Women Making a Difference in Marriage

“God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”  Gen. 1:27

 The animals were created according to their own kinds, but mankind was created in God’s own image.  When God finished creating the animals, He saw that “it was good”, but when God finished creating mankind, He saw that “it was VERY good.”  The fact that we are made in God’s image shows us the unique value we have in His eyes.  God’s creation of you and me was according to His plans and purposes, and He made no mistakes!  When you believe and accept that we are uniquely designed in God’s image and that He loves you unconditionally, you can begin to see yourself as loved and precious in His sight.  

We each have hurts from the past that have shaped how we feel about ourselves; “you are inadequate for the job, ugly, stupid, fat, nobody likes you, you will never be successful, nobody will listen when you talk, etc.” Some of these feelings come from our families, and others occur from external events. Whatever it may be, THESE ARE LIES!  When you are aware that everyone around you has emotional wounds, you can better understand the relationship of humans. 

If you look at any religious description of hell it is the same as human society.  Hell is a place of suffering, a place of fear, a place of war and violence, a place of judgment and no justice, a place of punishment that never ends.  There are humans versus humans in a jungle of predators; humans full of judgment, full of blame, full of guilt, full of emotional wounds—envy, anger, hate, sadness, suffering.  These things were brought into God’s once perfect world when sin was allowed in a very long time ago and ever since then these traits and actions have continued to be passed on through the lineages. 

As a result, we carry these feelings of doubt and low self-esteem into our marriages.  The world teaches domestication of humans the same way we domesticate a dog or any other animal: with punishment and reward.  The world is numb to that teaching, which makes it seem completely “normal.”  So, in turn we often expect our husbands to meet our need for acceptance and receive confirmation and assurance, yet God never intended that another person would meet the needs that only He can meet.   God is the only one who will ever fulfill all of our needs since he is the author of our lives, no other human being can fill that ultimate void.  Remember, we were created in His image, NOT the image that the world has created.  Therefore, we need to look to the one who molded us at birth to find confirmation, NOT our husbands, who also live in the world with similar emotional wounds.

“There is only One Being who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.”  -Oswald Chambers

Have you burdened your husband with being the source of your self-esteem?
If so, will you free him today of that burden?  
(find time to ask your husband’s forgiveness, tell him that you want to find our acceptance in God.  Ask for and thank him for his support as you seek to live out this truth.)
God created you the way you are, and He is incapable of making a mistake.  When you accept the truth that you were made by God and for God and that He loves you unconditionally, you can begin to see yourself as loved and precious in His sight.
 

“Out of His abundant love, we are able to love others as ourselves.” Mark 12:31