My husband and I traveled to San Diego to visit our friend, Brad, who was in basic training at the Marine Corps Training Depot. Unfortunately, he had injured himself, was taken out of his unit and put into a specialized one just for injured recruits. We checked in with the guard at the entrance, getting directions on where to park and how to get from the parking lot to the unit. We thought we had all the instructions we needed, but once we parked our car, nothing looked like where the guard told us to go.
We wandered around for a while. Most of the time, we were yelled at by Drill Instructors because we were in an area civilians were not authorized to be. We asked several times for directions, but got even more confused and turned around. Finally I found a sign for the hospital, figuring the unit had to be near the hospital so the recruits could be shuttled there easily.
When we entered the hospital we were met by a sergeant, who wasn’t much interested in our plight. However, standing behind him was an officer – a commander – who took pity on us. He ordered the sergeant to find an enlisted man to accompany us to the unit. It was “Yes, sir! Right away, sir! On it, sir.”
All of a sudden, we were treated with dignity. Then it hit me. I was somebody because I knew the man in charge. When we were lost, we were treated like nobodies. Our self-worth was challenged because we weren’t marines or recruits. We didn’t feel respected, honored or even welcomed, but knowing someone who was in charge suddenly raised our significance.
Our relationship with God is similar. We don’t have to judge ourselves by what we do for a living, our successes or even our failures. Even before any of us took our first breath, God wanted, loved and planned us. More importantly, he also created a plan for our lives.
I’m sure many of you, like myself, have times when we question our value and worth. Life pushes us down and we wander along unfamiliar path thinking, “I will never be good enough.” Yet, the good news is we don’t have to be. Our worth, our value is tethered to God. We are loved by God Himself. We find our identity through Him.
During this Easter season, we will be reminded of the story of our Lord who died so our sins will be forgiven. We will soak in the narrative of how God loved us so much, he sent his son to make sure we wouldn’t wander aimlessly through our lives. In his story, we discover our restoration. We find 
our way through the confusing maze of life and form an intimate relationship with God. God rebuilds our lives when we ask him to be our compass. His inspirational words in the Bible lay a foundation for us to stand firm against our confusion and find truth in the Father who cares for us. And through his love, we defy the chaos of life.
