Realizing Your Belovedness: How the Lord Sees You – Healing 2025

Summary

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Do you truly believe you are known and loved by the Father? In this talk, speaker and Emotional Intelligence Educator Rhyan Ramirez helps us understand what it means to be “Beloved” and what it looks like to live out of this identity in our own lives.

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Reflective Study Guide Questions

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Every time you feel hurt, offended, or rejected, you have to dare to say to yourself: ‘These feelings, strong as they may be, are not telling me the truth about myself. The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now, is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God’s eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity, and held safe in an everlasting embrace.’

Henri J.M. Nouwen

1. When was the last time you felt seen and loved by another?

2. What comes to mind when you hear the word Beloved? Do you know that you are “divinely loved” and “close to the heart of God the Father”? Do you believe the Lord has a plan for your life? Why or why not?

3. What is holding you back from embracing your true identity as “Beloved”? What is stopping you from surrendering yourself totally into the hands of God?

4. Rhyan offered a few practical steps to embracing your Belovedness and allowing God to love you the way He desires to. Which of these steps can you take today?

Text: Realizing Your Belovedness: How the Lord Sees You

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Hi, my name is Rhyan Ramirez. I’m also known as Bro Rhyan. I’m truly honored and blessed to be with you during this online Pray More Retreat. So speaking of praying, let’s go ahead and start with the prayer.

Opening Prayer

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord, we thank you for this time. We thank you for just this opportunity to pause in whatever life is throwing at us. We know that each of us come to these retreats for many different reasons. And I pray, Lord, that whatever it is that you put on the hearts of all of our retreatants, that not only do they just hear your message, but they become doers of your message.

And I pray that all of our participants bring all of their challenges, all of their hurts, all of their struggles, all of their hardships, Lord. To this retreat, knowing that you truly are present, not just in all those that will be sharing throughout this retreat, but especially in them. I ask that throughout this time, you continue to guide me, help me, and be my source of strength as I do my best to honor you in all that I do.

And again, I’m thankful for this opportunity to be a part of this amazing retreat in your most precious name, we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Yeah. Let’s just take a deep breath for a second and breathe with all the different things that you could be doing. You have decided and made the decision to be with us on this retreat.

A Bit More About Rhyan

And so once again, my name is Rhyan Ramirez, also known as Bro Rhy. And just a little bit of background about myself. Um, I come to the table with 11 years of being a psychiatric technician, which is a licensed position in the state of California, uh, working in mental health. So I was in adult mental health for 11 years.

And then I transitioned into parish youth ministry. So I was a youth minister for 10 years, and since 2014 I have been a social emotional learning educator. Yes. So I am the feelings guy. I’m the feelings guy at the schools teaching young people and equipping young people how to self regulate, how to self-manage, how to be more self-aware, teaching them healthy communication and of course restorative practice, which I think is totally in line with what we are doing here for this Pray More Healing retreat.

So, um, so yeah, so I’m excited just to share the, wisdom and the knowledge and the spirit that I have. I also, uh, have a degree in theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, and I’m currently. Uh, pursuing my industrial organizational psychology degree as well. So lots of different things that God has put on my heart to be able to bring into the work that I’m doing, which is why I’m truly excited and honored to be with you all.

The Feeling of Being Loved

So, let me ask this question, when was the last time that you truly felt seen, you truly felt seen, or that you truly felt heard or even cherished or even needed? For many of us, this idea of being beloved, right? The name of this talk is realizing our belovedness and being beloved. It feels foreign. It feels foreign and even hard to grasp for many of us.

Now, let’s go ahead and start with the term beloved. Now, the term beloved often appears in scripture as a term of deep intimacy and identity, especially in reference to how God sees us. And so realizing our belovedness, how does God see us? Now in Greek, this word is used in the New Testament and it’s pronounced “agapetos” (ἀγαπητός).

