Genesis 1:27 “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

When you look in the mirror what do you see? Who do you see? Do you see all your failures penned across your face or some unkind comment that broke your heart? What labels are attached to you that makes the image of the one who created you seem obscure, faded, masked? It is no light thing to be made in the image of the God of this universe, the creator of all.

The enemy loves to tell us lies and to get our focus away from who we are. He wants us to look in the mirror and see all the “wrong” that we perceive is there, when we do it sets us up for failure, and even heartache sometimes.
If we stare at the wrong reflection long enough that is what motivates us and sets the heartbeat for our life.

I may have shared before about a comment that was made to me when I was younger, it was made in jest I was eventually told, but it still cut me to my core, mostly because the person who said it carried weight in my life, it was my mother. She was sitting at the counter in our kitchen one day and we were talking, I do not remember about what, but somewhere in the conversation she looked at me and said,” You will never look like anything,” and laughed. In her mind, she was looking at a kid who suffered from horrible allergies so I always had swollen eyes, red runny nose. I was a tomboy who had bruises faded and new all the time, tangled hair and probably dirt on me somewhere, so to her it meant nothing, but to me, oh my it sank deep into my heart and broke it. That comment became what I heard in my head every morning when I walked into the bathroom and it became my truth, my identity.

For thirty odd years every morning, while I was putting on my make-up and deciding what to wear that, played in my head and I decided nothing I did would make me look like anything good. I was flawed, never to be pretty, never to move past no good enough. I mean after all if your mother doesn’t think much of what you look like who would.

If anyone would compliment me I figured they were just taking pity and trying to be nice to me. When I walked it was with my head down, I did not want people to make eye contact with me. Now I am certainly not the most beautiful woman out there, and I am not the least either. I fall somewhere in the middle like most of us do. My husband thinks I am beautiful and that really is enough.

I believed that lie that had been planted in my head by the enemy. Stack that against the other lies about myself that I was trash, not good enough, damaged goods etc., and it makes for much insecurity. The need to try harder, yet never believing the truth, but only until I decided I hated that lie, the Holy Spirit was revealing to me that not only had bad things been said to me and done to me, I had made them who I was and forgotten that I was made in the image of God. I had him living inside of me making me new. My creator loved his creation, I looked just like he wanted me to.

When the realization of just how long I had walked in that untruth set in and the weight of carrying it finally felt like too much I knelt down in a prayer room in the mountains and I cried until my tears were gone, I surrendered all the hurt from abuse, cruel thoughtless words and I accepted the exchange God had for me. I believed who he said I was. I traded in my pain for his peace, love, and comfort. The words that had beaten me up every day no longer held any pain.

The next morning and every day since when I wake up and look in the mirror I hear, “you are mine, made in my image and dearly loved.” I can tell you that believing his truth changed everything for me. God formed me, loves me and calls me his own. I am the daughter of the King of King’s and Lord of Lord’s, created in his image for his purpose. Wow! Does it get any better, I think not!

Maybe you are struggling under the weight of hurtful words or labels that have been placed on you; he is waiting to take those away, to pull them off and place his label on you in their place. When we surrender our hurts and disappointments all we get in their place is peace, love, and contentment. I promise you won’t miss the old labels and the freedom you have and the lightness in Christ cannot be measured!

When I think of those words, like now writing this, I feel no pain, nothing but the love of God encouraging me to share in hopes of helping someone else through a similar hard place. If he brought you to it, he will see you through it and he will use it for your good and his glory, He always does!

It is a good reminder to us all that our words have weight to them. The power to hurt or build up. How will you use yours?

Proverbs 11:19 “Evil words destroy one’s friends; wise discernment rescues the godly.”

Colossians 4:6 “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

Ephesians 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Proverbs 15:4 “The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.”

Proverbs 31:26 “She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.”

Guard your words…they can wound deeply.