Remember that Christina Aguilera song that came out how many years ago? "We are beautiful, in every single way, words can't bring us down" The one that was already pretty bad to begin with before Mean Girls stomped upon it? Yeah. Well, it's true.
Sometime last week, I wrote up a list of all the things I want to be. Beautiful was one of them. Beauty holds so much more than physical attractiveness, that I'm sure most of us have realized by now. Unfortunately, we can forget that so easily - especially when surrounded by huge billboards of impossibly skinny models flaunting the latest "style". I'm not trying to justify anything, but our generation is a tough one to live in. We're never good enough, pretty enough, skinny enough, [insert favorite word here] enough. The message of our generation is a discouraging one: WE ARE INADEQUATE. So buy our product and you'll be fine. False. Go watch Fight Club.
1 Peter 3:3-4, some of my favorite verses in the Bible, sums it up pretty nicely:
"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment,
such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.
Instead, it should be that of your inner self,
the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit,
which is of great worth in God's sight."
such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.
Instead, it should be that of your inner self,
the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit,
which is of great worth in God's sight."
Key words? GOD'S SIGHT He's the only one that matters. Not the self-titled popular girls at school, or the fashionistas you pass downtown or whatever other manifestation of Satan we see around us that constantly tells us we are so inadequate. We have been made beautiful and clean and holy in GOD'S SIGHT by His infinite love and grace.
I, and a group of other girls, have embarked on a journey for the month of October. We have all chosen 8 items of clothing (or less, but I'm not sure any of us were that adventurous) to wear for the month. This is to challenge us to seek beauty in something other than our clothing, to go back to God's sense of beauty and how He values each of us more than we could ever comprehend. We are taking a stand against the societal norm of having multiple closets filled to the brim with clothes, not needing most of them, and still not knowing what to wear.
I've never really considered myself as a girl who struggles with this problem. Yeah, I can't find things to wear on some days, but I've never seen myself as a shopaholic. So when I first got the e-mail about this 8 items or less challenge, I kind of just glanced over it thinking, "oh, that's cool, but not for me."
After I jumped on the bandwagon (which is what I did) and started to get excited, I saw the real value in this challenge, realizing how we have a skewed vision of the beauty of ourselves. Girls get it bad, but guys are not exempt to this. Just thought I'd throw that out there in case any guys have gotten this far.
There's a Christian artist out there named Jimmy Needham. On his website, he has a whole section dedicated to his wife. Not like a shrine or anything about her, but for her to put her thoughts out to reach others. (Here's the link.) On her page, she talks about relationships and approaching them from a biblical perspective. In one of her write-ups, she shares how she had made a list of all the qualities she required her Prince Charming to have and one by one gave them back to God, saying it didn't matter if she met someone with them or not. We all have those lists. We form our ideals and cling to them with all our heart. If anyone finds that guy or girl with all of their ideal traits, please let me know.
Any girl who's been a Christian long enough has probably gone through the "let's write a letter to our future husband" activity. I've been in that a couple times now and I don't think I wrote a letter either time. Really, what are you supposed to say? Pardon my cynicism, it's 1am.
But anyways, back on track. Personally, I've been realizing more and more that I need to give my dreams to God and trust Him with them because He's the only one that knows what to do. Not just realizing, but acting upon this. So going back to the list that I had mentioned at the beginning of this post, not only did I write traits about myself but also those traits that I hope my future husband will possess. I wrote them out so I can let them go.
Most importantly, I need to let go of the woman I want to be and allow God to mold me. I am a firm believer that you can't support someone else on a foundation of sinking sand. Which is why I need to transfer my desires to God, and let Him carry the weight of the desires of my heart.
This brings us back to beauty.
As I said before, "beautiful" was one of the first words on my list of myself. I want to be seen as beautiful, I want to be cherished. I believe that's a cry of a lot of our hearts.
Tonight, God told me something awesome. While singing a song entitled none other than "Beautiful", I felt God telling me that I was the one who was beautiful. In thanking God for allowing us to see His beauty in the midst of our broken world, He told me that we are all beautiful. Would you like to know why? It's because we have the King of Beauty living in our hearts. He who lives in us makes us beautiful.
