A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill.
In a room full of people, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?"

Hands started going up. The speaker said,
"I am going to give this $20 to one of you, but first, let me do this."
He proceeded to crumple the $20 dollar bill up.

He then asked, "Who still wants it?"
Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "what if I do this?"
He dropped the money on the ground and started
to grind it into the floor with his shoe.
He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.
"Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson.
No matter what I did to the money,
you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value.
It was still worth $20. The same is true about people."

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled,
and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make
and the circumstances that come our way.
We feel as though we are worthless.
But no matter what has happened or what will ever happen,
you will never lose your value in God's eyes.

To Him, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless.
Psalm 17:8 states that God will keep us, "as the apple of His eye."

The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we are
but by WHOSE WE ARE!

You are special because you are a child of God.
Don't ever forget it!