WHAT DO YOU SEE?

Fara looked in the mirror.

The image appeared blurred.

But this was definitely her.

She leaned closer.

The face looking back at her was familiar. The eyes were hers. The smile lines were hers. The tiny scar above her eyebrow was hers.

Yet something felt strangely unfamiliar.

“Why do I not recognise myself?” she wondered.

The question lingered.

The mirror had not changed. And she had not changed. (Well, at least not physically.) So what exactly had happened?

Perhaps the problem was not the mirror.

Perhaps it was the story she had been telling herself.

For years, Fara had become used to seeing herself through the lens of what was absent in her life; what she believed was inadequate, what she described as lack.

Almost as if she had been believing a terrible lie about herself.

And she had walked that way, talked that way, and basically lived that way for years.

The opportunities that had not come — she dwelt on them more than was necessary.

The dreams that had not yet materialised — she camped her bed there.

The prayers that seemed unanswered… aaah, that was her address.

The harvest she was still waiting for — she was almost digging up her seed.

Over time, those things became so prominent that they obscured everything else. She only saw the things that had not yet come to pass.

Then one day she was forced to take inventory. Not of what she lacked. But of what she actually had in her hands.

Then she suddenly remembered something her grandmother always used to say:

“If you have Jesus, you have everything.”

And suddenly the scales fell off.

She saw things she had overlooked:

Gifts and Talents.

Relationships.

Experience.

Wisdom.

Opportunities.

Provision.

Possibilities.

The mirror had not changed. What had changed was the way she looked at herself.  The way she now saw herself.  No longer as someone who had nothing to offer, but as someone who was very greatly blessed.

What had changed Fara?

She believed in her heart that all problems had solutions in the Word of God.

And because she had seen herself as living in lack, she decided to search the Bible for people who appeared to have started with little but ended up with much more.

Her first search took her to the widow and the oil who asked the prophet Elisha for help.

She then studied the wedding at Cana, where water was turned into wine.

Next came the story where Jesus fed multitudes with a little boy’s lunch of fish and bread.

Finally, she landed at Peter’s net-breaking, boat-sinking miracle of abundant fish.

As she placed the stories side by side, she noticed something remarkable. They were not without resources. Every one of them had something. Something that became the starting point for abundance.

She halted right there.

But why had they not seen what they already had?

Or was it that they had seen it, but believed it would never be enough?

She felt God speaking quietly to her.

“Take inventory.” 

She might be without physical cash, but she had so much more. The problem had never been the absence of resources. The problem was that she had stopped seeing them.

And that was when the words from the Bible stopped being information and started becoming a mirror.

She had gifts.

She had talents.

She had experience.

She even had physical stock from one of her businesses.

And she realised she had been doing herself a great injustice all these years by discounting what she already possessed.

She looked again at herself in the physical mirror and saw a vibrant, brilliant young woman.

Could it be that she had somehow believed she was not enough because of a personal experience of rejection from years ago?

But that rejection should never have defined her.

It had sunk deep into her subconscious and kept whispering lies.

Oh, how true this scripture was! :

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”  Proverbs 23:7a (KJV)

She had been thinking all manner of lies. And she had wound up exactly like those lies.

But not anymore.

She now knew the truth.

And she was free.

Every dormant gift would find expression.

Dear sister, if you have ever found yourself hiding under age, comparison, disappointment, divorce, financial struggles, grief, infertility, regret, rejection, or unrealised dreams, now is the time to stop and take stock.

Can you begin to see what God already sees?

We cannot live waiting for:

more money,

a husband,

a promotion,

a house,

a business breakthrough,

or a different season.

Sometimes the greatest miracle is not receiving something new.

Sometimes the greatest miracle is finally seeing what Jesus has already done and how much we already have.

Let us go back to that mirror.

Now who do you really see?

Fara looked once more into the mirror.

No. Her face had not changed.

The woman looking back at her had not changed.

But now she could finally see her.

A woman blessed and favoured of the LORD. 

 

OLUYINKA EGO-MARTINS © 2026