“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Ps. 139:14
This weekend, I was with a group of believers from all over Czechia, Ukraine, Poland and Slovakia. I was the sole American, but it didn’t matter because we were united in the purpose of simply learning to worship our Heavenly Father.
One of the things we did was pray over our bodies using the whole armor of God found in Ephesians 6. It was a powerful time as we began with placing our hands on our heads and praying God’s truth over our minds:
“We have the mind of Christ.” 1 Cor. 2:16
“Be transformed by the renewing of your minds” Ro. 12:2
“Take every thought captive to Christ” 2 Cor. 10:5
“Love the Lord your God with all your mind” Mt. 22:37
And the verse that we pray over every part of our body was the one the psalmist penned thousands of years ago:
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made”
As we prayed, we let the truth of these words sink deep into our hearts. Every part of our body is fearfully and wonderfully made.
The apostle Paul admonishes us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice — we have something amazing to give God — amazing because He’s the one who created us.
But often I forget to live out of this truth. Like days after Christmas — when I step on the scale and groan. Somehow, I have bought into the belief that I’ll be happy when I drop x number of pounds. I’m convinced that life will simply be perfect if only the extra inches around my waist would vanish.
Even my fasting is tainted as I track how much weight I’m losing during the process.
Self-acceptance is a key to the kingdom of heaven writes Elizabeth Sherill in her memoir, All the Way to Heaven. {affiliate link} In it, Sherill writes about her struggle with clinical depression and her journey of coming to terms of how God made her — not as she thought she should be but as she was and it was okay. In fact, it was something to be celebrated.
I know there are a lot of voices in the world that talk about self-acceptance and self-love but without God at the center, I think they are missing the key point. We can speak positive affirmation over ourselves all day long and feel better about who we are.
But without God at the center, this can only be a false imitation of what Father has for us. He wants us to see ourselves as He sees us. And for some of us this is hard to do. The beliefs in our minds and voices in our heads are so deeply ingrained.
I am fearfully and wonderfully made
One of the ladies in our group began sobbing deeply and sat curled up on the floor. Others gathered around her and one older lady just held her while she cried. God was healing her heart.
As we prayed over our bodies, we acknowledged and chose to agree with our Heavenly Father that we are fearfully and wonderfully made — every last bit of us.
I was reminded of a friend who told me how as young woman she would eat five times a day and then make herself throw up each time. She said she would have perished except that God sent believers into her life who shared the Good News of Jesus with her.
For a period in my teens I also did the same although not with the same frequency. I have two beautiful daughters now in their teens and just as I did, they spend hours in front of the mirror.
I pray they will see what God sees in them. As a mama I play a key role in this — because now that they are older, they see how I view myself.
In some ways it seems harder to be a teen these days because our self-worth can seemingly be determined by the number of likes or comments we get on our social media posts.
I love this song by MercyMe and I pray the message reaches every woman young and old who doubts she’s less than beautiful — less than fearfully and wonderfully made.
#Write28Days. This post is part of a 28-day writing challenge where I’m joining other bloggers to write daily during February. Go here to see the other post in this series — Who I am in Christ.
Yes, having daughters definitely makes me want to set a better example of what I say about my body. I want to practice what I preach remembering that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. The Mercy
Yes and amen, Jolene. Preaching to myself. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
It’s not only the young that hope for likes and comments. Last year, I found myself getting excited about “the number of likes or comments” on my blog. I had zero for years so even a few made me happy. That isn’t why I started writing. I don’t look at the stats anymore. I’m trusting God for the words and who they reach. I have two daughters too, and yes it is hard being a girl (young or old). Thanks.
You’re so right about checking the likes and comments — I’ve struggled over that too. Or in my case, the rejection I feel when I see friends having a party I wasn’t invited to. That’s why I’m meditating on these truths of my true identity found in God’s Word. Thanks for stopping by.