"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
I sat staring at my friend Claire in disbelief. She'd just told me that her counselor — whom she'd been seeing for a while to help her sort out some family issues — had given her an assignment to write a list of 25 great things about herself. The shocker was that smart, funny, professional, godly Claire could barely come up with nine.
So as we sat there sipping mochas in our favorite coffee shop hangout, I started naming possible additions to the list. "What about your great sense of humor?" I said, recalling giggle fests over everything from funny movies to faux pas.
"I'm not that funny. And humor isn't really a 'great' quality, is it?" she said meekly.
"What about your kind heart? You're always willing to help others, and you give really cool and thoughtful gifts," I tried, remembering her offers of rides to and from the airport and the I'd Rather Be In Paris pillow she gave me for Christmas.
She paused a moment, then dismissed my efforts with, "You're just being nice."
I could tell I was getting nowhere, so I changed the subject, we continued chatting, and eventually parted ways. I was still troubled, however, and determined to help my friend see herself through different eyes. I think that's one of the reasons why God gave us the Body of Christ, families, and friends — to remind us of the wonderful ways he's wired each of us and to point us to our Maker, who loves us more than we can fathom just as we are.
Later that afternoon, God dropped a great idea in my head — and in a rare moment of follow-through I began crafting an e-mail entitled "25 Awesome Things About Claire." She can't argue with an e-mail, I reasoned. So I breathed a prayer, "God, you know and care about Claire so much more than I do, please help me write this list."
Together, God and I came up with qualities as whimsical as "Claire's so fun she bought her pet cat a pet fish," and as serious as "She has a deep desire to be a godly woman." I finally got to Awesome Quality Number 25 — "Claire's fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14) — then clicked send.
Several hours later I received a call from Claire. "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me," were the first words out of her mouth. She was obviously moved. And I was, too, when she told me that she and her sister had just memorized Psalm 139:14.
"I got goosebumps when I saw that you'd mentioned that verse as the last point on your list," she said, "How did you know?"
"To be honest, I can't take any credit. That was God's idea," I said, marveling that the Creator of the universe took the time to remind Claire — and me — that we're awesome children of an Awesome God.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write a list of 25 great qualities about you. If you have trouble, enlist the help of friends, family, and most importantly, the One who made you great. Then, why not do the same for a friend of yours who needs a confidence boost. He or she will be encouraged, and you may just get blessed in the process, too.
Blessings!
Camerin Courtney
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