If you’ve ever felt “too much,” “not enough,” or quietly disqualified from the dreams in your heart, you are not alone, dear one. Many of us love God deeply and yet live with an unrelenting low-grade ache:
“I think I blew it.”
“I feel fundamentally broken.”
“I can’t shake feeling just not worthy.”
In this part of the series, I want to sit with you in that tender place and gently, firmly declare: you are worthy in Christ and because of Christ, period! Your worth is not a fragile status you earn by getting it right; it is the eternal reality of who you have always been in Him.
And from that worthiness in Christ, your desires and dreams begin to make sense. They are not cruel teases from a withholding God, but evidence of a Dreamer Who planned good things with you in mind from before time began.
God the Dreamer – and the Dream of You
Before there was a world for you to be born into, there was a God Who dreamed of you.
Proverbs 8 gives us a picture of Wisdom, personified and dancing with God before creation, rejoicing as mountains rose and oceans were set in place—and then delighting specifically in the children of men.
I was there, close to the Creator’s side as His master artist, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world and delighting in the children of men. – Proverbs 8:30–31, ESV, emphasis added
In last week’s blog, God’s Dreams & Your Desires – Trusting the Father of Lights, I shared about a God Who is a planner and a dreamer—a Father of lights Who only gives good and perfect gifts. Those dreams didn’t start with your birth certificate; they began in the heart of Love Himself, before there was a material world.
This is where your worthiness in Christ begins: not with how well you’re doing today, but with the eternal delight of a God Who dreamed of you, planned for you, and wanted you here flowing from intimate oneness with Him..
If you’d like to lean more deeply into that foundation, I unpack it further in:
From “Sinful Nature” to Original Innocence
Many of us were taught that at our core we are “sinful by nature” and therefore fundamentally untrustworthy and unworthy. That teaching, I just have to say it, no matter how well intentioned, is perverse at best and frankly evil at worst. It accuses and condemns humanity and not so subtly accuses God, as well. Either God creates sinful things or He did a lousy job on that cross redeeming a new creation. The enemy of our souls is an accuser and loves to do so in Jesus’ name. That is the spirit of religion that Jesus railed against over and over.The fruit it produces is a kind of spiritual self-hatred that is absolutely at odds with the true gospel and a God Who is nothing but good and creates only good things—especially His children in HIs image and likeness!
Listen to this language from Paul:
And he chose us to be his very own,joining us to himself even before he laid the foundation of the universe! Because of his great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with an unstained innocence. – Ephesians 1:4, TPT, 2020, emphasis added
The word for ordained in the Aramaic can be worded as marked by Love. Before the foundation of the world, God chose you in Christ,—holy and blameless in His sight, in Love. That is original innocence language, not original sin.
Paul says it again to Timothy:
He gave us resurrection life and drew us to himself by his holy calling on our lives. And it wasn’t because of any good we have done, but by his divine pleasure and marvelous grace that confirmed our union with the anointed Jesus, even before time began! 10 This truth is now being unveiled by the revelation of the anointed Jesus, our life-giver, who has dismantled death, obliterating all its effects on our lives, and has manifested his immortal life in us by the gospel. – 2 Timothy 1:9–10, TPT, emphasis added
Did you hear it? Grace was given to you in Christ Jesus before time began, and your worth and value is so monumental that Christ joined you to Himself before time began—and He didn’t ask for your vote. He secured you before time began!
When I say you are worthy in Christ, I am not ignoring your story, your pain, your sinful past and fallen ways of being. I am saying that none of those things have the authority to rewrite what God ordained about you before the world began. Your behavior can be very broken; your design in Christ never has been!. The fall of Adam is not greater than the redemption of Christ to define who you truly have always been!
Poema – the Fabric of His Delight
One of my favorite verses about our identity is Ephesians 2:10:
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:10, NKJV
The word “workmanship” there is poema in the Greek—from which we get our word “poem.” You are not a mass-produced religious product. You are God’s poetry, His artwork, His handwoven tapestry.
The Lord once whispered to my heart, “Catherine, you are the fabric of My delight.” That wasn’t just for me; that is true of every son and daughter!
When shame says, “You’re too much,” Love says, “You are intentionally vibrant.”
When self-hatred says, “You’re not enough,” Love says, “You bear My image in your very being,.You are complete in Me!”
