As a young girl, I took note of the differences between my siblings and me. We are a very good mixture, and we all look very different. We are a mixture of Caucasian and Mexican. My sister turned out to look like Penélope Cruz. My brother is 6 feet tall and a cutie. I am barely 5 feet tall — “The girl with the great personality!”
My sister, Maria, and I have a great relationship, even though we are complete opposites. As I said before, she was the beauty and I the athlete — “with a great personality.” She had no idea that I wanted to be like her. I wanted people to accept me and say to me what they said to her so often.
I remember once we were shopping with my mother when we were young, and my mother ran into a friend. The nice lady began to tell my mother how beautiful Maria was. At this moment I felt that I were invisible because, naturally, I know the lady would have said the same about me!
That really hurt me because I did not feel beautiful. I also remember when we were at church people would always come up to Maria and say, “God is going to use you; you are going to do something great for God.” Eventually, I got to a point in my life when I thought, “What about me? Am I not beautiful? Does God not want to use me? Do I just not matter?”
I went through most of my life listening to what the World had to say, comparing myself to others and the World’s ideas and values. This just led me down a road of low self-worth and value. Then came the epiphany (at a JANES Bible study) when I realized that all my life I had been tuning out God’s Voice. I was listening to the World.
Most of us don’t realize there is a Voice of Love that tells us every day that we have value, that we are beautiful, and that we are destined to do a great work. It was always there; I just had to listen. Now, every day I listen to a Voice that loves me and a Voice that inspires me! God allowed me to realize that He would not have breathed life into my body if he had no purpose for me.
I HAVE A PURPOSE! I MATTER! What a relief it is to know that God’s value in me is the only one that counts and matters!
Memory Verse:
“Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
– 1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)
Prayer Prompt:
“Lord, give me strength daily to get past the views, comparisons, and voices in this world. You have given me purpose and have made me beautiful and valuable. You have called me to be who I am. Open me up to Your voice, a voice that Loves and Inspires. Show me how I can understand the full depth of how much You love me….”
Contributing Writer:
Estella Smith
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