Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Psalm 139: 13-16 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. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Tom sent me this verse on a day when my spirits and emotions were really low. A relative recently took a good look at both of us and stated that in so many words that we "look terrible" -- meaning tired, haggard, burdened by the weight of taking care of three little ones "at our advanced age", by the stress of homeschooling, and so on and so forth. To Tom, it stung just a bit - but to me, it left a gaping wound. It seems all I can think about these days is: "Huh - I look terrible to someone else. To me, I don't look that bad, but to HER - I look terrible." And somehow this has taken on monstrous proportions of meaning. Suddenly I want a face lift, I want to dye my hair blond, get an eye job, buy a new set of clothes, get a personal trainer, and so on and so forth. I am obsessed with getting to the point where thsi person will say "you look great" instead of "you look terrible."

I am getting buried in this obsession. It is causing sin in my life because it is distorting my whole outlook on life. This is a wrong reaction. So today Tom encouraged me with the following:

Dear Lisa,

Please carefully read Psalm 139:13-16! It says that you LISA are fearfully and wonderfully made!!! God does not make junk!! Please don't allow your emotions and hormones to get the best of you. That is Satan attacking you. You are a precious gift of God!! You are precious to Jesus, you are precious to me, you are precious to your children, you are precious to the church, you are precious to your sisters, you are precious to my family etc. etc. Yes some say or do hurtful things and say hurtful things but you are still precious!! Please praise God for you preciousness. Praise God that he made you exactly they way the master designer intended you to be! Praise God that he doesn't make mistakes. Go forward with the knowledge that you are precious and special to a great number of people who depend upon that special person namely LISA ANN VOGT! I praise God that he made you special and precious to me.

Dear Lord, please forgive me for my obsession with my appearance. Please forgive me for being bitter against this person who said these words to me. Please forgive that person too. Help me to accept the truth that I am fearfully and wonderfully made and no mistakes were made when I was conceived and born. Help me to rest in that comforting truth. Amen.