Have you ever struggled with self-image problems? Maybe you have an insecurity with your voice, or the way you look. Maybe you don’t like how thin your hair is, the color of your eyes or your dominant personality isn’t quite like your best friend’s mild soft spoken demeanor. Most of us, if we are honest do not like certain aspects about who we are; whether it is our personality, looks, race or financial status. The truth is God created you special and unique and He did not want you to be just like everyone else. This was a difficult lesson for me to learn. One day about 9 years ago, I was driving back to my parent’s house and God whispered in my heart, “I am pleased with who I made you.” I wondered why God would say such a thing to me because I thought I had a pretty good self-esteem. However, over the next several months and years, God began to expose so many areas of my life where I was not pleased with who God created me to be. One area in particular had to do with my voice. I was a late bloomer and my voice did not change until I was at least 16 years old. When I would talk on the phone, people would mistake me for a woman’s voice and I would get so frustrated. I even would try to lower my voice, but it did not work out very successfully. I hated talking in front of people because of my voice even though I was a gifted communicator. I constantly thought about it and wished I had a different voice. Even when my voiced changed to become much deeper, these insecurities still haunted me for years! When they tried to over take my mind, the Holy Spirit would remind me that He was pleased with who He made me! Little by little, I began to believe God and trust that He does not make junk. The Bible says, “God said, Let Us
[Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:26-27 Amplified Bible). I am made in the image of God. He formed me and knew me before I was born and knew the reason He created me. The Bible says, “Then the word of the Lord came to me [Jeremiah], saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you [as My chosen instrument], and before you were born I separated and set you apart, consecrating you; [and] I appointed you as a prophet to the nations’” (Jeremiah 1:4-5 Amplified Bible). This scripture is powerful because God is saying that before Jeremiah was born God knew him and approved of him. God had a unique calling on Jeremiah’s life and created his personality, looks, skills and talents to accomplish God’s plan for his life. What was true for Jeremiah is also true for us. God created you and me in His image and tailored all our traits that make us distinct and different from anyone else on earth! God does not make trashy stuff. When I finally started believing God at His word, I began having confidence in Him and began using the gifts and talents He gave me. I now am a public speaker that God is using to help people come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. If I would have continued to believe the lies of the devil about my voice, I might never have stepped into all that God desired of me. Will you start to believe that God created you unique and special and that He is pleased with who He made you? You are not an accident, but were handcrafted by the Creator of the universe. He loves you, believes in you, and wants you to understand your value and your worth in His eyes! He is pleased with who He made You.
