You are Special

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

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Every time one of my kids responds to someone else’s preferences or peculiarities by saying, “That’s weird!” I remind them that being different isn’t weird. In fact, I point out, being different is actually pretty special and something we should appreciate in others and in ourselves.

They humor me but I know we’ll revisit the topic again—and soon. After all, as a child (and, let’s be honest, even as an adult), I’ve spent a lot of time and energy trying to fit in, longing to be like everyone else.

Over the years I heard often that God created me in His image, that I was wonderfully made. But rather than resting in those truths and allowing them to fill me with confidence and contentment, I protested. “Why, God? Why did you make me this way? Why can’t I be more like her?”

God was patient, like He always is. But one day shortly before my oldest daughter started kindergarten, He opened my eyes in a brand-new way.

While visiting family, I smiled affectionately at my little girl, wearing a pair of goggles and a cape, running in circles, and pretending to be a superhero. I looked at that one-in-a-million kiddo and couldn’t get over how amazing she was. I certainly didn’t want her to be more like another little girl, more like someone’s idea of a perfect child. I loved her, just as she was. I loved her because of who she was.

And when someone turned to me that afternoon and said I’d better “break her” of this so-called bizarre behavior before she went to school, I felt as if scales fell from my eyes. All my life, I’d desperately wanted to fit in, to be like everyone else, to break myself of all the ways I stuck out. But when presented with the suggestion to do the same to my daughter, I was outraged!

Just like I only wanted my daughter to be exactly the way she’d been created, exactly the way that brought her unfettered joy, God wants the same for us.

He didn’t make us with a cookie cutter or on an assembly line. He lovingly crafted each one of us to be unique and special—to be different. And all those things that make us different? They’re not weird. They’re special. We are special. You are special.

God didn’t create us with such loving attention to detail just for us to be shackled by the expectations of others or trapped in the shadow of those we imitate. No, He made each one of us special for a special purpose, and only by accepting and leaning into that will we feel the delight our Father has in every different, unique, special part of us.

So put on your cape and goggles (or wildly patterned leggings and sparkly eyeshadow, broken-in ball cap and sneakers, skinny jeans or baggy jeans or maxi skirts or sweatshirts).

Run free through the backyard (or sing loud in the car, start that business, laugh at your own jokes, take the trip, ask for help, of just tell us what your favorite book really is).

And go ahead—pretend you’re a superhero. Believe God when He says everything that makes you you also makes you special. You’re not weird or too different or too anything. You’re just right the way you are because God made you this way, and He adores you this way. You are wonderful, delightful, and truly special.

For more resources & inspiration on how to live your faith in Him, check out our Article & Devotional Library.