What If...Part Four: You Are Beautiful

Reflective Moments, Where it Started!

I kinda laugh at this now but I remember being a little girl always wondering why I couldn't be another race. I was raised in a poor, run down part of Florida.  My neighborhood was zoned to a predominately Caucasian school.  I'd look around at the girls there; look at their clothes, their hair, the way the dressed. Then I'd look down at myself (comparison at its finest at the age of 7).  I pretty much didn't like anything about me, the way I dressed or how I looked.  Things weren't better at home because of all of the verbal abuse I received.  An invisible scar was gouged into my spirit.

Are You Satisfied with Yourself?

As I got older, the scar grew.  I allowed myself to be consumed with appearances around me. I desperately tried whatever it took to be that "beautiful" image I always had in my head.  I'd look in the bathroom mirror (behind closed doors) and fuss at myself and God, asking why He had to make me with that size nose.  Why did my hair have to be kinky? Why did I have to have full lips...and the list went on.  Soon I was an adult carrying around those same damaging thoughts.  My heart and spirit were crushed from home, my own self infliction, people, everything.  I saturated myself in the images I earnestly studied in music videos, on television, and in magazines.  I had set myself on a collision course with destruction.

  

Bad Behavior=Bad Consequences

My behavior and conduct were reckless, out of control.  Like my story, there are many other teenagers and young girls out there who run aimlessly at superficial beauty.  It doesn't matter how well we put ourselves together on the outside.  If we do nothing about the deficit on the inside, we will just run around in circles.  Revlon, MAC, and Cover Girl can’t help in this case…but Jesus Christ can!

What I Know About Beauty

When I finally came to Christ, I learned of a different type of beauty...inner beauty.  I learned that God doesn't care about what we look like on the outside (though He does care about how we treat and manage our outside), but the heart matters most!  And mine was in shards! I had to learn all over how to see myself THROUGH THE EYES OF GOD! I had to learn to focus my mind on such scriptures as 1 Peter 3:3-4 "Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable BEAUTY of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." (emphasis mine).  And this one, Proverbs 31:30 "Charm is deceitful, and BEAUTY IS VAIN, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." (emphasis mine).  And Psalm 139:14 "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.  

God knows exactly what He’s doing in creating us.  He knew what we'd look like before we were ever conceived.  We will continue to wrestle with our flaws until we come to the truth of who we are in Christ. Only He can change our hearts and minds in such a manner.  My encouragement to you is that you will not allow the world to dictate what beauty is. Develop and strengthen your relationship with Christ.  And more importantly, share your story with others who need to hear your message of how you overcame.  I’d love to hear your story as well!  Be blessed!