Yes, “agapetos” (ἀγαπητός) , which is divinely loved or dear to the heart, divinely loved and dear to the heart. So just imagine. Just in that, realizing our belovedness, realizing that we are divinely loved and close to the heart and dear to the heart of God. Our father should already be a indication to us of how important we are and how needed we are in the plan that God has for us.

So this idea of realizing that yes, you. You watching this video, you here with us this during this retreat. You are beloved. You are dear to the heart of God, our father. You are truly, truly, truly something that God created with intention, with um, uniqueness. Right, He created you not just in a broad way, but in a very specific way.

Don’t Be Wise In Your Own Eyes

Now, yes. We’re, we’re talking about healing. We’re talking about becoming whole. And so before we get started, I want to share, you know, one of my favorite phrases that I share with the world, and it’s “Realize with your, real eyes”, yes. One more time. Realize, do it with me, with your real eyes. And what we’re saying here is, yes, our human eyes are important and they have a part.

But imagine a world where we saw each other for who we were. Imagine a world where we would use the eyes of our heart just a little bit more, and we saw people for who they were, not just what they did. And this comes from Proverbs three, seven. Don’t be wise in your own eyes. Yes. Don’t be wise in your own eyes.

And so as we’re going through our time, I invite you. To really start looking at yourself, number one, as beloved as dear to the heart, as divinely loved by God our Father, number one, and number two, realizing that you weren’t a mistake, that you have a purpose. Now, when I think about my own story and how my parents divorced when I wasn’t even one years old, there were times growing up where I thought to myself, was I an accident?

Did my parents mean to have me? And it wasn’t until I realized that God the Father, God, Our Father, had a purpose for me, Jeremiah 29: 11, that he had plans for me to prosper me. I started realizing with my realize that God never makes mistakes and He never makes an accident. So I started really believing in myself and knowing that yes, I might not have been planned by my parents, but I knew I was planned by God and so are you.

Put Together to Build a Masterpiece

So realize with your realize that you are beloved. Now I want us to take a moment and think about a mosaic. Okay? Think about a mosaic. Now, if you don’t know what a mosaic is, a mosaic, uh, usually is art that’s made from different pieces of broken glass. All these beautiful colors, all these different shapes, these different sizes, right?

And when you think about the mosaics, they’re all broken pieces, but they’re all broken pieces that are put together. Put together to make a beautiful masterpiece. Now I want us to think about our own lives. Thinking about every struggle, every challenge, every hardship, every hurt that we have. Some of them really small, some of them really big, some of them, and thinking about in becoming in all different shapes and different sizes.

And I would argue that our life is the same way with God. Is that we’re going to take all these, all the brokenness that we have, all the broken pieces that we have, and we allow God, our Father to put it together, to arrange it into the beautiful masterpiece that he once created. It reminds me of that phrase, “It’s not how you start, but it’s how you finish.”

So really take a moment as you’re thinking about the pain and, the hurt that you may be feeling right now in this moment, or maybe that you’ve been feeling for a while, that maybe you kind of put it away and you know, just said, well, this is all, it is, all it’s going to be. And yes, you do have that pain. Yes, you do have that struggle, but God wants to take all the broken pieces and create this beautiful mosaic.

And that’s you. Yes. That’s you. And what I love about Mosaic pieces, when I think about how beautiful they are, they’re all unique in its own way. Just like us, each and every one of us we’re unique and unrepeatable. And so I want us to look at our lives in that way, or that’s something that I do for myself is know that all the brokenness, all the hardship, all the challenges that I’ve been through, if I allow God to be a part of it.

Realize With Your Own Eyes

If I allow myself to put myself into God’s hands, then I know he is going to take the broken pieces and he is going to put together a beautiful masterpiece. So that’s why when I say realize with your, real eyes that you are never too broken.

So think about those five words. What is it in your life right now that you can say to yourself to remind yourself that you are beloved? Realize with your real eyes that you were made for more. Realize with your real eyes you are not your past, you are God’s future. Realize with your real eyes you are unique and unrepeatable. See God, he just doesn’t tolerate us. Right? He designed us very specifically.

