Attention every lady out there!
This is a picture of me earlier this morning *right* after a shower: no filter, no makeup, hair wet and stringy and photo taken from my left side.
This is a photo I would never post of myself on the reg. To me, I’m the worst I could look in this picture. My face is red and pimply, my hair’s not done (or my brows) and this photo shows my left side (my crooked teeth). Bear with me.
I never take pictures of the left side of my face because I consider it to be very ugly, despite what people tell me. To this day, I am still incredibly insecure about my teeth being crooked. Every now and then I am extremely conscious of who is sitting to the left of me, and I will quit smiling so much because I don’t want them to see this physical “flaw” of mine. I don’t think it’s cute, I don’t think it’s pretty and I definitely don’t think it’s anything attractive or to be admired. My teeth are the thing I hate most about my physical self.
This is a difficult picture to post for me, because I truly don’t like it.
I am not seeking validation, because my validation is in Christ. I am more-so wanting to take a stand for young girls and women out there who struggle to see themselves as beautiful. I can be told I have a great body, great hair and great personality, but at my core, for me I only see my teeth sometimes and think about how dorky, lame or ugly I look.
I’m tired of feeling that way about myself, because I’m fairly confident God thinks my teeth are beautiful; what if He likes the way they look? What if He created me with these teeth because He was genuinely in love with them?
This was a question that was posed to me by one of my teammates.
What if crooked teeth are God’s idea of beauty?
What if acne is God’s idea of beauty?
What if a less-defined figure and bigger belly are God’s idea of beauty?
Who said the right way to look is to look like a supermodel?
I’m writing this blog to say that I am not confident about how I look (like every other woman on planet earth), especially from my left side. This is the first picture I’m posting willingly of my left side, ever, in hopes of motivating myself and others to embrace their insecurities about themselves and to begin seeing themselves the way out Father see His daughters.
I want to help empower all of you girls and women out there. I know you all struggle with some kind of insecurity, because I do too. I’m forcing myself to do the uncomfortable and “expose” my “ugly” side and bring it to the light, because truly, there’s nothing wrong with my teeth. I hope to someday get them fixed, but for now, I will be continuing on a journey of learning how to fall in love with that part of myself, the way The Lord is in love with me.
I truly hope this was encouraging.
I encourage all of my lady friends out there, or ANY woman who reads this, to ask Christ how He sees you and your “flaws”/insecurities.
If you feel so inclined and up to the challenge, post a picture and short story/description on Instagram of your makeup-less self and your insecurity(s) with the hashtag #beautyinHiseyes.
Help me encourage and lift up the incredible and beautiful women around us. Help me speak life into the ladies around us about their worth and beauty in Christ.
We were made for so much more…we need to start believing it.
xoxo,
Maddie
