Plus, recently, I’ve decided that I cannot take a good picture and have given up micromanaging the photos others take of me. So, please don’t judge me by the photos you may have recently seen of me. For example: we had photos taken for a promotional poster for ‘Bring on the Sabbath’, which I do every Friday night at 7:30 p.m. on www.CGI.org. There were several shots taken – some that I preferred over others – but I figured there was no need to micromanage which shot to choose, though I did state a preference.

Imagine my disappointment in seeing that the photo chosen for our promotional poster clearly was not flattering of me. My sister, who I begged to be honest about what she thought, said that the photo did, indeed, make me look fat, adding that she had seen me in that dress and I did not look fat in it (in person). Great.

If you are like me, feeling badly about a photo or your physical look is only a small portion of what troubles you. We might worry how our parenting looks to others. Or, worse, we might worry about how our Christian walk looks to others.

Perhaps, as women, we are genetically predisposed to be more insecure about our looks, our success, our child rearing, and even our conversion/Christianity than men. Or perhaps societal pressures contribute to our insecurity. Whatever the case, it certainly seems to me that the women I meet have a tendency to be insecure about themselves in many areas.

Here’s the good news: the only view of you that counts is God’s view and He sees you differently than others do. See: 1 Samuel 16:7. David’s family saw him as a child, too young, not serious enough, a tattle tale. But God saw the next King of Israel. God saw a shepherd who could lead His people. God saw bravery and a willingness to step in and fight for the weak. God saw a man after his own heart.

Here is just a little more about what God thinks of you (and me).

• He loves us with an unreasonable (from a human perspective) love: John 3:16; Eph. 2:4
• He wants us to succeed and will do all He can to ensure that: Phil. 1:16
• He sees your good works and remembers them: Hebrews 6:10
• His will is that you succeed and not perish: 2 Peter 3:9
• He sees you as the bride for His son: Rev. 21:9

We can rest assured that what He sees is the best of us. He sees the beauty of our hearts that want to love, even when we fall short of perfect love. He sees the beauty of our efforts even when they fall far short of what we wanted to do. He sees and rewards our efforts when we repent and get up time after time when we fall.

Furthermore, God is willing to work with us to change that negative image we have running around in our own minds. He wants you to see yourself as He sees you because you are His chosen child.

My husband has posted some photos recently on Facebook that just make me cringe. But, hey, he thinks I’m beautiful with no makeup, dressed in my fluffy robe and my hair in a bun. So, I cannot really get mad at him about those less-than-stellar photos. He just doesn’t see me as I am (or think I am, anyway).

Dear fellow child of God, it is much more important how God sees you than how your husband, child, sister or even you see yourself. He sees beauty, a future, His child, and someone worth the death of His Son, Jesus. He sees us through the mirror of His great love for us. Please keep that in mind, child of God, because there are going to be days when the mirror of our minds will not present a good image.