When you look in the mirror what do you see?
For most of my life I’ve worried about what people thought of me. I mean to the extreme of worrying about if people thought I was fat, ugly, pretty, and even what they thought of my hair and clothes. I’ve even had problems having real friends for the longest, because most of the time I would try to be someone that I really wasn’t. I felt like if I could fit in I could be loved and understood, but the problem was no one even knew who the real Alexandria was.
I went thought most of High school and college pretty much being the average size female and I was cool with that but then I started gaining weight and people started treating me different. I would even have family members that would say “Oh you are getting fat or you need to lose some weight”! I never knew how to handle the situation so I would come home and cry about it to my parents. My parents did what any parents would do and they encouraged me not to worry about it and told me that I was beautiful and etc. but to me that just never was enough.
I eventually started getting over the fact that I just wasn’t going to be skinny like most the people I knew and that I was beautiful no matter what people thought. And honestly I thought I was completely over my whole image issues before I got on the race. Until the other day in ministry when these two little boys decided to ask me why was I fat and told me two my face that I was ugly. Now if any of you all know me I didn’t break in front of them even though I really wanted too. I asked the little boys why they were skinny and ugly, in a very joking way and just kept loving them and talking.
All of the lies that I had let consume me once before were now back in my head because I had just let a 7 and 12 year get to me. I honestly wanted to just run in the house and start crying but I couldn’t allow the enemy to have a foot hole in my life and distract me from my ministry with these kids.
So after the kids had gone home for the night I talked about how I was feeling with one of my squad mates and she prayed for me and as she was praying for me God placed a word on my heart.
Proverbs 31:30
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the lord is to be praised.
The bible teaches that God created us and he knows each one of us intimately. It’s important that we learn to accept God’s view of us and live in contentment. We can have all the charm and beauty but when all that is gone and we don’t have a relationship with Christ life has meant nothing. The bible says that Satan was the most beautiful angel but not even his beauty kept him from being kicked out of heaven.
1 Peter 3:3-4(ESV)
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.
There will be times when we feel unloved and not good enough because we are basing our opinions on our outward appearance. We should let the world or our emotions mislead us or shape our Identity in Christ. We are all precious in his eyes. God loves us and he wants us to live in faith and obedience to his will. God is faithful and his love for us endures forever. I had to learn that I should be focused on developing Godly characteristics and not on what name brand cloths I do or do not have on or even if someone thought I was pretty or not. God loves us even when we don’t love ourselves. Now how AWESOME is that. He loves me when the world says I’m not good enough or I’m not cool. When you look in the mirror know that you are God’s child and by grace and mercy we have been saved. So the reflection that you see in the mirror shouldn’t be your owns it should be that of Christ.
What is your reflection of?
