Beauty is only skin deep....

Beauty is a fleeting thing. It disappears before you are ready. About the time you are comfortable in your skin and confident with who you are then it starts to slip away. We are bombarded with images repeatedly telling us what we should look like and how we should act. But we repeatly look in the mirror and are repeatly disappointed with what we see because it never measures up to the images we see in magazines, on TV or in movies. People run around trying to stop time. Trying to stop the aging process. People do all kinds of things to their bodies al, in the name of trying to capture their lost beauty and youth.

The fact is we must remember that the images we see in media and our modern culture are images based in a false reality where the real images are altered and air brushed to create false "people" who are skinnier, look younger and are more perfect than the real people they are supposed to represent. Nothing about these images is really real except that real people were used as the starting point and then their likeness was altered.

But as a child of God I have to focus on the truth that the enemy is fighting a dirty war where false images are used to degrade me and hold me down. They are used to cause me to falsely view my real worth and see myself as less valuable and less beautiful than I really am.
Now I am not trying to say I should inflate my worth beyond what is true. Nor should I value myself more than others but I also should not see myself as less valuable than others either.

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
Psalms 139:13-14 NKJV
http://bible.com/114/psa.139.13-14.NKJV

"Inner beauty is inside each of us. We are all beautiful in God’s eyes as we are created in the image of God. God doesn’t make junk. However, many people don’t feel beautiful inside. We are often smothered by a lack of confidence and even a lack of acceptance of other people. It is easy to compare ourselves to others especially when we compare our outward appearance. God’s word makes it clear that we are all beautiful to Him. Beauty isn’t just reserved for models and Hollywood actors and actresses. You are beautiful. Read the following scripture passages and let God heal you as you come to the realization of how much God loves and values each of His created beings. Beauty is more than skin deep. One interesting thing is that the love of another person will often make us feel beautiful. When we have the love of a spouse or our family member we will feel accepted and better about ourselves. When there is a lack of love in our lives, we often feel alone and isolated and even depressed. That is one reason why people are often drawn to the Lord God. God is love. It is what He is. No matter how alone we feel in this life we can always know that God is there for us and He loves us the way we are. Maybe today you are feeling alone and depressed. People have let you down in your life and you don’t feel any inner beauty. Turn to God today. He thinks that you are His masterpiece and He loves you. Embrace Jesus Christ today. Praise Him!!!"

Quote by: Bible Verses About Inner Beauty: 22 Awesome Quotes  by DARYL EVANS

Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it  was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 1:31 NKJV
http://bible.com/114/gen.1.31.NKJV

Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let  it  be  the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.
I Peter 3:3-6 NKJV
http://bible.com/114/1pe.3.3-6.NKJV

Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the Lord , she shall be praised.
Proverbs 31:30 NKJV
http://bible.com/114/pro.31.30.NKJV

Daryl is exactly right! You are a masterpiece! I am a masterpiece...created by the Master to be exactly who He wants me to be. I am created by a loving God in His image and I look exactly as He wants me to. So to hate any part of me or want to change it is to hate the Master and think The Lord made a mistake. God doesn't make mistakes and I am not an exception to this.

The Lord has opened my eyes to the truth of who I am. He has opened my heart to who I am and helped me come to love myself not just the outward appearance but also the inner parts of me that make me who I am. My prayer is that just like me that God will open your eyes to who He sees you as. That He will open your heart and that you too would also come to love yourself. 

I am a child of the KING and that makes me precious and loved!

Lord I pray that you would allow me to have eyes to see the truth of who made me to be. Give me a heart to love myself and have an even greater love for those around me. Lord give me your eyes and your heart to impact those around me for you. Allow me to be a mirror which reflects You so that through me others are drawn closer to You. Lord I ask that anyone who might read this post would see You and yearn to know You.  Through this that they would also come to know themselves as you see them and not as the world sees them. 

                                                                                                                Amen

Be still......

Psalms 46:10 NKJV

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
http://bible.com/114/psa.46.10.NKJV

This verse comes from a beautiful passage in Psalms where the author describes all that God can do and all that He has done.

Psalms 46 NKJV
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
 Therefore we will not fear,
 Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling.
 There  is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
God is  in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
 He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
 The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Come, behold the works of the Lord ,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.
Be still, and know that I am God;
 I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
 The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.

http://bible.com/114/psa.46.1-11.NKJV

I have spent much of the last year being very still. Deep sorrow and grief for me meant going very deep within myself to find out who I was without my mom. It meant finding out what I really believed. Understanding who I was without the shadow of my mom being cast over me. It meant almost completely getting off social media so I could spend  time thinking, praying,  communing with God, listening to His words and His voice. Much of this year was spent quietly healing out of the spotlight behind closed doors with just God. I wanted to know that He was God and no matter what emotions I felt that God was indeed bigger than any sorrow I was going through.

God is so much bigger, so much more loving, full of so much more grace, and full of so much more mercy than I ever thought He could be. He somehow enveloped me with all my broken pieces and somehow held me together. And not only did He hold me together He is healing me. I still feel the cold winter wind blow from time to time over those broken pieces which are still healing but spring is coming. I feel life coming back into me. Slowly pieces and parts of me are awaking to where God wants to take me next and the lessons He still has for me to learn. Patiently He is guiding and protecting me.

Spring is coming.....but until then I will be still and wait patiently until He tells me to move.