Why didn't You make me like everyone else? They're prettier, smarter, more talented. I feel like a rough draft.

The things you would quietly change about yourself feel like mistakes that slipped through. David looked at the same kind of list and called the work marvellous — not despite the details, because of them. Nothing about you was an accident of assembly.

The conversation

The child: “Daddy God, why didn't You make me like everyone else? They're prettier, smarter, more talented. I feel like a rough draft.”

God: “David once looked at himself — a shepherd boy, youngest of eight, overlooked by his own father — and he said something that changed everything.”

The child: “What did he say?”

God: “'I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.' Fearfully. That word means with awe, with trembling, with reverence. You weren't assembled. You were crafted with awe.”

God: “And wonderfully. Not adequately. Not acceptably. Wonderfully. The same word used for miracles. You are not a rough draft. You are a wonder.”

The child: “But when I look at other people, I see wonders. When I look at myself, I see flaws.”

God: “That's because you're comparing your behind-the-scenes to everyone else's highlight reel. I made each person unique on purpose. A rose doesn't look at a lily and call itself a failure. They're both wonders — different wonders.”

God: “David added: 'marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.' He didn't just believe it. His soul knew it. Deep down, in the place where doubt can't reach.”

The child: “My soul doesn't know it yet. It keeps whispering that I'm not enough.”

God: “Then let's teach your soul. Not with a pep talk. With truth. I made you. The same God who made galaxies and thunderstorms and hummingbird wings — I made you. And I don't make mistakes.”

The child: “You made me on purpose? Not just randomly?”

God: “On purpose, with purpose, for purpose. Every detail. The things you wish were different — I chose those too. Not as flaws. As features. The things that make you you are the things that make you wonderful.”

The child: “Then I'll praise You. Not because I feel wonderful yet. But because You say I am.”

God: “And one day your soul will know it right well. Until then, I'll keep reminding you.”

"I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." Psalm 139:14, KJV