I had a dream a year or so ago…

I was walking around in a liquor store looking for a bottle of Gin or Vodka … or both. I was looking to find the highest quality “top shelf” brand I could find. (If you think about it, all stores put the best items on the top shelf.)

That was it, nothing spectacular. What was interesting is that I have not remembered a dream for over 20 years, so the fact that I remembered this one when I woke up, caught my attention!

I thought about it for a while, and I just couldn’t understand what it was about.

Then a few days later as I was explaining my dream to a friend, I swear I heard God say “You are worth it. You don’t ‘have to‘ settle for less.”

You are Worth It.

Not surprisingly it was something I desperately needed to hear.

Somewhere along the journey of my life, there was a lie whispered in my heart, I eventually believed it. “You are not worth it.”

I grew up poor, in more ways then financially. My whole life I have been receiving or buying things from the bottom shelf. When I was a child and received gifts they were from the bottom shelf (if they were even new). Most of my clothes were hand-me-downs, etc.. As an adult I’ve always bought from the bottom shelf, partly to save money, partly because the agreement in my subconsciousness that I was not worth anything better. (There is NOTHING wrong with being poor, this post is not about that.)

Maybe it was my alcoholic dad, that even though he was physically present, he checked out of life long before I showed up, never being able to offer me words of truth, or encouragement. Or the religious institutions I attended, telling me what a bad, evil person I am, that I deserved nothing. Or maybe it was the silence from everyone I subconsciously cried out to, “Am I worth anything?”

So, after that dream I started to live differently. I started to believe that I can buy from the top shelf. I may have to save a little more, a little longer, yet,

I Am Worth It!

So here I am a year or so later, about to make a major purchase, (second largest one in my life!) something I’ve dreamed about since childhood, a big desire of my heart. A Jeep Wrangler. And I am hearing that voice again, “You’re not worth it.”.

Then, as Sandy and I mulled around the living room talking about all the pros and cons of this purchase, as the panic attack was approaching from the distance, Sandy leans back on the couch and says, “This is ‘Top Shelf’ Rocco.”

Peace, calm, and confidence filled my heart as I remembered what God thinks of me.

I AM Worth It!

Do you know that You Are Worth It?

You Are Worth It!

 

So now I have a Jeep so I can “Drive to the Top Shelf”! :)