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“It’s here!” I exclaimed to myself in the parking lot of the post office. My wedding cake topper was finally here!

Planning a wedding has a lot of joyous moments – finding the dress, picking your bridesmaids and the venue, planning your future with your fiancé. And while all that was special for me, finding the perfect cake topper was an extra special step in the planning process for me.

When I first started looking for one, I kept running into the same problem: none of the cake toppers looked like me.

Born with a facial difference — a purple port wine stain birthmark that takes up nearly half my face – I’ve embraced who I am as I am. And while I didn’t need a cake topper that looked one hundred percent just like me, I needed one that honored the natural beauty I felt God intentionally gave me.

It took a while to find someone willing to make one for me. When I googled, “birthmark wedding cake topper,” I initially got naked mole rats wearing a veil and top hat, which wasn’t exactly what I was aiming for. So when I opened the box sitting in front of me, my heart raced with excitement. I lifted up the customized piece made of clay and admired the handmade beauty. My eyes were instantly drawn to my clay face because finally I found a cake topper that looked like me.

Even better? As a handmade piece, the clay captured the fingerprints of the sculptor’s, and they were everywhere. They were on my birthmark, on our clothes, and on our hair. They were even on my flowers!

Instantly, I had a “God moment” sitting in my car in that parking lot. In the midst of wedding excitement, life felt messier than usual. It felt chaotic and busy. There were unkind words thrown our way, a cross-country move, new jobs, and broken relationships.

So as I sat in silence, staring at my new treasure, I felt like God was speaking to me through this piece of beautifully molded clay, giving me encouraging reminders my heart needed in that moment:

Don’t forget. Like the sculptor’s, My fingerprints are everywhere — even in the chaos, even in the busy, even in the brokenness.

As I stared at the sculptor’s fingerprints, I thought about where God’s fingerprints could be found in my life. While there are many more I can see and many I still have yet to uncover, here are a few that come to my mind now:

1. All over my marriage. From the way my husband and I met to how we do life together – what a God story. And what about how my husband loves me? Oh, his love is patient and kind. It shines from his heart and mind!

2. In my own, personal story. Through the ups and downs, from the moment I was born, God has always been here. He has always provided.

3. In my God-sized dreams. He’s provided the next steps, the mentors, the encouragement. I’m confident He has also provided the tough love I’ve needed to push me toward the goals He’s put in my heart.

4. In my unique appearance. Some may see a birth defect that needs to be “fixed,” but I see an opportunity to make a difference with my difference — I see something to be embraced! And boy, has God had His fingerprints all over that ministry!

5. In the family He gave me. Their love and support are irreplaceable. They never treated me any differently just because of my medical conditions, and they never made me feel ashamed of my natural appearance, which isn’t always the story of children born with my condition or similar conditions. But also, they taught me about Jesus and passed on that deep, important heritage so I can one day do the same.

I have a smaller version of our larger wedding cake topper from the same clay artist, and I even ordered smaller ornaments from her for my bridesmaids. Even on the smaller pieces, at times you can see her fingerprints but not nearly as well or as often. In fact, I didn’t even notice they were there until someone else pointed one out to me.

While all of the pieces have been made by her, they are all different sizes and perspectives. The larger pieces give a closer look at the smaller details that often go unseen on the smaller pieces. As a result, sometimes the evidence of her handiwork is more obvious than other times. Yet, she was always the one molding the pieces. She was always the one bringing the colors and clay to life. She was always the one with a plan. God does the same for us.

God is the one who is always molding us, who’s had a plan for us from the very beginning.

Make a list of where you see God’s fingerprints in your life
and share some in the comments below!