Wonderfully Made

Have you ever made something?  Like painted a picture or formed something out of clay?  Or planted flowers in a garden outside?  It’s so fun to make something and then enjoy its beauty and the satisfaction of having made something so neat.

I remember when my kids were young and we liked to play with Play-Do.  One day the craft store had special clay that we bought and formed into little creations and then baked them to keep forever.  That was so much fun!  Both the creating part and the enjoying our creation part.  We all took very good care of those special little clay creations.  We had carefully crafted them just the way we wanted them to be.  And they were ours.

I love Psalm 139:14-16, “I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made.  Your works are wonderful and I know this very well.  My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began,” (CSB).

I can just imagine God thinking about each one of us individually and forming us and making a plan for us.  Just like my kids and I did when we made our special clay creations.  Mine was a blue teddy bear.  It was delightful!

The other day I read about a 13-year-old girl who asked a popular magazine for teen girls to put just one untouched photo of a girl in each issue.  An employee of this magazine replied that they could not do that because if they did then their teen girl readers would not purchase the products being sold in the magazine in an attempt to look like those models.  I think that employee was very brave to come out and say that.  But how I wish that they would do what this girl has asked.  To let girls see that even the models themselves don’t really look like those pictures.  And maybe they would see that they are beautiful just the way that God has created them.  That they would find their value in the way that God sees them.

I suppose we all have to consider who we will listen to.  Will we listen to what our culture and the media says about us?  Or will we choose to listen to what God says about us?  Jesus said in John 10:10, “A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy.  I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance,” (CSB).  Satan will lie to us.  Just like those touched up magazine photos.

God has remarkably and wonderfully made you.  And He has a plan for you.  If my kids and I enjoyed our simple clay creations, just imagine how much joy you bring to God!

Stop, Look and Listen

Remember when you were little and you learned to stop, look and listen before you crossed the street?  The other day while I was driving I saw something unusual.  The stoplight had one of those countdowns for people walking across the street, but this countdown was malfunctioning.  I’ve been by this light hundreds of times and normally I see numbers like 15 or 7.  This time it started the countdown at 99.  Imagine if you were counting on that countdown to be right.  You began walking across the street expecting to have 99 seconds to cross.  Lots of time.  No worries.  But when you reached the middle of the street the cars began to come.  Because you really didn’t have 99 seconds.  The sign was wrong.

That made me wonder about all the things in the world that we are told, but are wrong.

A while back science told us that the earth was the center of the universe.  But that was wrong.  What is science telling us now that is wrong?  Perhaps we really did come from a God who lovingly created us and not from random slime or whatever it is they’re saying now.

A few weeks ago our president said that only marriage between a man and a woman was wrong.  I have to wonder, in my marriage, which one of us is not important?  We’ve now raised a son and a daughter and we definitely needed the differences that a man and a woman possess to raise both a boy and a girl.

Many people say that there are many ways to heaven.  Could they be wrong?  Jesus told us that He is the only way to heaven.  I’m thinking He knows since He lives in heaven.

Sometimes it’s no big deal to be wrong.  I could believe that my son’s favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate and bring that home from the store for him and then find out that really his favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate chip.  I would have been wrong, but he would still enjoy ice cream, just not his most favorite flavor.  There are some things, though, that we just don’t want to get wrong.  It’s dangerous to be caught in the middle of a traffic-filled street because the traffic light we counted on to be right was wrong.

We still need to stop, look and listen.  And then make wise choices, just like we learned when we were little.  And remember that God’s Word is true and nothing can make it not true.

A long time ago David wrote, “Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long,” (Psalm 25:5 NIV).

Happy Mother’s Day!

Mother’s Day is this weekend so Happy Mother’s Day to my wonderful mom and all of you moms out there!

A few years ago (Actually, it’s been seven years already!) my sister-in-law was expecting her first baby and I got to give her a baby shower.  I gave a short devotion and then, just for fun, shared this top 10 list that I wrote for that day.  Enjoy!

Top 10 Reasons Why It’s Great to be a Mom

10.  Colorful plastic furniture is so cool!

9.  You always wondered how many days you could go without sleeping.  Now you know.

8.  No one wants to go shopping alone.  Now you have a helper everywhere you go!

7.  It’s nice to have someone to talk to you…constantly.

6.  We love to read.  Now we get to read lots of books – books like “Goodnight Moon” over and over and over.

5.  Dandelions look so pretty in a vase on the kitchen table.

4.  Everyone loves a challenge.  Can you feed a baby, make a toddler’s owie all better, keep another child from climbing the bookshelf, read to a preschooler, answer questions like “Mommy, do worms have tongues?” and “Mom, can I have a MySpace?” and cook dinner – all at the same time?

3.  Life would be way too boring without neighbor kids and friends playing and hanging out in your home all the time.

2.  There is nothing like watching your child decide that they want Jesus to be their best friend and they ask Jesus to come and live in their heart.

1.  You get to watch your child grow and rock this world with the love of Jesus that they know because of you.

-Lori 🙂