"You have glaucoma, you'll eventually lose your vision so art is the worst thing for you to pursue."

When I was about seven years old I was diagnosed with glaucoma; a disease in the eye that can lead to blindness. Having only partial vision was nothing new to me.

The comment above is from a man on my school's campus who I was trying to talk to about financial aid, so we were discussing career options for me.

While that comment was upsetting, it wasn't nearly as upsetting as one of the first things he said to me when I walked in: "Well, disabilities aren't attractive."

Like many others, I've struggled so much with insecurities. The enemy would tell me, "you're not good enough,” "you're not pretty enough,” and I dwelled on those thoughts as they would play over and over in my mind. I know those thoughts were not from God and that is not what His Word says, but it was a lot easier for me to believe when they weren't just thoughts in my mind, that's what the world was telling me too.

One day when I was at the store, I felt a little pull on my spirit when I was walking through the yarn isle. I had never crocheted or knit before, but I felt like I had to learn that day.

As I sat there crocheting I thought, "They really mean it when they say things are 'made with love.’ There are no shortcuts, you have to make it one stitch at a time."

And in that moment God reminded me of Psalm 139: “You knit me together in my mother's womb.” Here I was thinking so little of myself, when God knows me so intimately and cares for me so passionately. Just as a creative requires attention to detail and knows their work forward and backward, how much more thought would God have put into creating and knowing you? He left no detail to chance and desires to be in every part of your life.

I know how easy it is to believe what the world says about you but we have to intentionally choose to believe what God's Word says, which is the truth no matter how we feel or what others say.

That man had a worldly perspective. He didn't see me the way God, my Creator does. Nor did he know that God can turn what others see as our greatest weakness into our greatest strength.

One comment I remember from someone who was so amazed with my attention to detail is, "You see more with one eye than most people do with two!" I know that I could only get that creativity from my Heavenly Father.

So I continue to crochet dolls, and as I tie in each strand of hair one by one and embroider and sew in the details on each outfit, I get just a hint of the amount of detail and thought God put into creating me.

“You formed my innermost being, shaping my delicate inside and my intricate outside, and wove them all together in my mother’s womb. I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex! Everything you do is marvelously breathtaking. It simply amazes me to think about it! How thoroughly you know me, Lord!” (Psalm 139:13-14, The Passion Translation)

Intimately Created