Confidence In Christ: A Devotional For Teen Girls

Self Image

"You are the only you God made... God made you and broke the mold." ― Max Lucado, Cure for the Common Life: Living in Your Sweet Spot

Is this the right answer? I don't want to sound stupid...

How will people perceive me based on my clothes, weight, height, hair color, etc. etc. etc.

Does this tweet make me sound too quirky/serious/nerdy/ditzy?

Oh great! I missed that shot! Now I look horribly un-athletic/un-cordinated!

At some point, all of us have dealt with these attacks. Attacks on our self image, and how we perceive ourselves. It can come in the a variety of forms, as shown above, ranging from appearance, to academics, to athletics.

Personally, I've always struggled with the tendency to define myself by my academic ability and competency. As a child, I literally used to feel a sense of defeat over B's on tests, because in my mind, it should have been an A. If I don't know how do something, I often get discouraged and refuse to ask for help. One of my most frequent phrases during my childhood years was "I'll do it myself!"

I've improved in these areas, but at times, I still find myself reverting back to these patterns of thinking. Maybe you have a different aspect of self image that you struggle with. Perhaps yours is with the mirror, a hobby, or how others perceive you. It's different for everyone, but it all has the same root.

Every time we see ourselves as less than God's wonderful creation and child, we've believed a lie. Psalm 139:14 says "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well".

My friend Emily from fearfullywonderfullyme.com once said in her post The Most Beautiful Girl, that if we don't love ourselves, we cannot love God or others to our fullest potential. We are made in God's image and we are His masterpiece. Matthew 22:39 even says that we are called to "love our neighbor as ourselves."

To paraphrase Pastor Dave from God's Not Dead, "if God is incapable of making mistakes, than can each one of us be a mistake"? Of course not! We are all here for a purpose and when God made us, He broke the mold!

As hard as it can be when society tells us that we're supposed to live up to a certain standard, we need to remember we were never meant to be like everyone else. We were meant to be us.

All of our quirks and appearance "flaws" are part of the the beauty of God's creation. Just as a flower glorifies God by being a flower, and not a tree, we glorify God by being ourselves, and not someone else. Imagine how boring it would be if everyone looked the same and had the same talents. We were made to be different. God gives us different gifts so that we can glorify God through our own unique talents.

Next time you feel discouraged or struggle with self image, remember this.

Different is beautiful.

And, in the words of Jonny Diaz, "there could never be a more beautiful you".

Discussion Question - Do you believe that society places too big an emphasis on appearance? Have you ever struggled with insecurity in your own life, whether about appearance or something else?