband to their mother. His girls are watching to see how he treats their mom and they are taking mental notes as to their expectations from their future husbands. Ephesians 5:25 says, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.

Fathers show their love by having a steady job, helping around the house, clearing off the dishes after dinner, folding a load of laundry, or even running the vacuum occasionally. He encourages his wife by affectionate