“For You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139: 13-14

I have a very close friend who says to me all of the time, “Of course you met someone new- you don’t know a stranger!” I have stopped wondering if this is a common theme for my life. It is.

There is something to be said for the way I have chosen to live. It is not for the faint of heart, or for the weak in nerve. It is not for those who fear mistakes or harbor pride in their minds. Nope. My motto, my creed, the way “I survive in this jungle” is to simply, live out loud. I don’t mean vocally or by wearing bright colors everyday, although sometimes these do apply. I mean literally and actually to live out loud. Live each God-given adventure and every God-appointed challenge and obstacle out loud, or to the fullest measure in which it was meant. Of course this lifestyle choice brings with it some … umm, … how should I phrase it, spectators and commentators: those who sometimes function in the role of a reminder that living out loud opens up my life to falling down and missing the mark out loud too (we’ll talk about those later)! Nevertheless, I believe it is the way that God has called me to display His unending love, grace and mercy in my life. So, I make it a point to live this way daily. I like to call it: embracing my fearfully and wonderfully made self.

This call on my life has left no stone unturned and no door unopened when it comes to any assignment. There really is no given area that I don’t live out loud; exercise and diet, pregnancy and child-rearing, working and volunteering, fashion trends and calls to fasting, functional family and dysfunctional faith, ALL of it. I am always willing to share about my feats and failures because at any given time I am in the middle of living something to it’s fullest. But not everyone feels this same call, or even has any aspiration to live this way- (hence the spectators and commentators title)! There are actually many more women who are more conservative in their views, lifestyles, and definitely much more private about their God-appointed challenges.

I believe that we as women are each individually knit together as works, as complex creations and there is no way to work out all of the intricacies of our very humanness. For me, to issue a basic response to a simple task is not utilizing the countless ways to demonstrate the Lord’s endless resources or love for me. It cheats me and Him of an opportunity to display how I am “fearlessly and wonderfully made”. To others, a simple and concise answer is the quickest route to the end of one assigned task and the beginning of another assignment. My approach is usually colorful, loud, long and fun, but it also has a tendency to drive some of my other fearlessly made counterparts crazy!

But being made with this view and approach to life has also opened up my mind and outlook to how many different fearlessly and wonderfully made ways there are to BE. I cannot begin to detail the countless times I have stood in amazement (and sometimes disagreement) at how a friend in my life chose to respond and take action-or lack thereof, to numerous situations, and I still have the choice to not understand their method, but still embrace their wonderfulness- even when it is completely contrary to my method of wonderfulness.

In retrospect I realize that I have spent two-thirds of my life trying to convince people to buy into my way of living, and the last one-third, saying, “Who cares if you ever live like me, I want to understand why and how you live like you!” Why? Because I have come to realize that fearful and wonderful are descriptors that are only minimal at best. To really grasp our lack of understanding as to how each of us were individually crafted by His hands, is to understand Him and see Him more closely. And to get up close and personal is to open ourselves up to so many other ways of being . . . wonderful.

Here are some of the women I am talking about; imagine these amazing “works” up-close and personal in your life:

• I have a God-given friend who simply walks into a room and the whole atmosphere is changed by her genuine smile and desire to be with people. Everyone wants to be her friend, and she really does not know a stranger. She is simply wonderful.
• I have another remarkable friend who is a home-schooling mother of 4, a homemaker, the best wife to her husband, fun-in-a-bottle always, and yet if the Lord calls her to any new thing she finds a way. Never says no to a call from the Lord. Amazing.
• Another dear friend of mine is in a literal fight for her life. She shares her highs and lows with everyone and asks for prayer for others in her life. With her hands open wide and held high, and her face to the floor in worship, she is just fearfully and wonderfully made.
• Another close friend I know can’t wait for the summer so that she can go camping with her family for days. On purpose, she wants to go camping! I marvel at how wonderfully (and different than me) she is made.

The list of people in my life with descriptions like these is endless. But they pale in comparison to the creative love and detail that the Lord took when each of them was formed. The Lord has taken me on a journey this year in which I stand amazed at the company He has surrounded me with. And yet I have gained a clearer understanding of how amazing and complex He is. But in an easy way, like when I’m with my girlfriends and we are all laughing about something different, or moved to tears by the same Spirit I catch a glimpse of how fearless and wonderfully different we all are.

I encourage everyone to jump on their own personal version of this journey. Examine your outlook, refine it and live it. Then begin examining the outlook of the close friends around you, and embrace them, because in doing so you may begin to catch a glimpse of our Father like you have never seen before!

Marsia Van Wormer