Forgiving Yourself

I’m twenty-eight years old, and one thing I wish I would have known about God as a teenager is that He made me unique and special.

I was born three months premature, and I had a stroke at birth. I’ve struggled to gain weight ever since. Kids would be mean to me and call me anorexic because of how skinny I was. (Anorexia is a very serious eating disorder that should never be joked about.) I would try to explain my situation to them, but it never seemed to help. Everyone would either laugh at me or say that I was lying about my story. It got to the point where I just stopped explaining myself, and I wouldn’t say anything when the kids in school made fun of me.

I felt embarrassed and ashamed of myself. I wish I had known sooner that God made me special and unique in His own specific ways. I know now that God made me on purpose, and He loves me deeply. He loves me so much that Jesus became human to die for me and rise from the dead, defeating sin and death so I can live with Him forever when He returns. In the meantime, He empowers me to share my testimony to help others who need encouragement or are going through similar circumstances. Because Jesus is so good, He can use even the hard things in our lives to connect people to Himself.

I’m still small for my age, but I know God has worked in mighty ways to help me share His good news with everyone around me. I’m thankful for God’s incredible grace. He showed me that even though some kids made fun of me, my worth doesn’t come from them. It comes from Jesus. • Alexis Wohler

• Have you ever struggled to gain weight? Have others made fun of you for any reason?

• When people are mean to you, Jesus weeps with you. He knows your hurts, and He cares for you. How might Jesus be offering you comfort and healing?

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

Read Verses:

Ps.103.10-Ps.103.11|Rom.8.1|Rom.8.34|Isa.1.18