Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they
may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the
wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
So God created human beings in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:26-27 (TNIV)

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now
on, you do know him and have seen him."
John 14:6-7 (TNIV)

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear
much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a
branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the
fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you
wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit,
showing yourselves to be my disciples."
John 15:4-8 (TNIV)

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in
the earth."
Psalm 46:10

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We spend a lot of our lives in hectic, anxiety-producing situations. We may be just trying
to provide food and clothing for our loved ones and ourselves. We may be trying to
achieve something for ourselves to give ourselves a better life. Whatever the reason,
the outcome is the same. We fall into a form of anxiety-created memory loss...where we
begin to forget who we truly are. We forget the unimaginable beauty that exists within
us. But the question becomes: why would we think that we have such beauty in the first
place?

In the book of Genesis, we discover that all human beings have been created in the
image and likeness of God. This means that all human beings have some essential
similarity to God, such that we are like God in some real ways.

It's important for us to understand this point: Once we understand that God is beautiful,
we know that there are implications for us. If we are created in the image of the
Beautiful God...then that means that WE are beautiful as well! One of the hardest things
for us to understand is that we are much more that we have allowed ourselves to
become! We were never meant to be slaves to alarm clocks, paychecks, and stress.
We were meant to live in love, freedom, and power as we bring more and more beauty
and reconciliation into the world! We have fallen into a state of despair where we have
forgotten this beauty.