How many of us have sometimes felt like we were inadequate, or even defective?  Maybe the better question is, who hasn’t felt that way at one time or another?  And just to pile on, we’re all surrounded by images and messages (subtle or not-so-subtle) that reinforce the idea that there’s something wrong with us.  It can be very tempting to try to change into someone that we think would be more interesting, more popular, more… Well, you fill in the blank.  We all have our own struggles and hang-ups that we are solving for when we try to be someone we’re not.

But in reality, we are each “custom made” by God (Psalm 100:3), and He made each of us a particular way for a particular reason.  He is not pleased when we decide we need to be someone different than who He made us.

God called us for His purposes. He loves us and He wants us to be the way He intended for us to be… You are what God says you are, and you are who God says you are… There is a purpose for our creation. (excerpt from Seeking God Daily Part 1 by Dr. Chester C. Pipkin)

So a good first step when we’re wishing God made us differently is to stop listening to what our culture is saying we should be and instead find out what God has to say on the subject.  Here’s a great place to start:

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:13-16 NIV)

Start to internalize His perspective on you- we are all His creation after all, and He doesn’t make mistakes!