Beautiful...because He made me so.

Right now I'm teaching a confirmation class just for the girls. This past Sunday we talked about some self-image things.

I brought in some teen girl magazines and fashion magazines. I let them flip through them and asked the girls to pick out who the most beautiful person in that magazine was. Once they picked the person I asked them to say why they picked that person. Then I had them make a list on their paper starting with this prompt: "If I were as beautiful as this person I would have to change..."

The reactions from the girls were priceless. "What??" "You want us to do what?!?" "This really makes me feel bad." So on and so forth.

After a few minutes, I asked them to share what was on their list. Almost everyone shared something. Things like weight, acne, different hair, nose, ears, teeth...you name it...it was on the list. As we all faced our demons (quite literally, when you think about it), it was a huge reality of how much of an impact these things have on how we feel about ourselves. Everyone felt heavy.

Then we watched this video:


It was incredible to watch them as they watched it. You watch this woman be completely transformed and once she looks beautiful already, they go in and manipulate her facial features on the computer. Then that is what is being put on billboards. How sick! That is what our young women and girls are comparing themselves to! It's not even real..but that's what we think we have to be. How sad.

So we went back to our list. I told them how we think that we have to be just as beautiful as these models, as people on TV, as people on billboards, but it's not real. I led them in ripping up their papers.

I kind of got on my soapbox at this point. I mean, how often do young girls let a magazine tell them who they are instead of opening Scripture? How many more times to we open a magazine or a self-help book to figure out what we need to be instead of looking in God's Word? Satan fills the media with sneaky messages that enter our minds and tell us that being who God created us to be isn't enough. We have to be more than that. Well, guess what satan, you're WRONG!

We went into Scripture and looked through some of my favorite passages about who God says we are.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30

He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me. Psalm 18:19

I told those girls (and I know it doesn't sink in after hearing it once...especially when they are bombarded with the opposite messages) that they are a masterpiece of God. We see the awesome works that He has done and He claims us as the crown of creation! He delights in us! I asked them if they knew what that meant and they really didn't have much of an idea. I explained to them that just looking at or being our presence brings utter joy to our Lord. When He looks at you, He honestly can't help but smile. He just soaks you in...He delights in you. He created you as His wonderful masterpiece. I encouraged them to memorize these verses so that when the world and satan tried to get in their head and convince them otherwise, they could say to that person or to that voice in their head: "ya know what?? Bugger off! I'm fearfully and wonderfully made and you have nothing on me!"

I pray for the day that those girls believe that to be true.

I remember always being told when I was growing up that "beauty is on the inside." Yeah...so are blood and cells and that doesn't really get you attention you desire and, to some extent, need. Beauty does come from the heart, but it shines outward. I remember thinking that my dad would tell me that all of the time because I wasn't pretty. It ultimately made me feel worse about myself and I still feel that way when he says that. I want to know that I'm beautiful because that's a gift that God has given to women. He made me to be beautiful, inside and out, and claiming that Truth is what shines. If you're just building up the outside, it's a mask with emptiness at the core. Beauty is meant to be delighted in. I'm saddened that girls are so bombarded with unhealthy messages about who they have to be and don't truly believe that being a Daughter of the King is where their beauty truly lies.

I contemplate this as I sit on my couch...lamenting over wearing my bathing suit and trying to fight off the urge to have a bowl of ice cream. We're all fighting that battle. Good thing God's word is living and active; sharper than any double edged sword. (Hebrews 4:12)

I'm going to go listen to Bethany Dillon's song, Beautiful.