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God Doesn't Make Junk

by Margaret Becker

I have this tiny little voice that lives inside me. It's not audible; it's just a series of thoughts that go through my mind. These thoughts share only one thing in common: They tear me down and make me feel bad.

They go something like this: "I can't do that because … " or, "It's not going to work out because I'm just not … "

And this tiny little voice sometimes talks all day long, tearing me down. I don't remember the first time I heard that voice. I just knew that sometimes I felt bad about myself when I really shouldn't have, powerless when I wasn't, unattractive when I wasn't.

But one day I decided to fight back. I began by fighting the lies I was hearing inside my head with God's truth. Finding the truths that applied to each thought took a little digging at first. But I just used the index in the back of my Bible, looking up the references to words like "love," "faith," "father," "grace." In time I had plenty of things to tell that lying little voice.

If I was feeling self-conscious about the way I looked, I would remember the truths I'd read in the Bible about the beauty of all of God's creation-which includes me. I would rehearse them to myself in my mind … and sometimes even out loud when I was alone. I did this with every negative thought.

Here's one Big Truth I discovered: God loves me. And it's an insult to Him when I put down the way he made me. "I am wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14), not some wart-laden toad. The truth is, I share some of God's best family traits, because he's my Daddy (Romans 8:15-17). That means I can be brave, adventurous, imaginative, attractive, kind, powerful, strong and able.

This wasn't some "magic potion" cure-all that immediately fixed everything, but it did begin to change me and how I felt about myself. Eventually the negative thoughts became fewer and fewer.

Yes, from time to time, I still deal with that little voice. But lies lose their power when you hold them up to The Truth.

Margaret sings about God's love and his grace on her latest album, Grace (Sparrow).

Copyright © 1997 by Christianity Today International/CAMPUS LIFE magazine.
January/February 1997. Page 72

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