Growing up I have always felt beautiful. I have never been the perfect size. I have never been the best dressed, but that has never mattered to me. I have been me, just how God made me, and that was enough.
Now that is not saying I didn’t have my moments of insecurity. I have definitely felt the need to tweak things here and there, but those moments have been fleeting and few and far between. And each time God has put the kibosh on them before they could roll into something big.
I say all of this because beauty has been something that has come to the forefront in my race recently. Or maybe I should say the perceived lack of beauty. Squadmates share their stories of how they feel ugly and I sit there looking at them thinking “How could they feel so ugly when they are so beautiful”?
I saw the beauty in my squad even before I met them. I got to see the love they had in their hearts. I got to see their strength. I got to see their courage. I got to see their faith. I got to see their endurance. I got to see their faces. And you know what I saw, beauty.
And something so amazing has happened as I’ve gotten to spend time with each one, they’ve become even more beautiful. As each one dives in further into God’s calling on their lives they begin to change. It’s something you just can’t quite put your finger on. But you look at each person and marvel at how beauty just radiates from them.
So it blows me away to hear someone say that they don’t feel like they are beautiful enough. So this is my open letter to my squad. Know that you are a child of God and that there is nothing more beautiful in this world. God made you the way that you are, and that is perfect. God sees you and loves you. I see you and love you. You are more beautiful than you know. And even if you have a hard time seeing it, know that God sees it. Know that I see it. I wish I could take each negative thought away from you but I can’t. So when you begin to feel bad please turn to God and let Him show you how beautiful He knows that you are.
“You are absolutely beautiful, my darling, with no imperfection in you.”
Song of Solomon 4:7