Each and every one of us has an assignment and He redeemed us and we are His masterpiece. Yes, we are His masterpiece. That’s why we say don’t be wise in your own eyes, because if we just use our human eyes, we’re going to look at just the brokenness. We’re going to look at just the hurt. We’re going to look at all the things that the world wants us to believe that we are, when truly, truly we are beloved.

Now another thing I think about when I was praying on this talk and praying on this sharing, right, the word beloved. Be loved. Yes, be loved. And part of our healing journey is going to require us to do just that. To allow ourselves to be loved. And because of our upbringings, because of our challenges, because of the struggles, our life experiences, that might be really hard for some of us right now, and that’s okay ’cause that’s where you are.

A Time For Growth and Strength

But that’s why God brought you here. That’s why God is sharing this message with you through me, to realize with your real eyes that you are beloved, that you are. Fearfully and wonderfully made that there will never be another you. There will never be another me. We have to start using our spiritual eyes, not just to see who God created us to be, but then we start really stepping in to that true worth, that true worth that we have, and that worth comes because it’s through His love.

We are worthy because of love, because of the love of Our Father. And so I pray that as we are our journeying together through this retreat, that you realize with your, realize that you are unique and unrepeatable, that you are the mosaic that God wants to create this beautiful masterpiece, masterpiece with.

And all the brokenness, all the challenges, all the hardships, no matter what shape, no matter what size, all the things that you’re going to give to God. To put in this beautiful masterpiece. Not only will you heal from, but you’ll be an inspiration to others so they can heal as well. I’m a believer that the challenges and the struggles that we go through, they’re not just for us.

Yes, they are for us to learn from. In that moment, those mountains are made for us and designed for us to show others that it can be moved, that it can be climbed. So know that whatever it is you have going on right now, yes, God is giving it to you and is being with you through the hard times because there is definitely some growth that’s going to happen, but he is also doing it so that you can be an inspiration to others.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, you know, she called herself a little flower right in God’s garden, and she did, she struggled with, you know, feeling small and unimportant for a while. But she trusted deeply that she was loved anyway. She trusted deeply that she was loved anyway. So can you trust God that no matter how small or unimportant you might feel or think you are, ’cause maybe the world is sending you all this crazy messaging and you’re starting to believe it.

Can you, uh, believe that you are loved anyway? And I love one of her quotes. She says, “I understood that all we accomplish is a gift from God”. Yes, “I understood that all we accomplish is a gift from God”. So all of the rewards, all of the ways that we overcome the adversity, all of the ways that we heal is truly a gift from God.

On Being Priceless

And here’s the cool thing about being beloved or belovedness. You don’t have to earn it. You already are. I’m going to say that one more time. You already are. Now, I like to use this analogy. Imagine a basketball, I’m a big basketball fan, and imagine one of those, uh, leather basketballs, the authentic ones that you use in the NBA game.

Now retail value I looked online can be between $150 to $200 retail. Now imagine that same ball put into the hands of one of the most famous basketball players. Now you can choose who you want. I am partial to Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant. So imagine if I took that same basketball and put it in the hands of either of those two legends. Would the value of the ball be worth the one 50 or $200, or would it be worth more? And if you’re thinking more, you’re absolutely right. Right. And the crazy part is the, the leather, the ball itself, it’s still the same exact ball, but because it was put into the hands of someone great the value became even more. So now, imagine your value when you surrender and put yourselves in the hands of God.

See, when I share this at certain retreats, you know, the, the students or the, the retreatants, the participants will be like, oh, we’re priceless. And I’m like, well, are we priceless because we put ourselves in the hands of God or were we already priceless?

