Every Thursday I feature a “throwback” post from my blog archive. The goal is to look back and discover new lessons or opportunities to grow. This week, we’ll look at “The Greatest Show” You can view the original post here. For today, here’s a quick recap and a few more thoughts about our value and self-worth.

As I was walking into a restaurant yesterday, I noticed the song, “Rewrite the Stars” playing on the speakers. Immediately I thought back to the first time I saw the movie, The Greatest Showman. The songs in that movie are amazing and speak to many of the deep longings we have in this life. In the original post, I cited the soundtrack as a whole. But, in hearing “Rewrite the Stars” last night, I heard again the specific longing of the characters singing the song.

“Rewrite the Stars” is a conversation between two characters who are beginning to fall in love. However, they both know that their love will not be accepted by society because of their race and their vastly different social classes. Throughout this song, both characters, Anne Wheeler and Phillip Carlyle, share their hidden desire to be together. Phillip wants to go all in on the relationship but Anne knows that can’t happen. She knows that the outside world will never accept the two of them together and that this rejection could even result in physical violence toward them. Throughout the song, they wish they could change the world so that their love would be acceptable. Deeper than that, at the root of it all, are Anne Wheeler’s questions, “Am I enough?” and “Am I worthy of love?”

Most of us wrestle with these questions at some point in our lives. We all wonder if we are enough or if we are worthy of love. These questions are often the result of hurt or a painful experience through which someone told us we weren’t. And unfortunately, we believed them.

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For me, I remember my first big breakup. I was a freshman in high school so there were some big, and very misguided, feelings involved. I still remember standing in the parking lot beside the church I was attending with my now former girlfriend quoting the lyrics to a Natalie Imbruglia song. I was crushed as she walked away from me and straight into a relationship with one of my best friends.

I had so many questions. I wondered if I would ever recover. I wondered if I would ever find someone who cared about me. Even the pain of this very surface-level relationship1 caused me to ask deep questions about my own personal worth and value. The rest of that year was rough. I would wrestle with those questions throughout as I experienced more and more rejection and found very little acceptance.

What I hope you know is what I wish Anne Wheeler and my ninth-grade self knew. You were fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps. 139:14). You were created with and for a purpose (Eph. 2:10). You were purposefully planned from the beginning of time by a creator who loves you and cares about you (Ps. 139:13). And you are loved whether the world tells you so or not.

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Maybe we can’t rewrite the stars. We can’t change history and we can’t change our past. But we can know that our future is secure. Regardless of the situation we were born into, we can have hope knowing that through Jesus and His sacrifice, we can be royalty in eternity. He entered this broken world and made a way for us to come to Him, to have a relationship with Him even when sin was in the way. He rewrote the stars so that we could be His. And all we have to do is walk through the door. You are seen, you are worthy, and you are loved.

If you are struggling with that idea today, I challenge you to meditate on the scriptures above. (Eph. 2:10, Ps. 139:13-14) and let the truth of those passages sink in. Maybe you know someone in a similar situation. Reach out to them and share these passages, encourage them, and let them know they are loved. Who knows, maybe you’ll rewrite the stars for someone feeling lost.

1. I can say this now. It’s called hindsight. If you know a teenager who is crushed by a broken relationship, don’t minimize their feelings. That’s a quick way to make them shut down and shut you out.