Today I am having a bad day. I wrote an article for the paper and my husband read it and said it was no good - after it was published. He normally likes what I write, so I figure it must be bad! Then a friend sent me some other blogs, to encourage me. They were good. Too good. Gritty, poetic, honest. What I thought I was - only better.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, that God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

It's moments like these I long for a paying job with something tangible in return at the end of the week. Something that confirms I did well. It's easy at times to get caught up in imagining that I don't make a difference, that my place could be filled by someone else.

It was during one of these black spots that God gave me one word - Irreplaceable. He was reminding me of what I am to Him. What each one of us is. It must have been from God because it stuck, and the blackness started to fade.

Each one of us is made to represent a small part of the goodness, the character of God. We can never show all of it. God is too big and we are too small. But we are made in His image. We bear His mark. The longer we spend with Him the more of Him we reveal. We are unique. Individually we can't be replaced. He has prepared a place for us to fill in this world and in eternity that no one else can. That's not meant to be stressful. It's meant to be empowering. Chances are you already fill that space but maybe you don't see it, like me. Because the world doesn't recognise it, or the people around you forgot to say "you did a great job. Thank you."

I pray that you will hear God say to you "well done. That was just what I wanted. Exactly what I needed you to do. I couldn't, wouldn't have done it without you. Thank you."

Because He is saying it, because you are unique. You are precious. You are irreplaceable.