Deformed Face Myths

I haven't posted in a while. I just moved 2200 miles away, am sort of in the boonies (beautiful boonies), and it took me a while to get set up with an internet connection, etc.

So what has lured me out of my silence? Strange thing happened to me a couple weeks ago. I was talking to a woman on the phone and she was telling me about her experiences as a youth group leader and how twenty years later, one girl came back, all grown up, and admitted that the night this woman drove her home, she was on her way to commit suicide. She went on to say that the woman's interest and involvement in her life made her feel loved and thus spared her life. Very touching story.

But what was strange was the woman I was speaking to said she was so alarmed to learn about this because, "the girl was so pretty." And then went on to say, "I saw nothing in her life worthy of suicide. It's not like she had a deformed face or anything."

This theme was reiterated just yesterday when I was online doing a web search and stumbled across an apologetics site where a man very hostile to the gospel found the golden argument that has silenced all of those irritating "witnesses" in his life. The argument was, "If God is a loving God, how come people like Julianna Whetmore are born?"

What's even more puzzling than his question is the fact that many born again Christians piped up in Christ's defense to leave comments on this man's blog -- and yet even the Christians handed it to the skeptic that they also had no idea why a loving God would allow such "tragedies."

Folks, I don't know how to express my surprise. Since when is a deformed face the worse possible scenario a person can conjure up in their heads? And why is it that we assume all such unfortunates do nothing but sit around all day thinking of ways to end their own lives?

It is a myth. A lie.

The old adage is, "Don't judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes." If you walked a mile in my shoes, you'd realize that a deformed face isn't so bad. It's no worse than anything else anyone has to deal with. Life has ups and downs. Do I have days when I wish there was more surgery and more to do to fix my face? Sure, but to tell you the truth, my insecure moments are not any more intense or frequent than any other woman or girl I have ever talked to who don't have deformities.

If my face was perfect, I'd wish I was thinner, or I wouldn't like something about the way I looked. I have yet to meet a woman who says she is 100% content with her physical appearance.

Folks, a deformed face ain't so bad. Compared to some of the horrible trials my friends are going through right now, I often think I am the luckiest person in the world, because I really have a pretty nice life. No complaints. Life is good.

If God is loving, why did he deform my face? I don't know -- maybe because with a normal face I would have been robbed of the thousands and thousands of blessings that I have received BECAUSE of my deformities. It seems odd, but usually our greatest trial is what most molds and shapes us. It gives us character, backbone, courage, wisdom, discernment, and friendships that are not shallow.

I often like to imagine that the crown of thorns probably did a number on Christ's forhead. I'm sure his face was a lot more deformed at that point than mine will ever be - and it was because of the "joy set before him" that he endured it. So.....so can I.