By Penelope Swithinbank
...Accepting how God has designed us gives freedom to concentrate on the more important things he has in mind for us.'
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| Women by Design By Penelope Swithinbank |
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| This book celebrates that we are designed by God for a purpose and for a relationship with him. | ||||||||||
| Extract taken from p19-20: | ||||||||||
| 'It relieves us of an enormous amount of pressure to realise that we don't have to look like someone else or behave like them or achieve in the same way they do. Learning to accept God's pattern and working within it can lead to greater contentment, a greater sense of satisfaction. The Lord 'made you [and] formed you in the womb' (Isaiah 44:2). In other words, he intended you to be the way you are. None of us should look at ourselves and feel second rate. We can choose instead to look at ourselves as God does. Of course, he hasn't finished working on us inawardly yet. He wants to mould us, just as a potter shapes the clay into the pot or bowl he has in mind. Isaiah says that God is the potter and we are the clay, the work of his hand (Isaiah 64:8). The clay can't say, 'Why have you made me like this?' (Romans 9:20). Sometimes the potter has to squash the clay together and start again if it has gone wrong. God is able to do that and remould us into the shape he originally intended, as Jeremiah described (Jeremiah 18:4). Our physical looks may not change much, but our character can be radically changed by God, which may well alter our facial expression and appearance as his light shines through us... ...Accepting how God has designed us gives freedom to concentrate on the more important things he has in mind for us.' |
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