Are you a Leah or a Rachel?

Recently in my quiet time, I felt this thought come to mind as I was journaling through some feelings of rejection:

"You're no longer Leah, but Rachel."

In Genesis 29, the bible records Jacob meeting his cousins, Leah and Rachel, and it says that while Leah's eyes were weak, Rachel was "beautiful in form and appearance" and that Jacob loved Rachel.

Decades of hurt, jealousy, and resentment ensued between the two sisters as Jacob ended up marrying both women. Leah was jealous of Jacob's affection for Rachel, while Rachel resented that her sister had a fruitful womb when her own was barren.

Discounting the unrighteousness between them, I sensed that what God was wanting to communicate to me was that I'm often living like Leah, the one who feels rejected, when God has called me Rachel - the one on whom His affections are set.

This doesn't mean that God actually preferred Rachel to Leah, but He wants me to see that when He looks at me it's my unique beauty that He's taken with, much like Jacob was with Rachel. And He feels the same way about you. He's completely taken with each of His daughter's beauty, and there is no comparison.

If I let this get into my every day reality, it can really change my perspective. I don't need others to validate and affirm me so much when I know that He has already promised that I have His undying affection.

The rejection doesn't sting so deeply when I know I've already been accepted and celebrated for who I am by the One who knows me completely.

Are you living like a Leah or a Rachel?