Written and adapted for GanTV.com by host Donna Reiners
When I was around six or seven years old, our family went on vacation in Tennessee. Bored, I decided to explore the neighborhood on my bicycle. I stumbled upon a group of boys riding their bikes down a steep, hilly street. They were boasting about how difficult the ride was and how impossible it would be for a girl to conquer it. Determined not to back down, I confidently said, “No problem,” even though I was terrified inside. There was no way I was going to let them see my fear.
As I started down the hill, the bicycle picked up speed alarmingly fast. I had to lift my feet to avoid being cut by the sharp pedals, typical of bikes at that time. It felt like my short life was flashing before my eyes. How was I ever going to stop? Before I knew it, I reached the end of the hill. Suddenly, the front wheel lifted, and I flew off the bike. Witnesses later said I soared as high as the nearest pine tree before crashing face-first into the gravel. The bike had hit the gravel and flipped, losing its stability.
Doctors told me I was lucky not to have broken every bone in my body due to the force of the fall. Even 35 years later, the scars from the gravel remain on my legs and arms. My pride-induced accident resulted in two weeks of ice baths and broken front teeth, which had to be capped with unsightly silver and porcelain. I felt like a very ugly duckling, enduring daily ridicule for my appearance. I grew up feeling inferior, insecure, unwanted, unaccepted, and most certainly, very, very ugly.
You’re beautiful, and so am I!
It took years to erase the negative self-image I had etched into my heart. It took years to understand that, in time, God makes all things beautiful, including me. Did you know that God sees you as His beautiful, hand-chosen, perfectly molded daughter, and that He loves you with an everlasting love? Psalm 143:8 says, “Cause me to hear Your loving kindness in the morning, for in You do I trust. Cause me to know the way I should walk, for I lift up my inner self to You.” Can you hear the Psalmist’s plea to God for loving kindness? He understood that God’s love is incredible and essential. It’s this divine love that changes us, convicts us, and molds us into His image. It brings us face to face with ourselves and the cross. We must receive this love, for within it lies the power to transform us, our circumstances, our families, our communities—indeed, our world.
For much of my life, I felt like that very ugly duckling. But through receiving God’s love and knowing Him as my Father, Maker, First Husband, Daddy God, Brother, Best Friend, and Companion, I learned to accept myself. I learned to like myself, and eventually, I learned to love myself. As I began to see myself through His eyes, I started to see His beauty. Now, when I look in the mirror, I believe I am beautiful.It’s never too late to start knowing God intimately and relationally. This is the only path to real and lasting healing for a wounded heart.
God truly loves you…
It’s my desire for you to know that our God loves you with an unbreakable love and that YOU are BEAUTIFUL. You are His hand-chosen, perfectly made, wonderfully molded daughter. God sent His only Son, Jesus, to sacrifice His life for you! Your best friend might not die for you, and even a family member might not, but Jesus did! The God of All Creation, the All-Powerful King of Kings and Lord of Lords, not only died for us but resurrected us as well! We are never not chosen.
In school, I was always the last one picked for teams—softball, volleyball, chase, relay games, red rover, you name it. Being picked last may not seem bad when you’re a confident adult over forty. But when I was 7, 10, 13, 15, etc., being picked last screamed one thing to my young mind: NOBODY WANTS ME. Children can be cruel, and these experiences can leave us with fears, doubts, insecurities, and trust issues. All anyone wants is to be wanted, accepted, needed, and desired. We often grow up crippled, thinking we don’t matter much because we aren’t introduced to the Only One whose acceptance truly matters.
But God! But God!
God has a plan for your life and mine that surpasses anything we could imagine. He knows our needs before we even ask and is able to supply them according to His riches in glory.
Romans 8:28 assures us that “all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” When Jesus is your Lord, God transforms all hurt, pain, and wrong thoughts for His glory. Why? Because our God is all-powerful and all-knowing, and He can make lemonade from lemons! He can use even evil for His good pleasure. As we respond to God through trials and persecutions, HE will deliver us from ourselves and from evil.
Philippians 1:6 says, “He who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ—developing, perfecting, and bringing it to completion.” Until we reach heaven, God is working in and through us to complete what He began. He leaves no stone unturned in molding us into His image through His all-consuming love. He uses every circumstance to draw us closer to His love and bring Himself glory. Even when we were victims of injustice, He can heal, restore, and bring about His good work in us for His glory. His desire is for us to fully know how great His love is for us.
Romans 8:38-39 declares that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Do you see yourself as God sees you? Do you love yourself as God loves you? Or do you look through the lens of past pain and hurts? Can you smile genuinely at yourself in the mirror?
Pray with me: Jesus, I am willing to get to know You, and I am thankful You already know me. It’s been hard to let anyone see the real me, but I know You are God, and I can’t keep hiding. When I look in the mirror, I often see only pain and heartbreak. I want to see myself as You see me—beautiful, hand-chosen, and loved unconditionally. Help me to recognize and embrace Your love. I give myself to You and ask that Your love become real to me. Free me to see how You have already included me in Your perfect love. Let Your kingdom come, and Your will be done, as it is determined in heaven. Let it be, and let me see.
Inspired from Woman Come Out of the Cave found on Amazon Kindle HERE
Watch more of Donna and co-host Dr Kami on Grace Awakening Network’s Your New DayÂ
For Woman Only, connect with Donna HERE
