Daughters – Part 3: Daughters of Design

“You [God] made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” Psalm 139:13-16

“Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?” With magazine covers, red carpets, and a multi-billion dollar fashion industry, this famous line from Snow White is a question and answer we are forced to wrestle with from the time we are little girls.

I have a daughter. Did I mention that yet? I have three strapping sons and then a surprise fourth pregnancy produced a daughter. As I gaze down into her three-month-old eyes, I tell her how I see her.

“You are kind. You are beautiful. You are my pretty girl. My precious one.”

My heart breaks to think that potentially one day she will look in the mirror and believe the antithesis of these truths. That like me, instead of seeing God’s glory in her appearance she may see garbage.

As we look back into our mirrors, the second question we need ask is — “What do you see?”

Do you see an intricate design or a disaster? Do you see a beautiful creature or a blown opportunity? Friends, as I strive to see my identity restored, this is my greatest area of struggle. And I am tired of it. I am tired of the debate in my head. Can I be big and beautiful? I certainly want to be healthy and

I need to grow in that. But can I see myself as beautiful no matter what the tag on my jeans say? I don’t struggle to see other women as beautiful so why not myself?

I believe I am not alone in this struggle. If we don’t want to live our lives with the disclaimer of “I’m not                 enough” we need to ask the hard questions, throw our answers in the garbage, and replace their void with the truths we will study this week.

“You [God] made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” (Ps. 139:13-16).

So our second question on our journey to see our value restored is ~ “What do we see?” We should see an Intentional, Incomparable, and Incredible Design.

1. You are an Intentional Design. Your life was God’s You are not an accident. Each day you breathe, each place you visit was intended before you were born. Each moment you enjoy was spelled out by God’s pen as he recorded your story. You are an intentional design.
2. You are an Incomparable Design. Your life bears a unique fingerprint. You are not replicated anywhere in time or space. You were precisely woven in a secluded place, in utter seclusion God knit you There is no one like you. No one can take your place. You are an in- comparable design.
3. You are an Incredible You are a marvel. The complexity of your physical design and systems lead to wonderment. You are a display of God’s precise craftsmanship. You are an incredible design.

You. Me. We. That is our ID, our identity as an intentional, incomparable and incredible Design.

I am desperate for us, and our girls, whether blood or beyond in the world, to know this about them- selves.

The most important relationship girls have, whether they are nine or ninety, is with us. The hope of women around the world lies in our ability to live in and out of our true identity in God. So let’s get this right. Let’s know our intentional, incomparable, and incredible design.

Let’s give all girls a chance to live differently than through the world’s view of them. Oh what God can do through a group of girls who know who they are and who it is that sends them!

Father, you are an adoring dad that speaks to us of our beauty. Please say it loud and clear. May we drown out the lies in our heads and hearts with your truth. Thank you that our lives are intentional, incomparable, and incredible! May we believe that not just with our heads but our hearts. Help us to see ourselves as you see us. Love, Your Daughters

Visit ErinNicoleThompson.com for the Daughters Series videos and workbook.