Girl Talk

"For you created me in my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, i know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:13-16

I guess this is a pretty popular verse, but it's one that means a lot to me. and as girls i don't think that we realize how awesomely God made us. it's springtime and with that comes body image issues. i'm not going to lie- i struggle with this just as much, if not more so, than all of the rest of you. it's really hard some days to look in the mirror and see all the "imperfections" of our bodies. i mean really, when i wake up in the morning with rank morning breath, my hair flying in 100 directions, dark bags under my eyes, and zits flaring like red stop signs, the furthest thing from my mind is "boy do i look beautiful today. thank you God for how you made me."

but it should be. God made us in HIS image. He created us. In His eyes we are perfectly made. at the risk of sounding cheesy, we are His princesses. and it's so easy to forget that. we get critical. "if only i could loose a few pounds." " do you see that roll?" "my hips are humungous" the list could go on and on. and everytime we do that we're telling God that what He made isn't good enough. it's an insult to his creation. Sure, it's important to be healthy and take care of our bodies, but it should not be our obsession.

and let me say that i have met a lot of skinny people who are miserable. skinniness is not next to Godliness. being super thin doesn't solve anything- in fact in most cases it causes more problems. i don't know if this is making any sense, but my heart is so heavy over this issue. GOD LOVES YOU JUST THE WAY YOU ARE! we need to learn to love ourselves. not love ourselves when we loose 10 pounds. not love ourselves after we reach perfect "in shapeness" but love ourselves the way God created us. to thank Him for making me in His image.

in all reality, if i'd work as hard at making my heart beautiful, as i do my body, wow! that would be amazing. so i guess that's my challenge to you and to me. start trying to make your heart beautiful. focus on that. you'll be amazed at how much your outer beauty will change too.