This one might be geared more toward the ladies, but men need to hear this just as much.
Thanks to one of my best friends, I discovered a beautiful video of a beautiful woman filled with beautiful words of wisdom that every human needs to hear. With that said, I decided to take a break from writing about camping to share with all of you something that is far more important to me, as it should be to the rest of us. I would like to share a testimony that shook my heart and reaffirmed the path that I know God has been calling me to follow in my life. I beg for your time and attention, if you would, to stop and please listen to this beautiful woman’s story.
My heart has been broken over this topic for a very long time now and this woman’s testimony broke me even more. It’s a shame and it’s disgusting how much we find our identity, our worth, our value in our physical appearance. How we look, how many zits we have, the clothes that we wear. I have fallen as a victim to this, of course, and that adds even more as to why this is a topic that weighs very heavily upon my heart. Ever since I took a class on Adolescents and The Media (one of my most favorite and influential courses ever), I have become extremely passionate about the false images that are found in the mass media. They have much more power than they should and much more power than they deserve. They, unfortunately, take over our minds and make us feel like we need to look a certain way in order to be coined as beautiful. Especially in today’s society that we currently live in, where we are constantly bombarded with ideal, practically perfect images presented to us by not only movies, magazines and television shows, but even BLOGS. All of these images that we eat up every single day make their way into our minds and our hearts. The enemy finds every single crack and opening possible in order to enter and make us feel inadequate and simply not good enough, even ugly.
All of it is a lie. Don’t believe any of it for a second.
As much as I love shopping and getting dressed up (love it), it becomes a counterfeit god and an absolute idol the moment I base my identity and my definition of beauty on it, and ultimately, above God. My heart aches whenever I see certain images that I see in magazines, whenever I see certain movie scenes and whenever I view so many different images in the media because I know how deeply these portrayals of “beauty” take a tole on not only our adolescents, but our people today. These beautifully awful images have even made their way into the minds of our men, fooling many of them into thinking that women should look a certain way, or even act a certain way.
All of it is a lie. Don’t believe any of it for a second.
To God, you are exactly what you need to be, who you need to be, where you need to be. With God, you never have to work so hard to attain a nearly impossible and absolutely unhealthy and extremely impractical physical image that the world makes you think you need. In God, you are as beautiful as beautiful will ever get. We need to find ourselves in Him and we need to see ourselves in light of how God intended us to be, which is exactly who we are. We need to know that to Him, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. There will never be anyone like you, with your fingerprints, your gifts, your passions, your unique quirks and characteristics. Unfortunately, that truth doesn’t seem to ever click enough for us… but it needs to! Know who you are in God and prayerfully allow Him to use YOU, as YOU are, even (especially) apart from the fancy make up and pretty clothing. ALL of it is fleeting, beauty is fleeting, luxuries are fleeting, our days are fleeting. I beg myself, and I beg you, to keep your eyes on God and never feel like you have to look a certain way to be beautiful. While it is nice to admire creation, never forget the Creator. Celebrities are cool, famous bloggers are cool, magazines are cool, but really–to hell with all of the comparing! It happens too much, and at the end of the day NONE of it matters. God looks at the heart, and that matters. Don’t ever feel like you need to conform to anything or anybody. Everyone is unique. You are beautiful in your own way and I am beautiful in my own way. Invest your heart completely in the LORD and in Him is where you will discover the real beauty that can be found nowhere else in this entire world.
To God, zits and pimples ain’t no thang (really, I know it’s easier said than done, but it’s truly meaningless and we need to be thankful to even have skin!). With God, the beauty of your heart will reach places that you would have never thought possible. And in God, there is FREEDOM. Freedom from bondage, freedom from inadequacy, freedom from heavy chains and freedom from the lies that society continually feeds our eyes, our minds and our hearts. Bask in this freedom and bask in the beauty of abiding in the love of God.
The media tells us to widen our appetites for beauty by indulging in what society has to offer us. But in 2 Corinthians, Paul’s letter to the Corinthians reminds us to widen our hearts.
This is another reason as to why I want to take a big leap away from our western culture with its convincing facades of beauty that persistently pursues and takes us away from seeing that our physical bodies are ONLY a SHELL, and I am only a vessel. I believe that this has become an epidemic, and the definition of beauty has been tainted. I grew up in a world where beauty industries and the media constantly fed me lie in terms of what is beautiful, and they still do. Every single day. We believe what we see, we want what we see, and we forget about the things that really matter in light of eternity, in light of the kingdom of God. I don’t care what you look like, and I don’t care what your measurements are. Even more than that, God doesn’t care about those things, so why should I place such a heavy emphasis on them? Don’t get me wrong, it’s not sinful to get dolled up and to enjoy pretty dresses and make up. I enjoy these things as well! However, the moment they become your worth and the moment you feel like you need these things in order to be beautiful and attractive, that’s where it becomes deceiving. That’s where we let the enemy win. The enemy uses these weapons to kill the hearts and souls of so many women, and yes, even men. Take a step back and see how blessed you are. We have much more than we deserve and we have a life to live, with so much purpose. Live your life for God, free from the weights that the enemy constantly tries to sink us down with, and clothe yourself with dignity and strength.
Never stop fighting for joy in Jesus. Always remember that you are never alone in this struggle. Not only am I right by you, but I am sure there are thousands, even millions who are struggling with the same heavy chains… but! There is certainly and absolutely complete freedom in Jesus Christ. The moment you step into faith and allow God to conquer over your heart, now that is where freedom is and that is where true beauty lives and thrives.
The existence of God? Now, that’s real. He is definitely real.
And there is none greater that I would rather walk this beautiful life with.
