I’m amazed by God’s creation. Sea creatures always leave me in awe over God’s creativity. The seahorse is my favorite … well it was my favorite until yesterday I discovered one of the cool characters in Finding Nemo is actually for real! Remember the fish lurking in the dark with a glowing bulb above its head, luring in it’s prey, and Nemo says “I see a light”? I assumed that was created in the imagination of some Pixar genius … no, that was created in the imagination of God Almighty!!!!! Y’all, I was yesterday years old when I discovered the Pacific Footballfish is a real thing.

I read that one of these bizarre creatures washed up on the shores of Southern California this week. Pictures show this flattened football shape fish with a huge mouth and thousands of razor sharp teeth, with that legendary stalk on top of it’s head and bio-luminescent tips that glow. This creature lives 3,000 feet below the surface, in the deep, dark depths of the Pacific Ocean.

How absolutely amazing!!!! Our God is capable of creating absolutely anything, his imagination has no limits, anything he wishes can and will be made, and with all his creativity and all his power, he decided to MAKE YOU! He designed you with his greatest powers at work. Every detail of you was considered and chosen with the greatest of care. Within your mother’s womb he knit you together in miraculous ways.

This week I was talking with one of my sweet podcast listeners in Asia. She finds herself in a tough situation and an unplanned pregnancy. She was questioning if this new life forming within her for the past 9 weeks is God’s will for her to carry. Is it real at this point? Is it alive? Can she undo this seeming mistake? Did you know at just 9 weeks after conception, the color of the baby’s eyes has already formed? God’s miraculous design has already begun.

Sometimes we don’t understand the timing or the circumstances of God’s creation, but we can ALWAYS trust his plans are good and he knows exactly what he is doing. We can take the next step in confidence and know what he started has a purpose. Is that baby a mistake, NOT AT ALL!

There was a time when that baby was you! A time when you were forming and growing just as God imagined. A time when your life was being created and your purpose was being designed.

Have you forgotten what a truly magnificent creation you are? Have you lost your identity in the mundane repeat of all the days of your life that look painfully the same as the one before? Have you been avoiding the reflection in the mirror because you’re not proud of her, forgetting the reflection in the mirror shows one of God’s most treasured creations.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

You … a masterpiece! You are the creation of the master artist who he declared as perfection, just the way he wanted you. Every detail of your design is for the purpose of the good things he planned for you from the beginning. And honey, if it’s not good yet, then God’s just not done yet.

There are some things about you that are still a mystery. Some parts of your story that still don’t make sense. Some details of your unique design that seem random and misfit. But the same God who decided the Footballfish should have a glowing light hanging from the top of it’s head to attract dinner in the deep dark depths of the ocean, decided you should be unique in your own ways as part of his bigger plan.

I grew up on a small farm. The bigger and chunkier the animal, the more beautiful it was considered to be. Isn’t that funny? Heck, we even love to see fat rolls on a baby. We grab those chunky legs and declare them perfection. Those chubby cheeks are irresistible. Give me all the fat babies!!!!!!

But somewhere along the way we decide rolls are no longer desirable and chubby is a massive insult. We then spend our days obsessing about any hint of previously adored chub showing up. We suck it in, we starve it, we punish it, we neglect it, we hide it. Girl, in the pursuit of that perfect body, have you forgotten you are a masterpiece?!!!!!! You have the fingerprints of God Almighty on you!

How about you start loving yourself and appreciating your design instead of constantly trying to change everything about you. With all that waxing, coloring, microblading, injecting, and contouring, do we even know what you originally looked like anymore? Maybe Michael Jackson’s nose was just fine before … no one even remembers. And maybe you don’t need all that extra, you were great in God’s original design.

Now, here’s what this isn’t … this isn’t a license to be a slob. This isn’t permission to give up on becoming the best version of yourself. This is a call to take care of what God created. A masterpiece should be cared for, don’t you agree? You don’t just throw a masterpiece in a dark corner to collect dust. You don’t hide the masterpiece concerned someone might find a flaw with it. You don’t abuse or neglect a masterpiece. No, you take pride in a masterpiece. You give it the greatest of care and honor the creator’s purpose for it’s design.

I’m tall. That doesn’t always come across in my voice on the podcast. You likely don’t hear me and think “that girl sounds ridiculously tall.” I am. I come from a tall family and I lived up to the tall genes swimming around in our pool. I HATED the way God made me for the first 30 years of my life. I tried to shrink myself and play little. I even prayed the most ridiculous prayers as a teenager asking God to somehow miraculously overnight make me shorter. Every day I woke up to discover I was still growing and my jeans were always too short. I’m pretty sure I invented crop tops and capris, and it wasn’t cool back then!

But now I see, God made me this way. I may not have a stalk growing out of the top of my head with bio-luminescent tips to glow in the dark, but I’m kinda awesome in my own way!

And so are you! Why do you forget that? Oh I know why … remember what this week’s devotionals are about … they’re about the battle we’re all in. The battle with an enemy who’s primary weapon is a question. His question of why are you different and why can’t you be like someone else, plants a seed of doubt. That self-doubt causes you to lose your confidence, shrink back, play little, and sit it out on your God ordained purpose in life.

The battle begins with a question, but victory comes with the truth.

So, what’s our truth in this particular battle? I AM A MASTERPIECE CREATED SPECIFICALLY TO DO GOOD THINGS!

Every detail of me was intentional and for a purpose. I’m still in the process of becoming all I was created to be, and there are parts of me that are unfinished, but God’s still working on me and in me. I’ve decided to be okay with that!

Philippians 1:6 “God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished.”

This girl right here … the one staring back at you in the mirror … well she’s really something special. Magnificent actually. Miraculous in every way. She was created for a purpose, now I’m going to unleash her to fulfill it.

And we have a theme song for today as we giggle over God’s creative design of the Footballfish and ourselves … Mandisa’s “Unfinshed”:

He started something good and I’m gonna believe it
He started something good and He’s gonna complete it
So I’ll celebrate the truth
His work in me ain’t through
I’m just unfinished