"He showed me that I was bitter toward God about the way he had made me. I realized I didn't like myself, and in rejecting myself I had rejected God's handiwork. He asked, "How can you serve God if you aren't satisfied with the way he made you?"
He showed me from scripture how God had prescribed exactly how I was to look, even before I was born. He explained how God could make his strength perfect in bodily weakness and how He was not finished working on me yet. I realized then that God's goal was to develop inward qualities in me so that I would reflect the beauty of Christ."
Said by Betty Olsen a martyr in Southeast Asia. She lost her mother at an early age, battled depression and watched her marriage prospects dim as she grew older; yet she devoted her life to missions, even with much inner conflict. When her friend, Ruth, fell mortally wounded she cried, "Lord help me so I can the others." God gives us the strength we need in times of temptation and trials. If only we would lean upon him and learn to "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Mt 26:41) So many times I fail, fall and am willingly forgiven and lifted over the stile by my sustain-er and redeemer. I become so very dissatisfied with my situation, forgetting he the creator of all ransomed and paid for my pardon. How could I not help but rejoice in Him all day long?
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