“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are your works, And that my soul knows very well.” Psalms 139:13-14

Just like the diversity of these created leaves, we, too, are formed by our Creator!

Each of us was uniquely created by God. That is an amazing statement all by itself! He formed us and knew us from our very beginning. But the world looks at us and tells us we are too short, too tall, too thin, too fat, or too whatever because we don’t meet some “generally accepted” expectation. And sadly, we tend to believe it.

When I was little, long straight hair was the “current” style. And you guessed it, I had unruly curly hair that my mom kept cut short in order to control it better. I desperately wished for straight hair so I could wear it long like everyone else. In the sixth grade I was the tallest girl in my class and taller than every boy but one! I started slouching so as not to stand out so much. No matter what I did, I really couldn’t change me.

But, over the years, as my faith grew and my understanding of God’s love and grace increased, I realized that we all need to see ourselves as God sees us. We are formed by our loving God, fearfully and wonderfully made, His marvelous workmanship! I began to embrace my curly hair, my height (although I’m not really that tall, I just grew fast!), my long feet, and all my other unique characteristics that used to cause me a bit of angst.

We are children of the most-high God, who sees our hearts and loves us just as He made each one of us. God made us for a purpose, an abundant life. He made us to desire a relationship with Him. He does not see us as the world sees us. The world sees only the physical, outward appearance and judges us shy of its mark. God sees us as He made us and for what we will become.

This realization comes with a new perspective. God lovingly formed each one of us. We need to also appreciate that those around us; at home, at school, at work, at the ball field, at church, everywhere, are also created by our loving, wonderful, and perfect God. God doesn’t make mistakes. Let us approach others whose paths cross ours from God’s perspective. Let’s realize that perhaps God has put them in our path (or us in their path) so that we can share our faith in our spectacular God!

This week let’s enthusiastically accept our differences, our uniqueness, our marvelous God-made selves and rejoice. Let’s step into our lives (and our less than perfect bodies) and glorify our God, our Savior, our Creator. Let’s align our objectives with His will and live this life lovingly and confidently and graciously!

I thank God for each of you! And I thank you for joining me this week as we rejoice in the fact that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made by our God. We are the marvelous work of His hands. Embrace it!

Blessings!