When I was in school, like a lot of girls, I dreaded PE lessons. It wasn’t because I had to wear shorts outside, even when there was frost on the ground; or because of having to get changed in front of classmates at the age where you feel the most uncomfortable in your own skin; or because of having to run cross-country, even outside of the school grounds!

No, the reason I dreaded PE lessons was because of “choosing teams”. Whenever we played net ball or rounders, the most sporty girls would be chosen to pick the teams.

Right now I can imagine there are two types of people reading this. Those who don’t get what I was worried about. (Those were the sporty girls!) And the ones like me. The ones who never got to pick the teams. The ones who were never chosen first, and were often one of the very last to be picked.

I’m sure the girls who were like me can relate to the sick feeling of worry. Will I be the last person to be picked, again? Will I be the one that no one wants on their team (again)? Then more and more of your friends are chosen and you realise that no one really wants you on their team.

I want to tell you today that you are chosen.

And not just because you were the last option. Not just because the choice was between you and the girl with a broken arm who couldn’t even throw or catch a ball if she wanted to.

God wants you on his team. You are not just the left overs, that he was stuck with. You were his first choice.

But it doesn’t end there. Being chosen is a privilege and a responsibility. Because you are chosen God has a purpose for your life, one that is so much greater than you could ever imagine.

You did not choose me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures. And so the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name. (John 15:16)

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