About YOU!
“So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27
YOU (say your name!) are created in the image of the All-Knowing, Ever-Present, All-Powerful, All-Loving and All-Merciful Creator of Heaven and Earth!!! (For example, check out the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), 268-270, if you need confirmation of this truth from an established body over 2,000 years old).
Let that statement penetrate you for a little while….read it again, and again…let it really sink in for a moment. He who created the entire Universe, including all the stars billions of light years away, created YOU, knew you even before He formed you in your mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5), and loves you beyond all measure.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. The Son of God became the Son of man so that we too might become like God. CCC, 460.
You too are called to become like God, that is, by giving of yourself in love. “Love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12.
As people with autoimmune challenges we can tend to focus on a lot of negative symptoms and emotions, not on how we are awesome beings created in God’s image and love.
In this negative space and energy, you may feel that you are your negative thoughts, emotions and symptoms, and that cannot change.
The reality, however, is that you are full of potential and divine energy to make the world a brighter and more joyful place, starting from within YOU and your mindset — how you view YOURSELF.
That potential begins to bloom with changing your perspective to one that affirms your worth and identity rooted in the Creator, the Alpha and the Omega, the King of the Universe. Whether you identify as a Christian or not, you must realize and step into your godly identity to reach your full potential in your gifted time on this planet we call Earth.
As the New York Times bestselling author Jen Sincero wisely quips in her 2013 book You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life, p. 50:
You are a badass. You were one when you came screaming onto this planet and you are one now. The Universe wouldn’t have bothered with you otherwise. You can’t screw up so majorly that your badassery disappears.
It is who you are. It’s who you always will be.
It’s not up for negotiation. . . You are loved. Massively. Ferociously. Unconditionally. The Universe it totally freaking out about how awesome you are. It’s got you wrapped in a warm gorilla hug of adoration. It wants to give you everything you desire. It wants you to be happy. It wants you to see what it sees in you.
Did that make you smile? Think of a little child. How can that child realize his full potential unless he is first loved by her parents or some other adult who adopts and nurtures him?
We, even as young or older adults, are also children, just bigger and more experienced ones, still in need of knowing, believing and feeling that we are loved. Yet as we age we come to realize sooner or later that all human love is imperfect and only the love of God is ever constant, pure and perfect.
Rooted in His love, we are free and enlivened to love and give joy to others.
Endowed with a “spiritual and immortal” soul, the human person is “the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake.” From his conception, he is destined for eternal beatitude. The human person participates in the light and power of the divine Spirit.
By his reason, he is capable of understanding the order of things established by the Creator. By free will, he is capable of directing himself toward his true good. He finds his perfection “in seeking and loving what is true and good.” CCC, 1703-1704, quoting “Gaudium et Spes,” (“Joy and Hope”), one of the four constitutions resulting from the Second Vatican Council.
You too, will find your “perfection in seeking and loving what is true and good.” You are a temple of the Holy Spirit, of the very breath of life.
St. Paul asks, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?
You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” I Corinthians 6:19
As individuals who struggle with autoimmune issues, let’s glorify God in our bodies, despite any perceived or actual dysfunction, by first recognizing that we are His beloved sons and daughters, created in His very own image, destined to become like Him.
Do you treat and talk to yourself as the daughter of a King? If not, how can you begin to act more aligned with your true, divine identity? Take some time to reflect and journal about how you are living your divine calling and identity.
Laughter and Autoimmunity