The Upper Room Daily Devotional of Nashville, Tennessee, United States "Wonderfully Made" for Saturday, 23 September 2017 - Read Psalm 139:13-18

The Upper Room Daily Devotional of Nashville, Tennessee, United States "Wonderfully Made" for Saturday, 23 September 2017 - Read Psalm 139:13-18
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Psalm 139:13 For you fashioned my inmost being,
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I thank you because I am awesomely made,
wonderfully; your works are wonders —
I know this very well.
15 My bones were not hidden from you
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes could see me as an embryo,
but in your book all my days were already written;
my days had been shaped
before any of them existed.
17 God, how I prize your thoughts!
How many of them there are!
18 If I count them, there are more than grains of sand;
if I finish the count, I am still with you.
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The Lord said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 (NRSV))
Although I’ve never been formally diagnosed, I look back over my childhood and recognize the symptoms of a learning disability now called dyslexia. A good memory helped me in school; but insecurity, doubt, and low self-esteem made me question my value. As I struggled to overcome obstacles, hurts, and disappointments, my perception of God became distorted. I began to question God’s love for me. What people thought about me mattered more than God’s opinion. I set unrealistic goals for myself and often thought, If other people can do this, why am I having such a hard time?
When I became a wife and mother, I admitted that if I couldn’t accept myself the way I had been created, I wasn’t trusting God. In the beginning, getting rid of negative thinking and replacing it with the word of God was a slow, daily, and sometimes painful process. Then I began to believe that God took great delight in me and that I played a necessary and significant role in God’s work on earth. Now my goal is to please God, reminding myself that I have been promised, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”
Read more from the author, here.
More from Ramona Furst
C.S. Lewis, one of my favorite writers of all time once said, "Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement."
Underneath file folders in a drawer filled with unfinished short story ideas is a rejection letter. The rejection letter was the kindest rejection letter I have ever received from an editor. He encouraged me to pursue my love of writing because he saw 'potential'.
On a bulletin board above my desk is a scanned copy of a watercolor I did for a friend. It visually reminds me that growth is a journey and process. Even when I would toss another failure (watercolor or story idea) in the garbage, I wouldn’t let myself giving up.
In 2016, in my journal, I wrote, "Lord, do whatever you want with my life. Use whatever I can do for your glory". A few days later I received an email from a friend who asked if I would illustrate her book once she found a publisher. I heard myself say "yes", only to think later, "What? Are you crazy?". Throughout the long process of sketching out ideas and waiting to hear back from the author and publisher I'd think, "I'm daring to try with God's help!" When the book by Bobbi Junior titled, When the Bough Breaks, arrived in the mail, I thought, "Yes, His grace is sufficient." (Ramona Furst, www.ramonafurst.com)
The Author: Ramona Furst (Ontario, Canada)
Thought for the Day: I can find my value in the loving grace of God.
Prayer: Thank you, God, for never giving up on us. Help us remember that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Amen.
Prayer focus: Those struggling with learning disorders
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