You see the differences between the basketball and you and the basketball and me is that at the moment of conception, we were already priceless in the eyes of God, no matter the circumstances. Our value has always been priceless. The only difference is that will we surrender and put ourselves in God’s hands so we can use us and mold us and really help develop all the things that we need to develop in our life to truly fulfill the plan that he has for us?

Or are we going to stay away, tell ourselves we’re not worthy enough, we’re not this enough. We’re not that enough. And I think that’s the challenge that we have is that sometimes when we don’t realize with our real eyes that God called us by name. What is it? Isaiah 43 verse one, right? “I have called you by name. You are mine.” Yes. “I have called you by name, you are mine. God just wants us to be open and our God is a loving God. He’s not a forceful God. So he gives us that free will, and that free will is what’s going to, you know, make the difference on whether or not we decide to surrender to the Lord, to bring him all of our hurt, all of our pains, all of our brokenness, all the broken pieces, so that He can truly make this mosaic so He can truly show the world this beautiful masterpiece, which is you.

You Are Loved Deeply

And what I love about God’s love is that it’s not general, right? It’s very specific, it’s very personal. You know the things that you’re good at and great at. You know the things that when people hear your name, they’re off the top of their head. They all automatically think those things about you, and that’s how God loves and that’s how God creates.

Every single one of us has very specific gifts. Because we have specific assignments, and when we hone in on those gifts, we develop those gifts and we mature mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, then those gifts are going to be ready for the world in a different way. See, first we heal within ourselves internally.

Then we take that out into the world to help others heal. Now. He knows your name. He knows your wounds. He knows your gifts. He knows your strengths. Now, when was the last time again you truly felt seen or felt really known or cherished? Because right now, this idea of being beloved, it might be hard to grasp, but just know.

That you, yes, you are loved deeply, are dear to the heart of our God. And so as we close our time today and really think about all the ways that God wants to work in our lives, where are the areas in our lives that maybe we didn’t allow God in? And maybe we thought we weren’t worthy enough, and I invite you to be open, to be open to what God has planned for you, to be open to bringing him everything that is challenging to you right now so that you can truly heal, so that you can truly be whole, right to reconcile is to be whole.

And a couple easy practical ways to do this is number one, every single day just say to yourself, I am a beloved child of God. I am unique and unrepeatable. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Write those down. Put ’em in a place where you see it every day.

Receive the sacraments as much as possible. I cannot stress how powerful our sacraments are. You know, get to get to confession, become whole with God again. Receive the Eucharist with that sanctifying grace because of your reconciliation. And just be in the Word with God as much as possible.

Pray with the word, pray a prayer. Don’t just say a prayer. And whenever those negative thoughts come into your mind and you, you get activated, realize with, your real eyes that you are God’s beloved. So my brothers and sisters in Christ, uh, this has been, um, a blessing to share with you again just for our first session. And then I pray that you see how great you truly are. How much you’re needed for your community, for your families, for those around you, because you truly are the light of the world, as God was, as God sent Jesus to be the light of the world for us. We are called to do the same. We are called to do the same. So I’m going to go ahead and close this out in prayer.

Closing Prayer

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Lord, we, we thank you for, for being present in this session and in all sessions. I ask that whatever challenges and struggles and hardships that my brothers and sisters at this retreat might be going through, Lord that they know that you already know what their challenges are and that they can truly surrender all of it to you.

All of the pain, all of the sadness, all of the hurt, all of the joys, right? I pray that they realize with their real eyes, how beloved they truly are. If they just allow themselves to be loved. We know that this journey of healing is never easy, but we know that together as a community together in prayer. And together having total and complete faith in you that all things are possible.

I pray that whatever it is, Lord, that is on the hearts of all of our participants, that again, that they be doers and not just hearers of you and your word and your message. We thank you for their lives. Uh, we ask that they just continue to see their value through your eyes. So that they can continue to grow in faith and grow closer to you and be your reflection, as we are all made in the image and likeness of you.

In this, we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Alright everyone, I’ll see you in the next session. God bless. Peace.

About Rhyan Ramirez