This post is for the ladies. However, men, feel free to give this post a read as well. Perhaps it will help you to understand us crazy ladies a little better. ;)
My search for true beauty began many years ago with my own insecurity driving the search.
Since then I have come to understand beauty in a way that I never even knew existed. I'm now beginning to see to what extent that this world sees beauty in the wrong light.
God IS beauty. That has been my revelation.
Yeah, yeah, we all know he is beautiful. But, ladies, true revelation on this will change your lives! And WE are in this together.
He is the only thing beautiful. And the cool thing is that when you begin to understand that, you begin to see Him in all things. Even the "ugliest" human on earth has beauty. God made them. They just don't know their beauty... yet. Every person's gift, talent, mind, heart, is so entirely beautiful. Music, voices, smiles, personalities... I could go on. Everything good comes from God, and He is beautiful.
So, why is it then, that we women, who (let me be frank) have been comparing ourselves to the girls in the magazines, have not been loving ourselves.
Something that made my heart sink last weekend while I was at a Propel Women conference is... well... picture this:
4000 women gather in a church to seek God. It's a leadership conference. These women are there because they love God, and they want to grow in their faith and in leadership.
The very well known speaker, Christine Cain, says out of faith:
"Be good Christians, and bow your heads... Don't look up".
She continued to invite anyone who was considering sleeping with a man to keep him, to be bold and raise her hand so that we can pray for them. What happened next shocked and saddened me.
Of course I was thinking "wow, who would raise their hand in this crowd of female Christian leaders". Christine continued on "Thank you, thank you, thank you for raising your hand. We will pray for you."
She said two dozen women raised their hands. She continued with encouraging words to say to these beautiful women ... as my mind wandered off.
My heart sunk.
It got me thinking about all the women that were not bold enough to raise their hands. It got me thinking about all of the women (not just women, Christian women) that do not see themselves as valuable enough to honor their bodies. How many Christian women are exploiting themselves on the internet RIGHT NOW. I am confident that someone reading this right now is living this first hand. (My goal is not to condemn or judge you. My goal is to pour out the love of Jesus on you and tell you, you have more value then that!! And I am praying you have revelation on your beauty and worth!)
And if you are a man that has been reading this and I still have your attention, let me challenge you to see beauty for what it really is. True beauty is much more satisfying!
One of my favorite verses of all time is John 10:10, because it quickly describes the consequences of our choices. Choose God, or choose satan. Because every choice we make is doing one or the other.
So what now?
Ask God to show you. Ask God to show you how beautiful He is. Ask for the Holy Spirit to speak to you and show you how His beauty exists in you. It is THEE most fulfilling. And please, accept God's grace! He can and will fix anything. He is the Healer!
I also want you to know something. I could have been that girl that raised her hand at the conference. In fact, I used to be that girl!
My search for true beauty began many years ago with my own insecurity driving the search.
Since then I have come to understand beauty in a way that I never even knew existed. I'm now beginning to see to what extent that this world sees beauty in the wrong light.
God IS beauty. That has been my revelation.
Yeah, yeah, we all know he is beautiful. But, ladies, true revelation on this will change your lives! And WE are in this together.
He is the only thing beautiful. And the cool thing is that when you begin to understand that, you begin to see Him in all things. Even the "ugliest" human on earth has beauty. God made them. They just don't know their beauty... yet. Every person's gift, talent, mind, heart, is so entirely beautiful. Music, voices, smiles, personalities... I could go on. Everything good comes from God, and He is beautiful.
So, why is it then, that we women, who (let me be frank) have been comparing ourselves to the girls in the magazines, have not been loving ourselves.
Something that made my heart sink last weekend while I was at a Propel Women conference is... well... picture this:
4000 women gather in a church to seek God. It's a leadership conference. These women are there because they love God, and they want to grow in their faith and in leadership. The very well known speaker, Christine Cain, says out of faith:
"Be good Christians, and bow your heads... Don't look up".
She continued to invite anyone who was considering sleeping with a man to keep him, to be bold and raise her hand so that we can pray for them. What happened next shocked and saddened me.
Of course I was thinking "wow, who would raise their hand in this crowd of female Christian leaders". Christine continued on "Thank you, thank you, thank you for raising your hand. We will pray for you."
She said two dozen women raised their hands. She continued with encouraging words to say to these beautiful women ... as my mind wandered off.
My heart sunk.
It got me thinking about all the women that were not bold enough to raise their hands. It got me thinking about all of the women (not just women, Christian women) that do not see themselves as valuable enough to honor their bodies. How many Christian women are exploiting themselves on the internet RIGHT NOW. I am confident that someone reading this right now is living this first hand. (My goal is not to condemn or judge you. My goal is to pour out the love of Jesus on you and tell you, you have more value then that!! And I am praying you have revelation on your beauty and worth!)
And if you are a man that has been reading this and I still have your attention, let me challenge you to see beauty for what it really is. True beauty is much more satisfying!
One of my favorite verses of all time is John 10:10, because it quickly describes the consequences of our choices. Choose God, or choose satan. Because every choice we make is doing one or the other.
So what now?
Ask God to show you. Ask God to show you how beautiful He is. Ask for the Holy Spirit to speak to you and show you how His beauty exists in you. It is THEE most fulfilling. And please, accept God's grace! He can and will fix anything. He is the Healer!
I also want you to know something. I could have been that girl that raised her hand at the conference. In fact, I used to be that girl!
