Whose Standard of Beauty

I would like to welcome my sister Aminah who wrote this encouraging article on her website Loved and Forgiven.  Check out her website as well as her blog Grace to Endure.  She is truly a gift to me from God.

Be Blessed ...

I posted this a long time ago...I felt the need to post this again. I pray that it helps whoever needs to read this.

 

We cannot turn on the television, surf the net, or even drive around town without being inundated with images of women...perfect women. Or are they, and if so, by whose standards?

 

  1 Samuel 16:7b The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

 

 

This is an area I struggled with a very long time. I made up in my mind about two years ago, that I would no longer live my life being defeated in this area. When I feel myself getting ready to slip into the abyss of negative self image, I use my tools.

 

1. I remind myself that I was made in God's image

 

Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

 

2. I remind myself that God knew me before my parents even thought about having children.

 

Jeremiah 1:5a Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.

 

3. I remind myself that it's not how I look on the outside that makes me beautiful to my Creator, but the heart that is on the inside.

 

1 Peter 3:3-5 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

 

I am beautiful to Him. No matter what others may think, no matter how I may feel when I wake up with a blemish or have a bad hair day. So what if I don't have the "perfect figure" or wardrobe?My hair is too short, too long, too straight too curly. I'm too short, too tall. Too thin, not thin enough...

 

Where does it stop?

 

We must not believe the lies from the enemy, our adversary, Satan, who would love nothing more than to have God's children having low self-esteem. He knows that even if he cannot take away our salvation, he can make our witness ineffective and our lives miserable. We can feel so bad about ourselves that we can easily spend our days and nights focusing on ourselves...not on the Lord. This doesn't just affect us. Our children and spouses also have to deal with it.We must be careful not to allow negative thoughts to make us sink into a depressed state of mind. Our enemy would really love for that to happen.

 

4. I remind myself that God made me to look the way it was pleasing to Him.

 

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

 

Take heart, my sister. We are all beautiful. We were all made perfectly by the Creator of the universe.