There is a fundamental need inside most girls to be liked.  We want some people of the female variety to totally get us and walk away thinking we are pretty neat. 

~Lysa Terkeurst from Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl

 I can completely relate to what this author is saying.  I find my identity in what people think about me.   If I can tell a really good joke, or write a good story, or cook the perfect dinner then I'm worthwhile.  After all, what others think of me is sooo much more important than what God thinks.   Hmmmm, does something seem wrong with this picture?   Believing I'm only as good as what I can accomplish, or what others think of me, falls pretty far short of the way God wants me to view myself.

Remember the kids' book by Max Lucado; You are Special.    The creatures in this story are called Wemmicks.  The Wemmicks  like to give out stickers, and their "system" of giving them out works like this;  if you've done something special, something amazing then other Wemmick's give you star stickers.    However, like the character Punchinello, if you're a complete dud at mostly everything you do, you get dot stickers, lots and lots of them. One day Punchinello meets someone who doesn't have any stickers - dots or stars.  Punchinello is completely fascinated by this Wemmick.  Why don't the stickers stick to her?    Her response is simple and sweet.  She has learned to care more about what the Maker thinks of her.  What other Wemmicks think about her simply doesn't matter.   

The story goes on and one day Punchinello decides to visit the Maker for himself.  At first when he enters the workshop Punchinello is scared.  The Maker is very big and powerful.  What will he think of such a failure?  But the Maker welcomes Punchinello warmly - telling him how much he's been hoping to see him.   During their visit, the Maker goes on to tell Punchinello that he loves him dearly, and, that his opinion of Punchinello is the only one that matters.  When Punchinello leaves the workshop that day he says to himself, 'I think the Maker really means what he's saying.  And, just in that moment, a dot sticker falls off of him.    

Okay, so how does this relate to our lives?  Well, there just so happens to be the perfect psalm to address the issue of what really makes us worthy.  Psalm 139, one of my favorites, tells us that we are valued and treasured by God, not because of how much other people like us, or because of what we can do.  On the contrary, God loves us because we are his prized creation.  He loves us because he made us, and, God don't make junk. 

Psalm 139:13-14  You 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-and how well I know it.  (NLT)


A great psalm, worth reading the whole thing.  So, I guess what I'm learning can best be summed up in the words of Lysa Terkeurst,  "No amount of worldly achievement whisks away insecurities and that fundamental desire to be accepted.  I know.  I've tried."   I think I'll quit trying to gain acceptance from others and focus on the One who loves me unconditionally.  After all, He knows me better than anyone else;  He's the One who made me.