We love rainy days for different reasons. Some love the rain because it looks romantic. Some love the rain because classes may be suspended. Some love the rain because it enables them to stop and rest even for a while in the warm of their homes, not to mention the hot, steamy chicken-macaroni soup their mom could make for them.

 

I love rain because I like the idea of water falling down from the sky in little drops. I`m weird, right? But I find rain so clever and unique and I just love it. I love keeping warm on a cozy couch and drinking hot chocolate. I love looking out of the window and scribbling on it with my fingers.

 

There are many reasons to love rain. But what if there is this massive rain that falls throughout the surface of the earth. What if it rains harder than the Asian typhoon Ketsena that displaced and killed many people last year? What if it doesn`t stop for a long time and it floods higher than when Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans? What if it rains for 40 days and the water is enough to submerge not just the entire USA but all eight continents!

 

In the days of Noah, we know that it never stopped raining for 40 days and 40 nights and everyone, except Noah, his family and all the animals on the arc, died.

 

Of course, it never to flood the earth the same way as in Noah`s days (as God promised) but sometimes, we feel like we are flooded with many challenges life. Storms of life come over us and we don`t know where to find refuge.

 

But just like in Noah`s days where God has provided refuge through the ark, God has given us Jesus Christ. He is our Refuge through life`s storms. He will hold us close and never let us go.

 

So whatever storm comes in your life, know that Jesus is always there for you. All you need to do is trust Him. He`s always carrying you and holding you in His arms.

His answer to the question you always wanted to ask.

What`s your favorite beauty product commercial? Mine are those where the models look fabulously flawless. No eye bags. No zits. Perfect skin. Fab hair.  Sure you have your own picks too.

 

Now let me ask you a more personal question. Don`t you sometimes

wish that you look like them? With all the nice curves? The doll-like features? For the boys: Those abs girls swoon about?

 

We sometimes do, right? We want to be like the girls on the print ads. The guys wants to be like those on fitness center posters. We want to be like them. We want to look perfect.

 

Unfortunately, most of the time, we get frustrated. We can buy the most expensive skin care products but when we lack sleep for a few days, the zits just break out. We can pay hundreds of dollars in hair treatment, bask under the sun and get it all dried up. Or we can put on every single kind of whitening cream yet still don`t get as flawless as the girls on TV.

 

Our self-worth shouldn`t be based on how well we look like these guys and girls in media who often don`t look like their real selves anyway. We all know about news coming out that model photos had been drastically edited to slim them down or perfect their look. And if we anchor our self-worth on that, we are only fooling ourselves into achieving something that isn`t real.

 

Our self-worth should be based on who we are to God and what He says about us.

 

Have you seen these majestic views?

O`Brien`s Tower, Ireland

Eagle Island, Ireland

Niagara Falls

Glacial Valley

Lake Louise, Alberta

Grand Canyon

Crystal Shower Falls, Dorrigo National Park

Australia

A Beach in Argentina

Seychelles, Africa

Mariana Trench

 

Whitsunday Islands National Park

Australia

 

Jellyfishes

Valencia, Spain

   Corals

 

Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), Norway

Perseid

Milky Way Galaxy

 

T otally blown away?

 

You know, God has created you far more valuable than all these beautiful things.

 

In Genesis 1:26-27, 31 God said

 

“Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all of life—the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals, and small animals.”

So God created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself; male and female he created them.

Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was excellent in every way.

 

God created you in His own image. If all these mountains and creatures and stars look beautiful, how much more valuable and beautiful are you knowing that God created you in His likeness, above all of these things He has made?

 

The next time you look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are beautiful, think about all the beautiful things God has created and remember that you are far more valuable than all of them because we are the only ones created in His own image. He even sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for your sins and save you. ;)  Stop basing your self-worth on what media says about you. Believe on the God who created You and loves you. ;)

 

Photo credits: National Geographic