fearfully and wonderfully

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"For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well."

~Psalm 139:13-14~

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oh, how many times I have said these words to countless 6th and 7th graders over the course of this summer... and WoW how these words truly have the power to shift perspectives and change lives!

handcrafted by the Father- a fact that we all know, but are hardly ever in awe of the way we ought to be. a broken world is our reality- a society where we are never good enough, a people who constantly look to fix parts of themselves that they believe to be unworthy. this is how we live, this is how we are primed to think. I feel like I am able to say with confidence that many of us do not live like the words of Psalm 139 are true: "I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful, I know that full well." instead of allowing this to be our anthem, we allow the enemy to roam our thoughts and twist what is true- which results in acceptance of lies that undermine the MAGNIFICENT beauty of how God created us. we find ourselves falling into the lie that changing our God-given attributes and qualities will somehow allow us to be better accepted by man. accepted... hmmm what a word- it's what we all desire more than ANYTHING else to be welcomed and wanted by those surrounding us. and for some odd reason, we innately believe that we are not worthy of this just as we are created. the enemy has misled us to thinking something must to change for us to to be worthy of love and acceptance.

why do we feel this way? why do we think this way? is it because someone has spoken words over us that make us doubt the way the Lord made us? or is it, by chance, because we ourselves speak those words over our spirits and lives? how is it possible to feel accepted by those surrounding us if we are unable to embrace and believe that the way the Father creates is absolutely "beautiful, my darling, there is no flaw in you." (Song of Solomon 4:7) i'll give you a hint- it's impossible. as long as we believe the lie that there is innate error in the way our Creator made us, we will never trust that we are accepted and acceptable to others or to the Lord above.

how sad it must be for our Father above to see us struggle, to watch as we find fault in the ways He formed us to further His kingdom and be a blessing to others. for Him to see us view the gifts He instilled in us as burdens to carry, gosh how it must hurt His heart! after all, He sent His own son down to earth to serve as ransom for our sins, even subjecting Him to the most painful death one could imagine- on a wooden cross, stripped bare with blood from thorns dripping down His brow. so why then, if He so obviously loves us that much, would He create us with fault and shortcoming? he wouldn't- yet we so easily believe otherwise. the moment that you choose to wholeheartedly believe that you are approved of in every way by the Creator of the heavens and earth, the enemy's grasp on your mind loosens and you begin to see truth. what were previously viewed as flaws become apparent as qualities to be used to further the Lord's glory as well as our good. with this shift of perspective comes the ability to see ourselves as our Abba does; and join David in the joyful praise of Psalm 139- as fearfully and wonderfully created beings seen by the Lord as good and pleasing and perfect.

when we open our eyes to see that we are fully known and accepted and loved by the perfect Savior above, we are able to embrace who we are to the fullest. we no longer rely on the opinions of others to satisfy us, and we no longer allow the approval of others to define us. we can live our lives knowing that Jesus loves us an absurd, insane amount, and open others' eyes to see and believe this as the truth. we have the opportunity to be vessels of the Lord for our community- the chance to create a chain reaction of people who believe what their Father above says to be true: fearfully and wonderfully made. in every way, every circumstance, every day. always.

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