Celebrate Your Uniqueness

Day 49
Celebrate Your Uniqueness

God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

—Ephesians 1:5

I was the fifth girl born into my family. My parents were praying for a boy. God had different plans. I’ve been told the doctor said that if I was a girl, I “would be on the house.” I am not sure if he really said that. My parents named me Olivia, and I can assure you all those years ago, Olivia was not a popular name. I remember when I started school, I did not like my name. It was too different, and I wanted to be like my friends and everyone else. The popular names were Mary, Sally, Jane, and Betty—not Olivia. I also didn’t like my looks. My hair was dark and curly, and I was the only Catholic child in my school. And if that wasn’t hard enough, my mom died when I was 4 years old. My dad remarried, and I struggled with my new stepmom. All this added to my identity crisis.

The desire to look and be like everyone else brought a lot of insecurity into my life, which affected a lot of my life’s choices. Many years later, when I began reading the Bible, I discovered my new identity as a beloved child of God. In the book of Ephesians, I read that God chose me and adopted me into his family. Psalms 139:13-14 told me that God knit me together in my mother’s womb, and that I am wonderfully complex. The amazing thing about God’s family is that we are created to be his unique children with different gifts and talents, not one alike. We are all valued and loved. When I look back at my life, I smile at God and imagine him smiling back at me. All those years, I complained to God about being different, not liking my name, and not liking how I looked. Now it’s 2023, and being unique is in. Looking different is in. Curly hair is in. And Olivia is the most popular girl’s name today.

I am so thankful to be in the family of God, knowing I am loved and that I am special to him. As a parent in a blended family, I realize how much we need God’s grace to love and care for our blended family. Our blended children are uniquely created too. Whether they are the firstborn, middle child, or youngest, whether they are artists or athletes, introverts or extroverts, funny or serious, stylish or unfashionable, God made them who they are, and they need our love and acceptance. We need to be supportive and help them find ways to grow. We need to encourage them to use the gifts and talents God gave them so they can find their worth in God and shine.

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Excerpt taken Blending: 100 Day Devotional for Step-Parents by Timothy & Olivia Smith. Used with permission.

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