After Mine Own Image
When my daughter was 4, she exclaimed one day, "I can't believe Jesus MADE me!!”
It was so random, I laughed & said, “I know!"
To which she responded thoughtfully, "He's a sweet guy." 😂
I had a horrible relationship with my body as a teenager. I struggled with disordered eating and my self esteem was trapped on a rollercoaster with ups & downs depending on what I THOUGHT I saw in the mirror each day.
Thankfully that is WAY behind me. I don’t even know that girl anymore! Much of the healing came from recognizing JUST what my daughter exclaimed: He Made Me.
Receiving this body was part of my eternal plan. I fought for it. I shouted for joy for it. It is the vessel that carries my spirit. It is the instrument of God, helping fulfill His purpose. It is not something to be despised. It is a gift! I am so grateful for what it can do!
“Our entire perspective of ourselves, our worth, and what we can make of our lives is altered for good when we come to understand that we are God’s children and that we can become like Him.” -Elder Callister
When the brother of Jared asks the Lord to touch the stones with his finger, it’s funny how surprised he is when he actually sees... a finger! He’s blown away & he falls to the ground.
Then he learns this beautiful truth:
“Seest thou that ye are created after mine own image? Yea, even all men were created in the beginning after mine own image. Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit” (Ether 3:15-16)
How real & personal Christ must have become for him! God the Father and the Son are not abstract entities. They look like us. We look like them!
They have bodies of flesh & blood. We have bodies of flesh & blood.
They are divine. We are divine.
They know us. They made us!
“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee” (Jer. 1:5)
We are “the workmanship of [his] own hands” (Moses 7:32)
Of ALL His creations, WE are His glory.
The brother of Jared learned a significant piece of knowledge about God AND himself.
So did I, as a teen who finally felt my true worth.
Jesus IS a pretty sweet guy.
Wow, Erika! You never cease to amaze me. You always have a way of "connecting the dots" and then tying it all together at the end. This time, with very few words, you have captured one of the most important things for a human being to know and that is, that they are indeed, DIVINE! I feel that you should submit this to the Ensign - it would help a lot of people who may have felt or are feeling "less than". I love you and am so proud of you my dear niece. And yes, Jesus is a sweet guy!
ReplyDeleteOh thank you so much, my dear Aunt Jeanie! You're always so dang sweet and supportive. Yes, if we all realized and could REMEMBER where we came from and WHY we chose to come down here, we'd love ourselves and others a whole lot more. Yeah, Jesus is a sweet guy, huh. :)
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