You Are Remarkable.

No matter what has been written on the pages of your life story, you are remarkable.   

Despite what has happened to you, or what you’ve done since you made your appearance into the world — you are remarkable.

Regardless of your personality, your body type, your abilities (or lack thereof), your flaws and imperfections - you are remarkable. 

You are remarkable because a Remarkable Creator knit you together in your mother’s womb, lovingly, carefully and intentionally.  Of the millions chromosomal possibilities, He specifically picked out your every feature so that you would become YOU.  You are not a mistake!    

Psalm 139:13-14 says, 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.

Have you ever watched someone knit or crochet before?  Their fingers move and loop the yarn in intricate, intentional movements.  This is how God put us together as we were developing in our mother’s womb.  There was not one piece of us that was accidental.  

Yet we are born into an imperfect, sinful, broken world.  Words define us.  Pain shapes us. Sin dirties us.  And shame distorts us. Before we know it, we’ve lost our true self — the self that God made us to be — the fearfully-and-wonderfully-made-self that was knit together and perfectly formed for a purpose.

When you look in the mirror, do you see a remarkable person?  

Sadly, many, if not most of us don’t.  We see an imperfect image that we wish we could correct.  We see our physical “flaws.”  We see our past. We see our pain. We see our sin.  We see our scars.  

There was a time in my young 20’s when I hated what I saw in the mirror.  I had all the same hangups and insecurities that most young women have about their physical appearance…but what I hated the most was not what I could see on the outside — It was my rotting self inside.  My self-worth had been mutilated by a toxic relationship, leaving me depressed and alone.  I had either pushed away or held at arm’s length every person in my life who truly cared for me.  I was ashamed of who I had become and I was fearful that someone might see “the real me.”  What I saw when I looked in the mirror of self-awareness was far from “remarkable."  

So why was there such a disconnect between what the bible says about me and my remarkable, knit-together, fearfully-and-wonderfully-made self…and the messed up, self-loathing-person that stared back at me in the mirror?  Which image was the true me?

1 Corinthians 13:12 answers these questions for us:  Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

The Apostle Paul implies that God, our Creator, sees the full picture of who we truly are.  He sees us deep down to the very core of our inner-most being.  He can see through the pain, through the mistakes, through the abuse, and even through our sin and rebellion.  He can see us with “perfect clarity.”  He knows us “completely.”  

When we are in our “now” - we see things imperfectly.…like gazing at our distorted reflection in the mirrors of a fun house.  While we see our pain, our mistakes, our abused body and heart, our sin and our rebellion…He sees perfection.  Not perfection in the sense that we have done no wrong, or can do no wrong - but perfection in the sense that He makes no mistakes.  Perfection in the sense that we are His workmanship, his masterpiece, handcrafted and beautiful, made for good use. 

Friend, however you see yourself “now” is partial and incomplete — but your Creator sees the finished project.  You may not have reached your “then” yet — but rest assured: you are a masterpiece in progress!  As His workmanship, He wants to take us from our “now” to our “then.”  He wants us to see everything about ourselves with perfect clarity, and to know ourselves completely, just as He knows us completely.  

The Bible says, that the bridge between our “now” and our “then...” is Jesus.  Ephesians 2:10 (AMP) tells us that Jesus transforms us spiritually, He renews us and makes us ready to be used for good works:    For we are His workmanship — His own master work, a work of art, created in Christ Jesus —spiritually transformed, renewed, and ready to be used for good works, which God prepared for us beforehand, so that we would walk in them living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us. 

Are you discouraged today because of the “now” reflection staring back at you?  My friend, as we celebrate the coming of a new year, I can’t think of a better time to step into that glorious process of moving from your “now” to your “then.”  To move from seeing yourself imperfectly to a place where you see yourself with perfect, Divine clarity.  To step away from an image of yourself that is partial and incomplete and into knowing yourself fully and completely as well as your Creator knows you!

May 2018 be a year of transformation and renewal in Christ Jesus!