[Written 8/2020]
My friend was having a hard day and was struggling to see herself worth. Every time she thought of herself she could only think of all her bad qualities and everything she had done wrong. She could never see the good in herself. We talked for a while and I proposed this question to her:
“So tell me this, who do you think you are to tell God that what He made perfect is a piece of crap? He knitted you together. He had plans for you before your parents were married. He knows the hairs on your head. He calls you by name. He doesn’t create messes.”
We went on talking for a while after that. During the conversation I almost told her this advice was going to come back and bite me, but I didn’t. Turns out I should have. One would’ve at least thought I could wait a day before this advice was thrown back in my face. Turned out God had different plans.
In less than five minutes, I ran into the proverbial brick wall. I had literally stopped walking and realized, I was being taught the lesson I was teaching to my friend.
Throughout this almost eight-year journey one of the doctors I saw was a DO. She did hair samples, adrenaline tests, food sensitivities, and more! It was the works! I went back and got my results. I had 27 foods on my sensitivities list that I had to cut from my diet, high in some heavy metals, this list goes on with all the issues. I was overwhelmed and utterly broken. So many things to do and so many I couldn’t do.
On the drive home I was sitting in the back seat when we drove past a church sign, saying, “God made you.” In my mind, I retorted, “Then why did You make me so messed up?”
I had hit a low back then. I was overwhelmed, but once I could think straighter, I know that God didn’t make me messed up. He knew what my whole life is going to be and knows every single second. For He has plans for me, not to harm me, but to make me prosper.
Over the years, I know that and stayed as grounded as I could be in that. But no matter how much I know that, thoughts kept creeping in. In fact just this year I started a prayer like this, “God, I know You don’t make mistakes, but…”
So when I was trying to help my friend with wise advice, God decided to, nicely, shove my advice back in my face!
“So Lauren, who do you think you are to tell Me what He made Perfect is messed up?”
Therefore, [insert your name here], who do you think you are to tell God what He made perfect isn’t perfect or the way you want? We all have hardships; we all have things we would change; we all have the ‘I wish this/I wish thats’.
On the other hand, all have things we can work on with ourselves because we are not perfect. We live in a fallen world with sin. But God has numbered each of our days and loves us so much. He made us in His image and crafted our personality traits.
I know sometimes we wish things didn’t happen to us or have to deal with what we do, but you never know who you can comfort or help with what you do.
I’ll leave with you a movie quote that says it all:
“‘I wish [your struggle] need not have happened in my time,’ said [your name].
‘So do I,’ said [God], ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not [you] to decide. All [you] have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to [you].’”
[adapted from the “Lord of the Rings”]
We can’t choose the situations we have or the mountains we have to climb, however, we can change our mindset, how we look at things, and what we can do. Can you show others these mountains that seem unclimbable to them can be climbed?
Keeping the perspective,
Lauren
You. Are. Beautiful. 
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