you're beautiful

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What is beauty?

I can easily remember looking at myself intently in the bathroom mirror and making a mental checklist of what I wanted to change, as early as the age of 8.  Everything I had was all wrong inside of my head.  I wanted blonde hair instead of brown, I wanted tan skin instead of fair with freckles.  I carried this checklist with me all the way through high school and college.  It was like carry on luggage: baggage.  It would wear me down, make me think I wasn't good enough, and affect my actions.  I wouldn't go places or be plagued with anxiety before going because of my self consciousness.  

You see, I never thought I was beautiful.  Even when I gave my life over to God in middle school I still carried this baggage with me.  

In our society beauty is an idol.  We create an image in our mind of that the "bar" is and we set our standards there.  We think to ourselves, "If I only looked like that then I would be beautiful".  

This was our sermon yesterday in church and I loved the conversation the Mr. and I had on our way home.  We were talking about how our view of beauty and self-consciousness is so hindering.  But, there is freedom:

"For you created my inmost being, you created me in my mother's womb"

Psalm 139:13

God created us, He knows everything about us.  The God that created our universe and everything we find beauty in made us beautiful.  We are beautiful women of God.  

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.  We all like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

Isaiah 52: 5-6

There is freedom in Christ.  These thoughts of what we want to change about ourselves so that we can finally be beautiful are not of God, and what I have leaned over the past several years is that God loved me so much that he made me just the way I am-I have to love myself too.  There's a verse that says "If God is for us than who can be against us?"  Well, WE can't be against us.  We have to daily take the image of what we may think as beauty that brings us harm and self-doubt and tear it up.  For me, that is recognizing who I compare myself to or think is the ideal vision of beauty because they are thinner than me or have better clothes than me.  

The Mr. and I were talking about my transformation to beauty and how I struggled with it for so long.  When we were engaged my relationship with God was very strong, I went to God daily and learned how to live our His life for me, and He showed me how to love myself.  All of myself.  This began my beauty transformation.  Our self-confidence is beautiful.  When we love ourselves that is beautiful.  Our attitude and actions are beautiful.  

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This is a big passion for me: for others to see how they were created beautifully and wonderfully.  When I was younger this was a struggle for me and I was fortunate enough to have older godly girls love on me.  I'm praying for God to open doors to allow me to be that for girls today.  Remember, you were beautifully made by the Creator-you are beautiful!

Right now tell yourself 5 things that you love about yourself that are beautiful!