Sunday Devotions - What You Are is Beautiful!

Psalm 139:14 
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

A friend of mine shared this link from Jewel on Facebook the other day. I'd listened to Jewel years ago but haven't for a while. I admit that when I listened to this song for the first time I cried. Take a minute and listen. 

Look in the mirror 

Not that's another story to tell

I give love to others

But I give myself hell

You don’t have to tell a flower how to bloom
Or light how to fill up a room
You already are what you are
And what you are is beautiful

As I was listening Yahoo came up to me and asked that we dance together to the song. Right in our kitchen I held her, with her sticky fingers and her mussed up hair and her mismatched clothes and she was beautiful. I hope that I can instill in her heart, way before she becomes a teen, that she's already beautiful and nothing she does on the outside will improve her because it's what's on the inside that counts. 

I've dealt with body issue problems for a long time. It's never been so severe that I've put my body in danger with any extreme diet but I have put my emotions under a lot of stress. For a long time I've thought, "I'm not skinny enough; I'm too bulky. The numbers on the scale are too high." I spent all my teen years in school sports and I couldn't help but compare myself to my team mates; their skills and yes, their bodies. It's hard to feel good about your body when it feels like everyone else is prettier than you are even if they aren't. I always felt awkward in my teen years and the way I looked wasn't good enough. I was VERY self conscious and as a result didn't have a lot of confidence. Even in my adulthood though those emotions are hard to put into the past. 

I still deal with those feelings with not having "the right body". I have to remember though that our bodies are physical; they grow and change and get old. God didn't design these bodies of ours to be perfect, whatever that means. 

I have to remember this. 

It is our soul that God is concerned with. So many of us, especially women, put so much time and effort and energy into improving the appearance of our outward physical bodies for others. Worrying if we are wearing the right clothes in public. Worrying if we are skinny enough. Worrying how we appear to others. But how much time have we spent improving the appearance of our souls to others? Are our souls shining when we go out in public? 

Dear Heavenly Father, I am fearfully and wonderfully made! Your works are wonderful. I am Your work and I. Am. Wonderful! Thank You for being a defender of who I am. I am perfect because I was created for You. Please help me to remember that who I am is a soul, not a body. Amen.