Through eyes of love...

    Jessica grew up in a Christian home and had been exposed to going to church where she learned about Jesus. Even though she had been taught about God’s love, she struggled with who she was and used her physical appearance to gain people’s attention. Compliments about her small size encouraged her to make every effort to stay as thin as possible. Unfortunately, it soon became an obsession. She began to restrict her diet, even purging after meals until she became bulimic.
    Even though her weight went below one hundred pounds and she blacked out at times and her period stopped, she still had no desire to change her lifestyle. Family and friends finally intervened. Her mother insisted that she seek help at a faith-based treatment centre. Jessica reluctantly obeyed. There, she was ministered to by a Christian couple about God’s love. They prophetically told her that she would have her own children and her own womb. Ironically, the day before, she and another girl had shared concerns about being able to have children because of what they had done to their bodies. She knew the words spoken to her were from God because they personally and specifically spoke to her own fears and concerns. She realised that God saw her and cared about her. She gave her heart to Christ and as she prayed, read the Bible and grew in her relationship with God, she was delivered. 
    She is thankful to God for restoring her. She has been able to have children and she is healthy and strong. She finally believes that she is loved, she is accepted, she is delighted in, she is worthy and she is enough with Him. 
    I love this story of healing and restoration. It is also the story of a second chance, something that God specialises in. We may not always make the best choices and decisions but God does not give up on us and is able to turn any situation around. God loves us and I believe is always waiting for us to come to Him, especially after we have messed up. God healed and restored Jessica, going so far as to give her the children she desired. No matter what she felt she had done to her body, God fixed it all and even gave her what she may have been afraid to ask for. 
    I love what she says about herself at the end of her testimony. These aren’t just her words or her opinion about herself. She was finally able to see herself as God sees her - loved, accepted, delighted in, worthy, enough. This is how God sees us. He doesn’t need us to change and to be someone we are not for Him to love us. He loves us just as we are. And, if anything needs to change, He will help us where we need it.
    In Ephesians 1, as His children, we are described as: chosen (v.4), adopted (v.5), accepted (v.6), redeemed (v.7), forgiven (v.7). God does not look at us or see us through the lens of our or other people’s opinions. He doesn’t see us based on what we have done or have failed to do. God sees us through His eyes. Through His eyes of love, He sees our potential, He sees what He has called us to be in Him. That in itself is a comfort. 
    We don’t have to do this life on our own. We have the confidence that God is right there, ready and willing to help us when we need it. Like the prodigal son who was eagerly welcomed by his father on his return home (Luke 15:20), God is eagerly waiting for us to come to Him. He wants us to bring all of our baggage, all of our disappointments, all of our failures, all of our hopes and our dreams. He is still the only One who can fix, heal and restore.
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, I encourage you to do so today. God is not interested in a perfect you, He’s just interested in you. He loves you and has a beautiful plan and purpose for you life. When you choose to come to Him, with all that you are, He will transform you and make you into the person He has designed you to be.​

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