Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
What happens when you are the beholder— of yourself?
Do you struggle with calling yourself beautiful? You aren’t alone. Many women struggle with their self-esteem. You are down on yourself because of your weight gain, gray hairs, or wrinkly face. Maybe someone in your past has brought harm to you and you have spent your whole life dealing with those insecurities. Sometimes the pain is brought by others. Sometimes it’s brought on by ourselves.
I’m here today to encourage you. To let you know exactly what God thinks of you! If you believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, then listen to what it has to say about you.
“For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.”
(Psalm 139:13-16)
You are not a mistake! God Himself–the one who designed the glorious sunrise, the beautiful flowers, and the stillness of the night also designed YOU! You were not put on this earth without thought.
Ladies. I want to challenge you in 3 ways today.
♦ Are you living in confidence as one who was created fearfully and wonderfully, without mistake, from God or are you allowing the insecurities and fear that Satan has planted in your mind to rule you?
♦ Are you living to fulfill the purpose that only you can do?
God has given YOU special talents. He’s given YOU special passions. He’s given YOU specific resources. There’s no mistake in that. God wants you to be a part of His plan. He’s waiting for you to say, “Yes! I’ll fulfill my purpose you’ve given me, Lord.” You’ll find in joining God that your inner beauty and value starts to ooze out of your body and soul.
♦ For those of you who have children, especially daughters, are you being careful about how you are portraying what you think of yourself to them?
Are your children constantly hearing you complain about your body, hair, or wrinkles? Or are they seeing you model the inner beauty which comes from knowing your worth and value in Christ? There’s nothing wrong with your children seeing you place a value on healthy living—that, I want to pass on. But the last thing I want is my daughter to imitate and mirror my own insecurities. I want her to know her value in being a BEAUTIFUL child of God!
There’s One beholder who sees beauty straight to the core and He thinks you rock–extra weight, crow’s feet, gray hair and all.
“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)
♥♥♥
I want to share a song that’s been on my heart over the past few days. My favorite line in it says this,
You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do
So there could never be a more beautiful you
Take a few minutes to listen to this song. I pray it will be of encouragement to you.
More Beautiful You, by Jonny Diaz
Little girl fourteen flipping through a magazine
Says she wants to look that way
But her hair isn’t straight her body isn’t fake
And she’s always felt overweight
Well little girl fourteen I wish that you could see
That beauty is within your heart
And you were made with such care your skin your body and your hair
Are perfect just the way they are
[Chorus]
There could never be a more beautiful you
Don’t buy the lies disguises and hoops they make you jump through
You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do
So there could never be a more beautiful you
Little girl twenty-one the things that you’ve already done
Anything to get ahead
And you say you’ve got a man but he’s got another plan
Only wants what you will do instead
Well little girl twenty-one you never thought that this would come
You starve yourself to play the part
But I can promise you there’s a man whose love is true
And he’ll treat you like the jewel you are
[chorus]
So turn around you’re not too far
To back away be who you are
To change your path go another way
It’s not too late you can be saved
If you feel depressed with past regrets
The shameful nights hope to forget
Can disappear they can all be washed away
By the one who’s strong can right your wrongs
Can rid your fears dry all your tears
And change the way you look at this big world
He will take your dark distorted view
And with His light He will show you truth
And again you’ll see through the eyes of a little girl
Clare, i just wanted to let you know that i LOVED this post. thanks so much for the encouragement and reminder! i know for me i can never be reminded too much. i love reading your blog and thoughts, although i know don’t comment often enough {sorry for that!}. i am so thankful that you let the Creator use your gift of encouragement through this blog. keep ’em coming :].
I agree with Ann:)
I so needed this today. Thank you.
Thank you for posting this! So many times I look in the mirror and the things I think and even say to myself are not nice.
I loved this post, too! Particularly the part about passing the healthy habits, but not all the self-complaints, to my young daughters. Loved the song lyrics, too. So good. Thank you for sharing this. I have posted it to my facebook wall. God bless you! 🙂
Thank you Sharon! (I tried to get on your blog, but couldn’t :()
Love this post Clare…I have been there! Life can be so humbling at times. So comforting to know God made us the way we are and loves us just so.
Just when I am feeling the most “unloved”, God uses His people, like you, Clare, to remind me (& all of us) that He’s crazy in love with us and only wants us to think His thoughts toward ourselves. Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. May God continue to bless you and this blog.