“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well.” Psalms 139:14
“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous–how well I know it.” Psalms 139:14 (NLT)
Buuuuuuuttttt I was told that my lips were too big and you know…that’s not cute (not when you’re 11 anyway). And in junior high…I was called pork chop (I wasn’t a little tike) by a group of boys and that carried over into high school (and in my mind, college). I had this terrible acne that teenagers seem to get at just the right time to make things perfectly awkward. Not to mention, I was too tall to be short and too short to be tall. Soooooo…I’d say I was doing pretty well.
So how could I have been made wonderfully??? That was my question! And I often encounter young people, and even some older, that I can “feel” have the same question.
All these things added to my own self image issues. My childhood was WONDERFUL! I didn’t have any issues with anyone NOT loving me or not treating me well. My parents ALWAYS told me and showed me that they loved me and thought that I was beautiful but I learned to not like me. I learned from my peers…by the way they treated me and others. I paid attention to how “different” I was from everybody else. I couldn’t begin to tell you when it started or how…….maybe it was in elementary when other girls picked on me and called it “friendship”; or maybe it was when I was told that I had big lips by that boy on the playground; or it could have been the name calling or the acne or maybe the simple fact that it was a phase that I didn’t quite grow out of in time. I don’t really know but, whatever it was, I could never look in the mirror and see what others “said” they saw. You know the…oh, you’re so beautiful…you look just like your mom…you’ve grown up to be so pretty. It actually wasn’t until my more recent adult years that I actually realized how much I do look like my mom. (I mean I look JUST LIKE HER!!!!! And my momma is GORGEOUS! 😉 ) I strategically learned to be my own worst enemy and to this day, I haven’t found one that could take my place…although I don’t suffer from the same issues of self defeat, I do recognize that nobody can beat me down like I can. And if you do some analyzing, you’ll probably find that nobody can defeat you like YOU either.
Often, we meet people with self image issues and we may not even notice it. We may even be the person with the issue, walking around with a false smile on our face and not able to take a compliment (because we don’t think we’re worthy of them). The thing is, we must learn to see ourselves the way that Christ sees us…fearfully and WONDERFULLY made. And nobody knows us or loves us like the MAKER Himself. I know it’s difficult…heck…it took me all of about 20 such N such years to ACTUALLY understand this and then a couple more to put it into action. One day, God explained it to me like this………what if you made something and you put your all into it and it made you so proud that you wanted to give it as a gift, in love? What if the person you chose to give it to declined letting you know that you did an okay job but they didn’t like it…it wasn’t good enough for them? Well…that’s how we come before God when we decide not to like ourselves and share the gifts He gave us. We basically tell Him, “good job Jesus but not good enough.” I had to KNOW that…I had to understand that when I was created, there was nobody else created like me and that I was created in the image of God (see Genesis 1:26). I had to know that all the differences that make up Alecia make her GREAT. I had to know that the word peculiar that was used in 1 Peter 2:9, applied to ME and that I was CHOSEN to be that way. All of my MANY flaws make me equipped to do what God has called me to do because HIS strength is made perfect in MY weakness (see 2 Corinthians 12:9). I had to know FOR MYSELF that I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE!
AND…..I have been given the charge to let others know that they are as well. There is no use in me walking around, secure in myself, knowing that the young lady sitting next to me hates her hair, feels bad about the way her nose is shaped, and wants to look like the girl she saw walking down the street the other day. Or if the guy that I pass walking down the street never shares his gift because he is ashamed of the knowledge he holds and no one ever told him that it was okay to be smart. Sharing is caring and I care enough to let everyone know that who God created us, individually, to be is enough. We are told to be flawless but the truth is, our flaws make us GREAT! Our imperfections make us the PERFECT candidates to be leaders, entrepreneurs, CEO’s, inspirations…….and the list goes ooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnn!
So….when you see me…know that I am flawed, imperfect, and WONDERFULLY MADE! And so are you!!!
“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well.” Psalms 139:14
“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous–how well I know it.” Psalms 139:14 (NLT)
Love y’all!!!! (fa realz!!!) :-*
Ms. A.M.White