When regret says, “You ruined everything,” Love says, “Your story is not stronger than My authorship and ability to work all things for good”
Being worthy in Christ means allowing His poema verdict to speak louder than the inner critic, louder than religious shaming, louder than the ways you’ve been mishandled by others, or the ways you have mishandled yourself.
In Did You Know God Delights in You? I talk more about this dancing, singing God Who actually enjoys you. A God like that does not secretly despise His own artwork. He doesn’t call you Poema on one hand and “worthless” on the other.
Foreknown, Called, Justified, Glorified
Sometimes we worry that we have fallen outside of God’s plan; that our choices (or the choices of others) have somehow pushed us out of His story. But look at the sweep of Romans 8:
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son… Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. – Romans 8:28–30, NKJV
Let’s slow this down:
- Whom He foreknew – is there any human God did not foreknow?
- He predestined – not for heaven vs. hell, but to be conformed to the image of His Son.
- He called.
- He justified.
- He glorified.
This is the language of a God Who refuses to abandon His kids. Your worthiness in Christ is anchored in His decision to foreknow, call, justify, and glorify you—not in your ability to never miss a step.
When you forget who you are, He does not. When you agree with shame, He does not. When you sabotage your own God-given dreams because you secretly believe you’re unworthy, He keeps calling you back to His version of your story.
The Voice of Accusation vs. the Voice of Delight
If you live with a constant soundtrack of accusation in your head, it will be almost impossible to trust your desires or receive God’s dreams for you. Accusation says:
“Who do you think you are?”
“How dare you want that?”
“God is tired of you.”
But Paul asks:
Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God Who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen… – Romans 8:33–34, NKJV, emphasis added
If God justifies you in Christ, who has the right to condemn you? Not your past. Not religion. Not the enemy. Not even your own inner critic.
Learning to live as worthy in Christ means learning to recognize the voice of accusation as a lie—even when it sounds like your own thoughts or like “humility.” True humility agrees with God, not with shame.
The same God Who danced over you before creation is the God Who now sits with you in your humanity, in the mess, in the confusion, in the pain and says, “Beloved, you are still the fabric of My delight. Let’s walk this out together.”
Worthy in Christ: Walking Out Your Dreams with Him
So what does this look like in your everyday life, precious one?
Here are a few simple, heart-level steps:
- Name the lie about your worth.
Maybe it’s “I’m too broken to be used,” or “I always mess everything up.” Gently, with Jesus, bring it into the light. Ask Him, “Where did I first believe this?” Let Him show you, not to shame you, but to heal you. - Agree with His verdict.
Take a moment to say out loud, “Jesus, You say I am worthy in Christ. You say I am Your Poema. I choose Your word over my shame.” It may feel awkward at first, but your heart needs to hear your own mouth align with truth. - Dare to acknowledge one God-given desire.
Not the “shoulds,” but the deep desire that keeps resurfacing: to write, to create, to mentor, to start something, to study, to build. Instead of editing it away, write it down. Then ask, “Jesus, how do You feel about this desire?” Wait. Listen. Let His delight surprise you. - Take one tiny, concrete step in union, not striving.
This might be journaling for ten minutes, reaching out to a friend, researching a class, or simply praying, “Papa, show me the next step.” You don’t have to orchestrate the whole dream. You get to walk it out in union with the One Who dreamed it first.
Keep soaking: Your Worthiness and God’s Dreams
If your heart is resonating with this but also feeling a little tender and raw, that’s okay. These are deep places. You are not behind, and you are not failing. You are awakening.
I go into this in much more depth in Episode 314 of Perspectives with Catherine Toon:
“You Are Worthy in Christ | Identity & God’s Dreams | Episode 314”
🎬 Watch it here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/AzKCLW_Ga3s
And if you want to keep marinating in the goodness of a God Who dreamed of you and delights in you, you can also explore:
- God’s Dreams & Your Desires – Trusting the Father of Lights
- Why You Are God’s Dream
- Did You Know God Delights in You?
Beloved, you are not an accident, not an afterthought, and not a disappointment project. You are worthy in Christ. You are the Poema of God, the fabric of His delight.
And together, in union with Him, you and Jesus will walk out the dreams that have been echoing in His heart—and yours—since before time began.
Love, Catherine Toon