When I would look in the mirror, I would see a girl with a stomach that looked like a road map with scars on top of scars from surgeries. I would see stretch marks from babies.  I would see a nose that was much too big from being broken time after time. I would see skin that is discolored. I could go on and on naming every single flaw I had.

Have you been there? I think we all have.

I knew that God loved me. I knew I was created in His image. So what in the world is my problem? He quickly revealed it. I was listening to the worlds version of beauty instead of His.  I was allowing the voice of the world to drown out His truth.  As I allowed Him to wipe away the shame, embarrassment and unworthiness He soon replaced them with beauty, self-worth and pride.

He replaced every lie the world had whispered to me and replaced it with His truth.

We are all made in Gods image. Every single one of us. Do you know what that means? I am beautiful, so are YOU, because we are daughters of the King and we were made in His image. Take a moment and let that sink in. Embrace it. Tuck it away securely in your heart. You are perfectly perfect and what He wants you to be.

Our Father, the one who loves us the absolute most, holds us in His hands. We are His and He is ours. We can walk through this world with heads and hearts held high as daughters of the King. Daughters who are messy and broken. With Him, we are transformed into beautiful simply because we are His.  True beauty is found on the inside.  When we allow Him to guide us, mold us, to cleanse our hearts of anything that doesn’t please Him…when we do all that, it’s reflected on the outside. He loves me in spite of my scars, booty, nose, bags under my eyes and droopy eyelids. His love is always, always forever there…accepting us exactly for who we are.

I was the girl in high school who wore a size 12 but had curves…curves that I hated.  Those curves really caused me quite a few problems.  I was made fun of for basically any small flaw they could find…lips, booty, etc.  I spent my entire teen years wishing I was thinner.  Oh, the years I wasted not appreciating what I had.

I remember one day in particular like it was yesterday.  It was one of those spring days that make your soul happy…birds chirping, sun shining bright and the flowers were in bloom.  And I was having a “thin day”.  We all know what those are, right?  My hair was amazing, my outfit was cute and I was feeling good.  Yes!  It was basically one of the only days I ever felt comfortable enough to wear shorts to school.  I walked to the bus, smiling the entire time.  Today was going to be a good day.  I got on the bus and sat in the seat with my friend.  She looked at me and immediately asked a question.  How much do you weigh?  Oh boy, I’ve never been directly asked that before.  But she was my friend, someone I trusted, so I told her.  She was horrified by my answer, immediately saying she MUST go on a diet because she nearly weighs what I do.  And THAT is not possible.

And in that moment, the numbers started to matter.

From that moment on, I’ve hidden that number deep in my heart.  The only people that know it is God, myself and my doctor (who I’ve sworn to ultimate secrecy).  I could tell you story after story of people piercing my heart with their careless words about my weight…relatives, boyfriends and even strangers.

I am one of those girls that likes to pretend that words don’t hurt my feelings. I like to pretend I can just brush them off, smile and go on about my day. I take the hurtful words, cram them deep down inside and save them for another day. A day that I’m by myself and can pull those words back out and stress over them all by myself.  Hurt doesn’t have a time limit.  Words that were spoken 20 years ago still hurt just as much as if they were spoken yesterday.

While sitting at her vanity, she stops and glances at herself in the mirror.
She looks closely, then looks away quickly.

Her face is too fat.
The bags under her eyes look horrid.
Her skin is terrible.
Her nose too bumpy.
Her stomach too scared.
She wonders how others can even look at her.

In the midst of listing her faults, she hears a familiar small whisper.

I’m captivated by your beauty (Psalm 45:11)

She looks again at herself.