Here's one of my most cherished blog posts from a few years ago. I thought it was perfect for this site.
Titus 2:3-5
Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
Titus 2:3-5
Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
I'm nineteen years old. For the past three years, I've fought a hard battle between accepting who I am in the eyes of the Lord and who I am when I look in the mirror - what I think other people see. I'm no perfect size 3. My face has acne. My hair is frizzy and unlike all my friends around me - it's not smooth, elegant and "typical." I could go on and on about how much I stand out - I could go on and on about all the little things about me that get under my skin. I could go one forever about why I don't feel beautiful. But that's not what I'm here for.
Today I went to the annual Ladies Tea hosted by a church in Yuba City. Every year, friends, sisters, mothers, daughters, aunts and nieces gather for food and fellowship simply to bless one another with the love of Christ as we're all joined as His body. But this year, it was different for me. I saw things I'd seen before, but never really saw. I beheld, through my eyes and heart, older women who, like an adult before their own parents, reverenced themselves just like the children they were of their Father. These were women who have lived most of their lives, made their mistakes and yet still cling to the faithfulness and promises of their Savior.
There are many different types of women. There are quiet, loud, feminine, sporty - and all of these mixed up together per individual as well. But I've learned that no matter what type of woman one may be, her love and drive for the Gospel always brings her back to humiliation and submission to the One she serves. It is a passion that could bring even the rowdiest tomboy to her knees or the quietest, most hushed and coldest woman to a trickling of the softest whispers.
Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. I've met young men that think me anything BUT attractive and others who think the world of me and likewise girls who view me the same as well on both sides. It's all subjective - looks and attraction (a hard lesson learned). But when I gazed upon the women of faith that surrounded me, women who taught me more in those couple of hours than those before them have in years of friendship, I saw more beauty in that fellowship hall than ever could be described because the beauty I saw started in their hearts and crept up to their smiles and burst out with a glimmer of kindness in their eyes. They truly became physically beautiful to me and I admired their dedication to Christ and His bride.
So what am I getting at here? I'll break it down nice and easy. Life is about relationships. We're humans destined to fall in love and some - to even marry and populate the earth. It's where I am currently in life that makes "being attractive" difficult because it's typical to dwell on all my mental and physical flaws. But at the end of the day, it's not how someone looks. It's not the car they drive or "the ice around their necks." It's about where their heart is and where they find their true happiness. I pray that I continue to walk with the Lord so that one day I too may fully grasp how beautiful I am in His sight leading a legacy for those in my footsteps and that YOU as well might soldier on confidently for the Kingdom.
Today I went to the annual Ladies Tea hosted by a church in Yuba City. Every year, friends, sisters, mothers, daughters, aunts and nieces gather for food and fellowship simply to bless one another with the love of Christ as we're all joined as His body. But this year, it was different for me. I saw things I'd seen before, but never really saw. I beheld, through my eyes and heart, older women who, like an adult before their own parents, reverenced themselves just like the children they were of their Father. These were women who have lived most of their lives, made their mistakes and yet still cling to the faithfulness and promises of their Savior.
There are many different types of women. There are quiet, loud, feminine, sporty - and all of these mixed up together per individual as well. But I've learned that no matter what type of woman one may be, her love and drive for the Gospel always brings her back to humiliation and submission to the One she serves. It is a passion that could bring even the rowdiest tomboy to her knees or the quietest, most hushed and coldest woman to a trickling of the softest whispers.
Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. I've met young men that think me anything BUT attractive and others who think the world of me and likewise girls who view me the same as well on both sides. It's all subjective - looks and attraction (a hard lesson learned). But when I gazed upon the women of faith that surrounded me, women who taught me more in those couple of hours than those before them have in years of friendship, I saw more beauty in that fellowship hall than ever could be described because the beauty I saw started in their hearts and crept up to their smiles and burst out with a glimmer of kindness in their eyes. They truly became physically beautiful to me and I admired their dedication to Christ and His bride.
So what am I getting at here? I'll break it down nice and easy. Life is about relationships. We're humans destined to fall in love and some - to even marry and populate the earth. It's where I am currently in life that makes "being attractive" difficult because it's typical to dwell on all my mental and physical flaws. But at the end of the day, it's not how someone looks. It's not the car they drive or "the ice around their necks." It's about where their heart is and where they find their true happiness. I pray that I continue to walk with the Lord so that one day I too may fully grasp how beautiful I am in His sight leading a legacy for those in my footsteps and that YOU as well might soldier on confidently for the Kingdom.
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