What are we worth?

What is our value? What are we worth, as individuals, as children of God?  Each of us struggles at times with feelings of worthlessness.  We fail a test, get let go from a job, lose a special relationship, experience periods of ill health that leave us unable to participate in daily life, or heck, we just have a bad day!  And we ask ourselves, "What good am I? Am I worthwhile?"
Well, I found the most powerful, simple answer in the most unusual of places: from a character in an LDS romance novel.  Yes, you read me right!  I'll give you a little background info so you can understand the context this character was coming from. I was reading this book a few days ago, where the main character, Suzanna was visiting with one of her friends, Marcie, who had been in a car accident that left her confined to a bed in a long-term care facility. This friend had recently lost her husband to terminal illness, had no living family and had been defrauded by her accident lawyer. Talk about a bad turn of events!  But Marcie was positive and accepted her circumstances. Suzanne was amazed at Marcie's attitude and asked her how she gained such peace when she was broke, disabled and alone. Marcie's response was this:
"I realized my value doesn't depend on what I can do, by what I can accomplish.  I realized my worth comes from being loved by my Father.  It's kind of like a newborn baby.  We don't love them because they're so useful, or even for their potential usefulness.  We love them because they're ours.  I came to realize that the Lord loves me because I'm His, and it calmed me.  He loves us all that way, and it's priceless."
Priceless indeed.  No need to say more. It's just one more facet of His amazing grace.

Imagine that baby is you, and you'll realize your worth too.