Intended Beauty

I feel that there is a pandemic looming over the society of women. Specifically, this pandemic looms over the heart every woman, and there are times that it can feel incurable. Women of every generation and women of every kind know the ache of heartbreak, know the feeling of insecurity and wish for more out of this life. No matter the age, there is a scary struggle with beauty these days, and it seems to hover over our every day lives.

I will be the first to admit that my insecurities used to eat at me. The insecurities stemmed from heartbreaks regarding the history of my life when my father left and, of course, my futile attempts of playing the dating game. The story of my fathers up-and-leaving made its impact by leaving a crater on my heart, and the boyfriends that I allowed into my life only seemed to deepen the wound. I never learned my lesson about true beauty, which in return led to my destructive behavior and dark path. Inevitably, this dark path led me to a hole where my only option was up. On my way up, my insecurities came to light; regrettably, I never dealt with these newly lit insecurities. Instead, I ended up hopping into a relationship without healing myself through God first. In the imminent demise of the relationship, I started to recognize that I had a bigger struggle with beauty than I thought. I also started to see that my beauty was always compared to what the world had expected.

As women, we can see the expectation of beauty in every magazine, in every commercial and on every billboard. We have pop-ups to remind us of our extra flab and yellow teeth, but nothing to express the beauty of who we really are. It seems that the world can use whatever we may be insecure about and manipulate it to make us believe we are this and we are that. In getting caught up in these expectations of the world, we forget why we were created. It is only a guess, but I would think God looks down on this Earth and sees more ugly than He does beauty. I'm sure He sees that we are colored in our insecurities and all He wants to do is take our hand and lead us away from them. Why?

Because we were created out of beauty from the beginning. We were and are created to be beautiful to our God - not this world. In Psalms 45: 10-11 we can read the beauty that God wants.

"Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father's house. The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor Him, for He is your Lord."

While in Isaiah 3:18-24, God is angered at how worldly things have become. He sees the women with...

"...their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, the earrings and bracelets and veils, the headdresses and ankle chains and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms, the signet rings and nose rings, the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses and mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls."

And He talks of taking these things away, because, again, His intentions are being manipulated:

"Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a sash, a rope; instead of well-dressed hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, branding."

Yet, even though this is stated and even though we are told we are beautiful, why do we struggle to believe this? The reality lies in the fact that we are so wrapped up in what the world desires us to be; consequently, this will always lead us into misery. There is no man on this Earth that is perfect, but we have expectations of this. There is no beauty product to help the inside of us that is still dying, but we think that the new and improved facial cream will cure the lines that reveal our aging. Misery waits at every corner when we have these skewed outlooks. When will we awake to the truth that God is the only person we should look to in order to see what beauty truly is.

We are beautiful. No matter what the world says, no matter what a boyfriend says, no matter the situation in which we may have experienced as a young girl – we are beautiful. God says this and we should never doubt it. Once there is faith put into this statement, there is true freedom. God has been working through me by healing the crater on my heart. He’s slowly helping me realize that my insecurities are minute compared to His love for me. This feeling alone is indescribable.

Another thing I did want to mention in this was the organization For The Girls International and the AWAKEN Conference. This event is held on February 12th & 13th and the mission is to awaken the freedom that lies within women through God. I think every woman should attend this experience to truly grasp all that God wants from us as woman in this ugly world. Registration is online and available through January 30th.

Oh, and one more thing…

You’re beautiful.