you are beautiful!

I have taken a long hiatus from my blog but I am back! 

To all my girls/ sisters: 

I read a blog about natural beauty today. It really struck a cord with me. I've felt insecure, ashamed and plain ugly. Maybe you can relate. It's something I've been wrestling since childhood. You see, I am one who barely wears make up mainly because it doesn't represent who I am as a person. I don't naturally have red lips, cat eyes or Barbie doll eye lashes. Don't get me wrong, I love getting dolled up here and there but I'm more concerned with sharing light with others than my outer appearance. I wanted to share this photo with you because it represents the real me. No makeup, no duck face, no camera angles, no poses and no filters. I am made and formed by the Highest of highs and he loves me. So with that being said, I can walk confidently in who I am created to be instead of what this world expects of me. Isaiah 43 & psalm 139. 

ISAIAH 43:1 
But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

PSALM 139: 13-18 

13For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

15My 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.

16Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

17How precious to me are your thoughts,^a God!

How vast is the sum of them!

18Were I to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand—

when I awake, I am still with you.

YOU are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are beautiful. You don't have to mask yourself with all of this nonsense. You don't have to give into peer pressure or any of that mess. WHY? Because, God DELIGHTS in you. HE cares for you and all he wants to do is shine his glory through you! All you have to do is BE YOURSELF. For real, He doesn't need you to act like everything is okay. You don't have to put on a show or act IGNORANT. He loves your messes. He loves fixing them. WHY? BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU. He wants you to grow in him. HE wants all of you! Song of Solomon: (I am my beloved's and he is mine." You are his beloved and he absolutely adores you. 

There are many days that I come home from work and I'm absolutely exhausted. I'm grumpy, tired, unpleasant and hard to deal with and what's the first thing God does? He showers me with his abundant love. That is real. When the bible says Love is patient. Replace the word love with Jesus and then see how THAT places out in your life. Goodness gracious do you see his patience with you. I am absolutely captivated with that truth. 

Praying, praying, praying that your eyes are open to such that is Jesus. 

Know that He created you and formed you uniquely, wonderfully and fearfully made! 

-me