A God Thing

I know, I know - you're looking for my Vintage Thingies Thursday or my Sincerely 'Fro Me to You - they're down there, just scroll a little. But read this first. It's that good.

Our church has a special service on the first Wednesday of every month, and during this time they also have a special Bible study for 6th graders that Little Son goes to. So we're in the van driving to church earlier tonight and Daughter is trying to decide if she wants to go be a teen helper in the 6th grade program or sit in church with me (Hubby had to work late). Thinking in my mind that there would mainly be adult helpers with the 6th graders and not many teen helpers (if any), I made the comment, "Well, you don't want to be confused for a 6th grader."

That was SO the wrong thing to say.

Daughter has always been a petite thing. Only 5 lbs. 13 oz. at birth, she grows along the curve of the growth scale, but way below the scale. She's shorter than most all of her classmates, but she's precious and cute and petite - however I hit a nerve with that statement tonight. Little Son made it worse by exclaiming, "She's saying you're SHORT!" And here came the tears.

I apologized profusely, telling her I did NOT mean it like that. She said she knew, but it's just hard because people are always telling her how short she is (like she doesn't know!) and sometimes even teasing her about it. "I hate that about me!" she said.

And my heart cracked a little bit.

I told her that God made her the way she is for a reason - that he knew her even before she was born and designed her every part to be just what she was supposed to be. I told her to NEVER hate the way she looks, because her beauty comes from within, and God made her specially designed for His purpose for her life. That seemed to help.

So she sat in church with me, because there was no way she was going to go mingle with the 6th graders now! We sang some awesome songs, then had some silent prayer time where I asked God to speak to her heart, to comfort her and assure her. I was feeling pretty crappy for saying what I did.

So the youth pastor was the speaker tonight - Daughter's youth pastor. And he gets up on stage and says we're going to start in Jeremiah tonight, and proceeded to read from Chapter 1:

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart..."

Ya'll, I got chills.

He went on to talk about how God has designed each of us for His purpose, and that He has a plan for all of us.

It was just what Daughter needed to hear.

If that wasn't a God Thing, then I don't know what is.

Thank you, Lord, for speaking to Daughter's heart tonight. Please continue to embrace her in your love and receive her self-esteem from YOU. You are an awesome God.

Amen.