I have to admit that this is kinda like a repeat for me. I was in charge of our ladies' bible study a couple of weeks ago. This is what I talked about.
Psalm 139: 13For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
If you have been pregnant, think about how you prepared for your new child. Or how did your mother prepare for you? What do people do to prepare for a child?
We look at ultrasound pictures and desperately try to see things. Unless we have someone telling us what to look for, can you tell anything about him from these pictures?
Before Maggie was born, I had approximately 7 showers. Her room was perfect. She was wanted and loved and read to every night in the womb. I had a monitor where Steven could talk to her in my tummy. It was funny because she would start to kick really hard when he would talk to her. He would have to move his head back or he would get kicked in the head. I even have a scrapbook page with this verse on it and her ultrasound pictures.
Fast forward 5 years later, we got a call the week before Labor Day and we got Patrick on that Friday. We had no time to prepare. My grandmother’s crib that we had used for Maggie fell apart the night before he showed up. We had to get one from Kim and Daniel. Rikki brought her old car seat and he came with a few clothes. He was not prepared for at all.
He came from a mother and father who could not take care of him. They did not care what happened to him. He was not wanted.
Sounds like an awful start to life. How could these two children be any different? Won’t they grow up to have a different outlook on things? But, in a message Steven gave recently, I heard this verse in a different way. When I think about the psalm, I am encouraged.
Psalm 139: 13For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
He wasn’t wanted by his biological parents. But, God had him in the palm of His hand. He had put him together perfectly in the womb.
This is so encouraging for us. Maybe you don’t see yourself as perfect. Maybe you weren’t prepared for and WANTED. But, you were perfectly made by God.
Think about what it was that you don’t like about yourself. What was it that you burned last week? Tell your neighbor something that you don’t like about yourself. Anyone want to share?
We don’t have to hold on to that negative stuff. God made us perfect. He had just the right parts and temperament and personality and made us that way. What is one thing that you like about yourself that God made perfect in you?
Is it easier or harder to think about a negative thing or a positive thing?
What about what we see in others? Do you see the negative or the positive thing in others first?
How do you keep in mind what God sees when you see someone else? What about when they annoy you?
How do you handle someone when you have a conflict with them? Do you try to remember how God sees them?
Find someone now and talk to them about a conflict you have with someone in your life. If you don’t have a current one, maybe one in the past that you have a hard time letting go.
Pray together for each other and the issue you are having. Get together this week and discuss how you are doing with this conflict. Then, what do you need to do with that conflict. Can you meet with that person that you are struggling with? Would that help?
Pray for the group.
