Let no one cause me trouble...

28 x 20 Galatians 6:17 Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
This is a painting of my 4 year old daughter, Virginia. It is a picture of the freedom and joy that I pray my children will walk in. There is nothing that brings me greater joy than to see my children unafraid and uninhibited in expressing their joy. Virginia loves to perform. She has never taken a dance class in her life, but she sleeps in her leotard and her older sister's tap shoes almost every night. When she asks for milk, she turns the request into a song and every visit to the toy store, she chooses a musical instrument of some sort. She loves to put on sing and dance performances (she calls them "parades"), in which she eats up our applause. Like every child, she has her whiny days, but when she is rested, she skips wherever she goes and keeps us laughing all the time. Recently, she told me in the most serious tone, "I feel so sorry for daddy. He hasn't gotten to see me all day." Most of the time, she is incredibly pleased with herself and the person that God has created her to be. There are times when we go out that I see her shrink back some and become afraid of being herself. Those moments are rare with her, but there is nothing that breaks my heart more than when I see my children shrink back from who they are in an effort to escape rejection or gain others approval. She has been fearfully and wonderfully made by our heavenly Father with her own set of gifts that God intends to use to draw others to him, and my heart's desire is that she would be confident in who she is.
It struck me as I was writing this that the same way I feel when I see my children inhibited by the fear of man, is the same way our Father feels when we shrink back from the divine creation He has made us to be. I imagine there is nothing that brings him more joy than to see his children expressing their joy freely, walking confidently in the truth of who they are in Christ. John writes to a mother and her children in 2 John 1:4, "It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us." As Virginia grows in her relationship with Christ, she will have a choice to make. She will either believe the Truth and allow God to define her or she will believe the world and allow it to define her. At times, the world will tell her that she is not good enough, that she must change in order to be loved, but God will tell her that she is his treasured possession (Deut. 7:6), fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) by Him in love. He will tell her that He delights in her and that she is beautiful the way that she is. The first time a boy attempts to breaks Virginia's heart, I pray that she will say the same words she said about her daddy, "I feel so sorry for him. He hasn't gotten to see me all day." I pray that in those moments, she would choose to believe God, that she would "let no one cause (her) trouble", for she "bears on (her) body the marks of Jesus." He created her and He alone defines her. Amen.