How do you see yourself? Have you ever asked the question, "How does God see me?"
I’m going to let you in on a little secret—the inside scoop to how I began to discover my true identity and how I began to walk in my royal destiny!
This is the true story and inspiration behind my Christian children’s book, The Father’s Princess: The Story of the White Daisy. I hope you will find it inspirational and I pray that God will open your eyes and give you new vision for how He sees you and for what purpose you were created!
I had been carrying around a heavy load that was such a burden to me. Matthew 11:28-30 has always been one of my favorite verses.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
It always gave me such comfort, knowing that I could come to Jesus and He would give me rest in exchange for my weary heart and soul. One day I made the choice to take Him up on His offer.
I offered my heart to Him in exchange for healing. I gave Him permission to make it beat again in proper rhythm.
In 2014, I was in a season where I was battling with my health and my past.
I decided one day to go forward after the church service to receive prayer.
I was warmly greeted by the women’s pastor. With watery eyes, I explained to her that I wanted to receive prayer for physical and emotional healing. She said a prayer over me, and after the prayer she invited me to ask God a question.
She invited me to close my eyes and ask, “God, what do you want to tell me right now?”
I heard Him say to me, “That He has always been there. Even through the bad times He was always there and never left me.”
Then the joyful pastor invited me to ask another question.
So I asked God, “How do you see me?”
I was a little afraid to ask God that question. I was afraid of what I might see. Nevertheless, I closed my eyes and I waited for His response.
This is the vision God showed me:
I saw a little girl in a sundress with long, golden blonde hair that had curls on the end. She was running through a field of white flowers, smiling and laughing. She was glowing as sparkling rays of sunshine shone down on her and the glittering field.
It was the most enchanting and uplifting picture! By this time my face was drenched with tears. The pastor then asked me a question.
She asked me to tell her what I saw, and to describe how the little girl felt.
I answered, “She felt Light, Free, and Joyful!”
That incredible encounter I had with God in that moment changed my life. It changed the way I saw myself. I was afraid to ask God how He sees me, because I thought I was going to see an image of how I saw myself, and felt in that moment. I thought I was going to see a sad and broken woman (weary and burdened).
Instead I saw a Radiant Child (Light, Free, and Joyful)!
God doesn’t view us the way we view ourselves. He sees His beautiful creation and those He has adopted. He sees us as His precious children. He created a Way: for us to be free from the heavy burden of our sin, joyful for His cleansing love and forgiveness, and to reflect His glorious light and shine as His radiant child!
In that vision, God’s peaceful, golden light was shining down on me and I was shimmering in incandescent beauty.
I was as pure and innocent as a white flower to Him.
God saw me as white as snow because Jesus’ cleansing blood had washed over me. It had washed away my sin, my shame, my regret, my guilt, my pain and my sorrow. The Way: had washed away who I once was (dead in sin) and revealed who I now am (alive in Christ).
The Son of God washed away our stains so that we could become the children of God. If we are “born again” this is how God sees His children, and this is how He wants His children to see themselves. No more sorrow, no more shame, no more guilt, no more pain. No more!
“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool."
(Isaiah 1:18 NLT)
I couldn’t get that epiphany image out of my mind, and I never wanted to. Although I still looked the same on the outside, something had changed on the inside. My spiritual eyes had been opened (awakened, a moment of sudden revelation and insight). I was now seeing myself through the eyes of the Creator who made me.
This supernatural, divine experience helped me to see myself as a child of God, yet I had been living like I was a spiritual orphan.
I didn’t yet recognize in full the Father’s extravagant perfect love for me nor my perfect position in Christ. I had been holding on to the shameful feelings I acquired from my past. Those feelings of innocence lost and those orphan feelings of being: Fatherless, abandoned, unwanted, alone and unloved. These heavy and burdensome feelings were weighing me down and holding me back from my future promises, including the promise of rest and freedom that Jesus died for.
We are only slaves to those burdens if we choose to remain bound to that yoke and carry the weight of our sin. Jesus has set us free from it. It is up to us to choose to be connected to Him so that we may walk beside Him as Free, Light, and Joyful children of God. As we take His yoke upon ourselves and learn from Him, we find the rest He promises.
Seeing how God sees me, allowed me to see myself the same way, and to begin to behave (manifest) in that way. It allowed me to love myself and to forgive myself, because I finally understood how much I was loved and forgiven by God.
I finally learned how to receive God’s love, forgiveness, and acceptance. I also finally learned to see God as my Father (Daddy) in Heaven who loves me. This is what helped set me free from the captivity and bondage I was under. I was no longer a spiritual orphan, I was Adopted and Chosen! No longer alone and afraid, I was Found and at Peace! No longer a slave to sin, death, and fear, I was a Child of God! No longer a nobody… I was Royalty!
I finally recognized and understood that I was a Daughter of the King!
When God opens up your eyes to how He sees you, and your heart to how He feels about you, it no longer matters how others see you or what others feel about you. I no longer felt the need to be loved and accepted by everybody because I understood that I was forever loved by Somebody!
You are loved by God, and that is always enough!
I remember telling my husband Chris when we first met that, “I just want to be enough for one man, not all men, just one man.” I finally realized that I would always be enough for One Man- my Father in Heaven. And dear one, so are you!
I discovered who I am:
I am who God says I am! I am a child of God. I am never alone. And I am loved!
I believe that encounter marked the beginning of my inner healing journey. I went to God and asked for His yoke in exchange for my weary and burdened heart. I had begun my journey towards freedom, restoration, identification and purpose!
