READ: GENESIS 1:26-27; PSALM 139:13-17; ZEPHANIAH 3:17; EPHESIANS 2:4-10

I shouldn’t have even brought this into the fitting room, Makenna thought. Dresses like these don’t look good on girls like me.

But her friends hadn’t understood her hesitation. They were trying on prom dresses and thought she should do the same. Tears stung in Makenna’s eyes as she took a glance in the mirror. She hated her size and shape. She wished she looked like her friends.

“Come out and show us,” the other girls called.

Makenna swallowed. “It doesn’t fit right. I must have grabbed the wrong size.”

“What size do you need? I’ll go get it.”

“No!” Makenna tugged on the zipper at the back of the dress. “I’m done for today.”

When she stepped out of the fitting room in her t-shirt and jeans, the other girls were all wearing the dresses they’d found. To Makenna, they looked perfectly petite and happy.

Makenna slouched into a chair in the corner of the room, wishing she could be like them.

Many of us have felt this way. Maybe your story isn’t exactly the same, but it’s close. Maybe you feel ugly. Maybe you think that you’re too fat or too thin or that you don’t belong with your friends. Maybe you’ve even felt unworthy of God’s love because of how you look.

But your worth and the love God has for you are not based on your appearance. The truth is, God created you in His image, and He loves you so much. You are precious to Him. So precious that He came to die and rise again to save you from sin and death. When Jesus returns, He will make all things new, and all the pain and heartache that sin causes will be gone forever. But until that day, even though worldly beauty standards will continue to change based on where and when we live, our worth and beauty in the eyes of Jesus will never change. We can rest securely in Him, knowing that our worth is found not in what other people think of us—or even what we think of ourselves—but in the love of our Creator and Savior. • Bethany Acker

• We all struggle with feeling uncomfortable in our own bodies from time to time, and Jesus has so much compassion on us. Consider taking some time to ask Him to help you see yourself how He sees you—and to see others how He sees them too.

• If you’re struggling to see your worth, who is a trusted Christian you could talk to about this?

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 1 John 4:10 (NLT)