Kinda crazy to think about, huh? Well, that's God for ya. That's all I felt on my heart to talk about, so just rest on that. I pray that you will be able to realize, as I have, that we are beautiful. Just like Christina sang. Be blessed.
I, and a group of other girls, have embarked on a journey for the month of October. We have all chosen 8 items of clothing (or less, but I'm not sure any of us were that adventurous) to wear for the month. This is to challenge us to seek beauty in something other than our clothing, to go back to God's sense of beauty and how He values each of us more than we could ever comprehend. We are taking a stand against the societal norm of having multiple closets filled to the brim with clothes, not needing most of them, and still not knowing what to wear.
I've never really considered myself as a girl who struggles with this problem. Yeah, I can't find things to wear on some days, but I've never seen myself as a shopaholic. So when I first got the e-mail about this 8 items or less challenge, I kind of just glanced over it thinking, "oh, that's cool, but not for me."
After I jumped on the bandwagon (which is what I did) and started to get excited, I saw the real value in this challenge, realizing how we have a skewed vision of the beauty of ourselves. Girls get it bad, but guys are not exempt to this. Just thought I'd throw that out there in case any guys have gotten this far.
There's a Christian artist out there named Jimmy Needham. On his website, he has a whole section dedicated to his wife. Not like a shrine or anything about her, but for her to put her thoughts out to reach others. (Here's the link.) On her page, she talks about relationships and approaching them from a biblical perspective. In one of her write-ups, she shares how she had made a list of all the qualities she required her Prince Charming to have and one by one gave them back to God, saying it didn't matter if she met someone with them or not. We all have those lists. We form our ideals and cling to them with all our heart. If anyone finds that guy or girl with all of their ideal traits, please let me know.
Any girl who's been a Christian long enough has probably gone through the "let's write a letter to our future husband" activity. I've been in that a couple times now and I don't think I wrote a letter either time. Really, what are you supposed to say? Pardon my cynicism, it's 1am.
But anyways, back on track. Personally, I've been realizing more and more that I need to give my dreams to God and trust Him with them because He's the only one that knows what to do. Not just realizing, but acting upon this. So going back to the list that I had mentioned at the beginning of this post, not only did I write traits about myself but also those traits that I hope my future husband will possess. I wrote them out so I can let them go.
Most importantly, I need to let go of the woman I want to be and allow God to mold me. I am a firm believer that you can't support someone else on a foundation of sinking sand. Which is why I need to transfer my desires to God, and let Him carry the weight of the desires of my heart.
This brings us back to beauty.
As I said before, "beautiful" was one of the first words on my list of myself. I want to be seen as beautiful, I want to be cherished. I believe that's a cry of a lot of our hearts.
Tonight, God told me something awesome. While singing a song entitled none other than "Beautiful", I felt God telling me that I was the one who was beautiful. In thanking God for allowing us to see His beauty in the midst of our broken world, He told me that we are all beautiful. Would you like to know why? It's because we have the King of Beauty living in our hearts. He who lives in us makes us beautiful.
Kinda crazy to think about, huh? Well, that's God for ya. That's all I felt on my heart to talk about, so just rest on that. I pray that you will be able to realize, as I have, that we are beautiful. Just like Christina sang. Be blessed.
Thank You for showing me that I'm beautiful, God.
I am beautiful because I have the King of Beauty living in my heart.
You are in me and have made me beautiful, Lord.
I am beautiful because I have the King of Beauty living in my heart.
You are in me and have made me beautiful, Lord.
2 comments:
:) I enjoyed your blog.
"I am a firm believer that you can't support someone else on a foundation of sinking sand. Which is why I need to transfer my desires to God, and let Him carry the weight of the desires of my heart."
Amen. AMEN. AMEN!
Psalm 37:4-5
While reading your blog it reminds me of Ecclesiastes, the book much about how everything doesn't really matter and where the glory of God is the only lasting meaning in life because if you let the other things matter it will only lead you to disappointment and ultimately defeat...
Thank you for sharing! It was a blessing!
Thanks again, Justin! God really put this on my heart last night, it's been there already in bits and pieces, but last night kind of tied it all together and I felt Him telling me to write it out and share it. So I'm glad to hear that it was a blessing to you! :) and thanks for the verse, so great! Take care.
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