Fearfully and Wonderfully Made Introduction
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.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Psalm 139:13-18 NIV
I bet if I came up to you and said, "For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am...," you could finish the sentence. If you have been around the church or been a Christian for some time, you probably know this verse. This may even one you know the address of the scripture in the Bible.
But do we believe it? Like deep in our hearts, believe it?
I don't. Or at least, I haven't, but I am starting to. I really want to. I want to believe it with my whole heart. I want to believe when I put on a pair of jeans that is a little tighter than the last time I donned them. I want to believe it even when I am headed toward a beach vacation, knowing I am spending an excessive amount of time in a bathing suit.
I want to believe that I am fearfully and wonderfully made by God, the master artist all the time. And I know this is the next step of healing and restoration God has for me. 
God has been doing this restoration work ever since I genuinely accepted His lordship over my life several years ago. I knew this piece of healing would come up at some point because I was told when I was a kid through many experiences that I was not wonderfully made. I was told I was fat and ugly. The culture taught me through images and articles what was wonderful, and I could never measure up. So, I knew this would come up because I need God's truth to heal and restore me here. I need His truth to set me free.
Do you need that too?
It is time to believe the truth about what God says and let Him heal and restore us in His love. So over the next five weeks (every other week), I am going to meditate and write about what the Spirit reveals to me, one verse of this beautiful poem at a time. I will allow the Spirit to sink this truth deep in my heart as I memorize the verse and what He says about it directly to me. I am also going to share a few practices and additional words from God's word that dive in deeper. And I am going to pray for help because, truly, there is only one restorer of my heart, and He is faithful to help us as we seek Him.
I hope you will join me in this quest to grow in truth and walk toward freedom. He died for us to have it.
Let's Pray:
Father, you are the creator and giver of value and identity. But our culture has tried to usurp your authority to what is called good and has wounded our hearts. We have believed their lies and been hurt. We need your truth and we need your healing. Help us to replace lies with truth and heal us in your unfailing love. In Jesus's mighty name, Amen.
Dive In Deeper:
Have you ever read this Psalm in The Message version? I love it! This is the version I am going to use to expand on each week. So, start by reading it through.
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day.
Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
God, I’ll never comprehend them!
I couldn’t even begin to count them—
any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Psalm 139:13-18 MSG
Live out the Truth:
Read the Psalm 139:13-18 through a few times. Which verse or phrase does the Spirit make stand out to you? Ask Him why. This may be the place that God is revealing to you that He wants to make Himself more known in your heart.
