Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

By: Jedia Jane Pablo

How will you define beauty? It’s not very surprising when most people would say, “beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”. When you actually think about that, it’s true. However, over the years, society has set the standards of how people perceive something as beautiful. The beautiful are perceived to be so positive, that people would regard something beautiful to be superior to something, which is not. This results to people becoming obsessed of chasing beauty, leaving their true selves behind and always finding society’s approval of themselves for the rest of their lives. This issue can be called insecurity. I will admit that I have struggled with this so-called insecurity, and I can say that I was not the only one who did.

Unfortunately, I thought back then that I was not one of those girls who were blessed to yield a beautiful face; hence, I can’t blame anyone for having this kind of face. Honestly, I didn’t perceive myself as an ugly person but many people told me that I was ugly. When I was still a kid, our neighbor asked my parents why my face was different from my sister’s, why my sister was pretty and I was not? Hearing those words made me start to see myself as an ugly person. I used to be bullied in school by my classmates, I have always heard people tell me that I am ugly and until I grew up, I had no confidence in myself. I was so jealous of other girls who were so beautiful.

Despite my insecurities, I became quite optimistic. I had a different mindset. Everything changed when I started to become closer to God.  I had my group in our church and they always encouraged me that we were all made by God beautifully, because He made us in His own image. My insecurities suddenly turned into security. I am secured that I am made by God fearfully and wonderfully.  I forgot all the things that other people said about me. He also healed my heart from the pain that I used to experience. I know that my God is there for me, and He loves me for who I am. I am beautiful because I am His princess.

The point is, never let any person’s judgment affect you. As for the young people, as early as now, never think that you are not beautiful just because someone told you otherwise, as long as you know and you are secured, you should never feel insecure because God looks in the heart and not on how you look. God created everyone differently but he looks at us equally, whatever face we may have, we are unique in our own different ways. We are blessed with our own faces and we need to be thankful for what God has given us.

I know this is an issue for some of the teenagers like me. DO NOT BE INSECURE. I encourage you to always believe in yourself. Be confident for who you are because you are special.  When insecurities start to attack, pray that God will protect your heart from those insecurities. Have faith! Smile, because you are BEAUTIFUL.

You are Fearfully & Wonderfully made. –Psalm 139:14