“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” We sang that little rhyme when we were kids, believing the lie that only sticks and stones do the hurting, never the cruel words that pieced your tender heart like a poison-tipped arrow.

The names or things people spoke over you, well they never hurt, right? The word curses that we left, untouched and un-dealt with in the dark corners of our minds, that have spread like untreated cancer, until you believe every name that the word curses spoke over you. So my friend, what names have you settled with?

DRESSING ROOM MIRRORS

As I sat in the dressing room of a clothing store recently, waiting for my daughter to try on the dress I couldn’t help overhearing all the conversations the women were having behind the dressing room doors. It was either a mum or a trusted girlfriend the girls had brought along for the shopping trip. Two of the most valued opinions when trying on anything in a fitting room as any girl knows.  

One of the girls came out of the fitting room. She wasn’t a skinny size 6 model, more of a Marilyn Monroe figure, but she had on a stunning silk flower print dress. Her girlfriend said she loved the dress and she looked gorgeous in it. Which she did. The girl looked in the fitting room mirror, twirled around, pulled the dress in all different directions, frowned and said, “Really? Does it look okay?”

What did that girl see or perceive to have seen in the reflection of that dressing room mirror? What word curses could she hear in her mind that started to replay over and over like a never-ending loop? Fat. Ugly. Worthless. Unloved? Sticks and stones may break your bones, my friend, but it’s those words. Those terrible words…

Words that have pierced your soul like a rusty blade. Words that you can’t seem to be free from.But those words don’t define you.Those cruel words don’t have the last say.God does. And He says,

YOU ARE CHOSEN

Let that sink in for a moment. He CHOSE you before the creation of the world. (Ephesians 1:4) Just ponder on that thought for a moment…

YOU WERE CHOSEN BY HIM

Before God said, “Let there be light.” (Genesis 1:2) He chose you. Doesn’t that just blow your mind?!?

So the next time you find yourself in a dressing room trying on clothes, just look at the reflection staring back at you. And say to yourself

I AM CHOSEN AND I AM LOVED BY HIM

Wendy xo