This song Anchor, by Mindy Gledhill, is one of my favorites. It’s sweet and romantic and I like to think my husband “wouldn’t have me any other way.”

Today, as I was reading my Bible, this song came on and I started to compare the words to how God must feel about us.

I have always been quiet and when I was younger, very shy. This was a big deal to me – I still have moments I struggle!

I’d see other people with an abundance of friends and a million things to talk about. Yes, it made me jealous and sad! I was lost in a world of people who could socialize better than me!

I dreamt of being a person everyone wanted as their friend – to have all the words needed to get through a conversation.

The problem is I wanted to be someone else! Something had to be wrong with me so I could only hope I would wake up one morning changed – a DIFFERENT person.

Funny enough the song says, “There are those who think that I’m strange; They would box me up and tell me to change” – and I was the main culprit! All I saw was a strange and inadequate me.

It’s not what God sees.

“… you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb…Body and soul, I am marvelously made…“ Psalm 139:13 (MSG).

We are marvelously made.

The truth is it’s OK to be quiet, it’s who I am. But as my mom reminds me every so often, “make sure you have friendly eyes.”

My fears can make me appear unfriendly but this little change in myself has made a big difference.

We all have character traits and habits we can improve upon while embracing ourselves. To work on patience as a parent, love in relationships, optimism, kindness, budgeting, organization, self-control, “friendly eyes,” etc.

I don’t need to be a different person to have friendly eyes – I can be me – and consciously try to make myself better as a person – with God as my anchor – and proudly be who He made me to be. As the song says, “When I’m lost I feel so very found
When you anchor me back down.

You can label yourself as inadequate, a version of “strange” or a “clown” but God will “hold you close and softly say that He wouldn’t have you any other way.”