Who Told You That?

As women (and I’m sure men do to some extent), we remember. We remember everything. We remember every comment made about our appearance. We remember every time you tell us we look pretty and every time you tell us we look healthy and every time you tell us we look skinny and every time you tell us our legs are big. We remember every magazine article that tells us we’re overweight and our thigh gap isn’t gappy enough and every news show that tells us we need to try out this new diet. We remember every conversation that tells us we need to learn how to put on makeup correctly. We remember every diet pill and cellulite remover. We remember every comment about our frizzy, curly hair. We remember. And we can’t forget them. We can’t un-see or un-hear or un-read those things. They are with us…and, if we’re not careful, we let them fester inside of us and we start believing that we are worthless and fat and ugly and plain and useless and….

But look at Genesis 3:11….“Who told you that you were naked?”

Adam and Eve are in the garden and they have messed up big time. They are full of regret and shame because Satan told them they were naked after they sinned. Then they start covering themselves up. I imagine layers and layers of leaves because they don’t want anything real to show. I imagine Eve, typical woman, contorting her body to get a glimpse of her backside and thinking, “Why didn’t someone tell me my butt was so big?” She works frantically to hide it behind the leaves. Then God says, I imagine with some hurt in his voice, like a loving father when his child feels sad, “Who told you that you were naked?”

In other words,

Who told you that you were ugly?

Who told you that you were not enough?

Who told you that you couldn’t do that?

Who told you that you were the problem?

Who told you that you weren’t pretty?

Who told you that you were fat?

Who told you that you weren’t a good person?

Who told you that you’ll never amount to anything?

Who told you that you’ll never be loved?

Who told you that you were too old?

Who told you? Who?!

Not God. Because the God I know IS and ALWAYS WILL BE for us. Over and over we see how He has rescued us and how He loves us and thinks the world of us!

He tells you that you are a MASTERPIECE.

He tells you that you are FEARFULLY & WONDERFULLY MADE.

He tells you that you are a NEW CREATION.

He tells you that you are an ORIGINAL.

He tells you that you are MADE FOR A PURPOSE.

He tells you that you are ENOUGH.

He tells you that you are BEAUTIFUL.

He tells you all these things daily! The hardest part is stopping long enough to listen to Him and to stop listening to what the world tells us we should be. Romans 12:2 reminds us not to conform to what the world is doing but let our mind be changed and transformed…made new.

That means you have to quit all this negative self-talk and stop letting all the comments of the world bother you. You know what your God says about you and that’s all that matters! You may need to write this verse everywhere and say it out loud several times a day and even inside your head hundreds of times a day. Anytime you feel like you don’t measure up in one way or another, I hope that you will softly say to yourself, “Who told you that?” And I can guarantee you, it won’t be someone who is on your side.