***
While on this remarkable journey God gave me a remarkable mission.
One day I was having a conversation with God and again He gave me another vision. It had been over a year since I saw the image of the little girl in the field of white flowers.
God revisited me and gave me the vision to write and illustrate a children’s book built around the image I saw.
The story would be of a lost and lonely orphan girl who was adopted by her Heavenly Father- The King. She is transformed into a beautiful princess and given three special gifts: a crown of beauty, a garment of praise, and a royal scepter filled with the oil of joy.
In receiving the gifts, the forever grateful princess responds, “Father, you have given me so many good and perfect gifts, but the greatest gift of all…is Your Love!” -The Father's Princess
Before this new vision was given, while I was still in my season of suffering, I had been praying specifically that God would exchange: my ashes for a crown of beauty, my mourning for joy, and my despair for a garment of praise for the display of His splendor.
This was a specific verse that I had been meditating on and this would become one of the many verses my book would be centered upon. Now that God had answered that prayer, He called me to write about my encounter with Him and share it with the world.
The princess tells her story of how she was once a lost and lonely orphan and now is found, she was grafted into a new family, enthroned in royalty, given a new identity, and a new name, all thanks to the hands of her loving and gracious Father!
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
(John 14:18 NIV)
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)
The princess has been transformed and now shines radiantly because of the Light that is within her. She invites others to come and meet her Father and inherit the Kingdom, so that they too may encounter and receive His radiant Light and Love.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
(Matthew 25:34 NIV)
In my vision from God, I was running through a field of white flowers. I knew right away that “Daisy” was to be the name of the princess in my story.
***
Exactly one year later, to the day I received the assignment from God, I finished the book. I couldn’t have planned that if I tried. On April 4, 2017, our story was released to the world. On the cover of my book is the image I saw- a little girl with long, golden blonde hair, smiling with her arms stretched out wide, in a field of white daisies. It is called:
The Father’s Princess:
The Story of the White Daisy
One day upon reading my published book, something caught my eye. On the very last page I illustrated Princess Daisy walking through a garden with her heavenly Father. Her hands are held out to the side. She is wearing a white and yellow dress and her head is adorned with a crown of daisies. Suddenly, I realized I have seen this image before! I ran and pulled out an old photo that I had stashed away.
Here is the image: (although I blurred out the background)
This photo of me was taken my junior year of prom. I wore a yellow dress my grandmother made and my sister had beautifully tied daisy flowers in my hair.
I had forgotten all about this picture when illustrating my book!
But God hadn’t.
He knew all along that one day I would write and illustrate The Father’s Princess: The Story of the White Daisy and He knew all along what image would be created for the final scene.
And He also knew that one day I would meet my future husband. A man I prayed and asked God for.
(On a side note) My husband has always called me his “White Daisy.” When we were dating (years after this photo was taken) he started calling me this. He said it is what I reminded him of.
I believe that God let him in on the inside scoop (gave him spiritual eyes for me) as well because He wanted me to marry a man after His own heart. A man who could see me like He sees me. Remarkably, my husband had never seen this photo until I pulled it out. Yet, still he called me his White Daisy!
Coincidence? I don't think so.
This image is a part of my past, and my past is a part of my story!
But God has put His glorious signature on it all; every single page of my life tells of Him.
"The wonders of a Father’s perfect love for His new found princess." - The Father's Princess
I was once lost but now I’m found. I was once blind but now I see! And I will walk hand in hand with my Father forever in His garden.
So what's your story?
Are you lost without a Savior?
Are you blind to how God sees you?
Are you a spiritual orphan without a heavenly Father?
Or are you an adopted child of God?
If so, what questions do you want to ask your heavenly Father?
I invite you to ask:
God, what do you want to tell me right now?
How do you see me?
Then wait for His response.
Perhaps you will see something similar- A light, free and joyful child dancing in a field of white daisy flowers because she has been washed white as snow!
Or perhaps it is time that you embarked upon your own inner healing journey.
Go to God and ask for His yoke in exchange for your weary and burdened heart. Begin your journey towards freedom, restoration, identification and purpose!
If you have invited Jesus into your heart to be your Lord and Savior, then you have become an adopted Child of God!
The Story of the White Daisy is now your story too!
You are a Daughter of the King!
You are Welcome into His Kingdom!
You are The Father’s Princess!
You Are Royally Loved & You are Destined for Glory!
That is your story.
I wrote The Father's Princess for three reasons:
To share my story and give God Glory for the display of His Splendor!
To remind the children of God who they are in Christ and for what purpose they were created.
To invite and welcome those who are outside of the royal family to come and meet the Father for themselves, to invite them to receive spiritual adoption into sonship & enter into the eternal Kingdom of God.
If this is not yet your story. If you have not yet made Jesus the Lord of your life and received spiritual adoption through Christ. Then I want to invite you to receive His invitation and become a child of God.
The Bible says:
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Romans 10:9-10
If you are now ready to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior then you can pray this simple prayer of salvation and you will have an eternal Home in Heaven.
If you prayed this prayer of salvation then you are an adopted Child of God and you will walk with the King of kings forever!
Welcome to the Royal Family!
I pray this message was a blessing and an encouragement for you.
Please visit my website below to learn more about me and my Christian books!
God bless,
Mistie House
Award-Winning Christian Author and host of the Beloved Bride Christian women's podcast.
Learn More about Mistie's Books:
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(Christian princess books, Christian children's books, Christian books for kids about God and Jesus)
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