God made me. I didn't make myself and the world didn't make me either... the king made me.
He made me unique and creative and beautiful. He didn't create me to be like everyone else. He created me to stand out, to be the light, to bring him honor AND glory.
He created you for the same things! You may be thinking to yourself while you read this that you are different than me. That you weren't made for a purpose or that you're not good at anything. Or maybe you're thinking you're not good or pretty enough... I have some great news for you,
You were chosen before you were even born (1 Peter 2:9). You are beautiful and God made you so special (Psalm 139:13-16), he tells you that you are "fearfully and wonderfully made" and a "masterpiece".
I started reading a book last week called 'The Artisan Soul' and I came across this quote:
"Sometimes the hand of God presses against us and creates unwanted discomfort." I can think of about 867 things in my 26 years of life that have brought me discomfort. God pressed us to create something better, I think. He knows where there are things he'd like to change and he does it to reveal something more beautiful.
God also wants us to be unique! He created us different from everyone else. We were not made on an assembly line and shouldn't be treated as a commodity as Erwin McManus puts it. This makes me think of peeps, yes... the freakish marshmallow that are out everywhere now. They look the same and taste the same. Always. No matter where I see them it's the same thing over and over. People buy them but really, do you enjoy them? My grandma buys some every year and gives them to us. They sit on the shelf for the entire year until the next year comes around and we throw out the old package and replace it with the new package. Those little fluffy sugar balls were created on an assembly line to look and taste exactly the same..I'm glad my God isn't like that.
For the longest time I tried so hard to be the same as everyone else. I got fake nails and wore high heels in high school because that's what the popular girls did and let's not even start with the fake tans. I did drugs for the first time because everyone around me did and I didn't want to stand out, the same thing with alcohol. My entire upbringing I was just trying to blend in so I wouldn't be questioned or bring attention to myself. I was trying really hard to keep the real me stuffed deep down as far as I could. Blending in is a good thing in one area and one area only (in my opinion) and that is art. When I blend two colors together I want it to appear as if it's one color until you look closely and you can see exactly where the green and blue merge. You don't notice it unless you look closely and even then you might miss it. Just like I create unique pieces of art, God creates unique humans. How boring would it be if day after day I had to replicate the same exact thing with my paint brush? It would be terrible and you'd get really tired of looking at it, I promise! It would not be fun, I wouldn't be fully alive or be worshiping my creator. I wouldn't be glorifying him either. You and I would only sit and compare yesterday's replication with today's and check for flaws and decide if today's is even worth the price tag. That's a bad way to judge something... we are so valuable and we have already been purchased through Jesus.
I as a human don't want to be compared to the masses. I want to be unique and I want to create unique art. I want to create something that you haven't seen before. Something that inspires and draws emotion and something that every once in a while takes your breath away. Something that is so intricate and mysterious while beautiful at the same time. Not because it's the greatest piece of art in the entire world but because that's how God works and speaks.
"God refuses to mass produce us but insists on an intimate process that in the end forms each of us into the image of Christ." If he didn't mass produce me then I need to stop trying to hide the parts that make me Valerie and I need to stop judging myself based on the society around me.
I need to "let the king be Enthralled by my beauty."
Enthralled...that's a good word. A very strong (and big) word! If you don't know, it means 'to captivate or charm' or 'capture the fascinated attention of'
Some synonyms fit in like this:
Let the king be ENCHANTED by your beauty.
Let the king be DELIGHTED by your beauty.
Let the king be ABSORBED by your beauty.
Let the king be MESMERIZED by your beauty.
I also love that God's word says "LET the king..." We have to LET him if we are going to believe it. We have to give that part of us to him. If I'm letting someone do something I am giving them the control and not myself. Everyday is a constant battle for me to LET God be Enthralled with my unique beauty because I tell myself things God doesn't ever say and things I shouldn't believe. Satan's lies are constantly on repeat some days telling me that I'm gross, or not pretty, or my clothes make me look stupid or no one will ever love me for who I am or that I'm broken and beyond repair (I could go on but I'll stop because these make me sad.).
I would be sad if my art could talk. What if once I finished a painting the art spoke back to me and told me what it thought to itself, "I'm not good enough. You should have made me like this (as it began to paint over what I had created)".
My God is a God of grace and I'm glad that he can forgive those thoughts in my head. It's time we step up and embrace ourselves in all that we are and put down that dirty brush of comparison.
My NEWEST Canvas Art Print "Enthralled By Your Beauty" Is Available NOW In My Shop!
LET him be ENTHRALLED with you...after all, He did create you!
~ Valerie