You Make a Beautiful Difference

Sweet "in your face" (literally) reminders of the beauty we have and beauty we can give in the Ladies' restrooms in the school where the kids' Speech and Debate tournament was held this weekend. I loved it and just had to take photos of them. Oh, that women of all ages had these reminders daily. Maybe it would mean less time having to conceal the flaws and less time disliking what we see in the mirror and more time given to "making a beautiful difference".

My granddaughter, Alexia, gave an incredibly inspiring speech at the tournament this weekend -- so much so that she achieved a 6th place overall award (there were probably well over 60 speakers in that category). If I were the only one that said it, you'd say I was biased because she's my granddaughter, but when other women came up to Staci and I and told us they wished her talk had been heard by their daughter or granddaughter, we knew it was a relevant and needed message.

Alexia spoke about how girls feel the need to fit in, look a certain way, or have specific clothes just to feel loved by the peers around them. She talked about how some of the girls in her world have eating disorders and experience depression because of a poor self image. She talked about the icons that influence them right from an early age -- like their Barbie dolls who are slim, perfect hair, skin and perfect clothes, but in her speech she said these words "Barbie isn’t the only icon that influences unrealistic expectations. There's the photoshopped models and flawless actresses we see in print and film, the many mobile apps that influence us to remove all blemishes and create an image of perfection. We have lost God's view of what beauty is really all about. 1 Peter 3:3-4 says, 'It is not fancy hair, gold jewelry, or fine clothes that should make you beautiful. No, your beauty should come from inside you -- the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. That beauty will never disappear.”

Alexia's speech resonated with me, because how many grown and even mature women like me have those same image concerns. As much as I say "I've earned these wrinkles and I'm okay with them", there are still those times I look in the mirror and think "Who are you and what did you do with Donna?" LOL! That's why going to the place where encouragement comes from -- God's Word -- is the best place to change our views about ourselves.

If we profess to be God's beloved daughters, we should know how He takes pleasure in us. He doesn’t simply accept us, forgive us and put up with us. He delights in us. He even celebrates us. I love this scripture from Isaiah 62:5 "As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you".

Want some more good news? The Lord says we are beautiful. Not just slightly attractive or marginally appealing. Beautiful. We are lovely to look at because "God created mankind in his own image" (Genesis 1:27). And that includes you and me. He is beautiful, so WE ARE BEAUTIFUL.

God does not compare. Each of us is a unique work of His creation. We are God’s definition of beautiful and if we're ready to see ourselves as God sees us, then I suggest we put the words that were in the Girls' restroom on our mirrors.

The answer for young girls, teenagers, and women of all ages is to realize when the light of Christ shines through us, we are utterly transformed and we become beautiful and we make a beautiful difference in our world. My Mom always said to me "Pretty is as pretty does." Those are words to live by. That last photo says "You create beauty with your attitude, your behavior, your actions." May we be imitators of our Creator and rather than the desire to BE beautiful....that we desire to create His beauty everywhere WE ARE and everywhere WE GO!

I Love ME!

Day 22 in this Month of Love -- I LOVE ME!

My post, today, was inspired by this photo on my Weight Watchers Magazine. (Yes, I'm a 30+ year veteran of WW!) The girl is hugging a heart full of red balloons and she's declaring "LOVE, ME!" Before I read the sub heading, I knew what it meant -- loving ourselves enough to take care of ourselves. But, if it weren't on a Weight Watchers magazine, those words "I love me" could just seem quite selfish and egotistical.

How many of us love ourselves? I mean truly, honestly love ourselves? As a teenager, I remember saying "She sure loves herself" and that was meant as a criticism. SHE was one who pranced herself around in a boastful and arrogant way, always making others feel so much less than her. But there's a difference in THAT girl or guy, and the one that Jesus talked about when He said, "Love your neighbor, as you love yourself." Mark 12:31

I hear life coaches say "Look in the mirror and say to yourself....'I love you'! I agree with that philosophy, because, how can we truly love others if we don't love ourselves. But, it’s just not that easy to love ourselves sometimes, especially, as Christians, when we're taught the importance of humility. But, the fact is, only those who feel good about who they are, can really express humility. It takes someone who truly loves him/herself to acknowledge that they don’t have all the answers, that they may be wrong about something, or that they are not the greatest or best at everything. We can love ourself, and come across as loving, sincere, authentic and real, AND be humble. Rick Warren says "Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking of yourself less.” It doesn't mean we don’t care for ourself, but it does mean we think of others AS MUCH as we think of ourself.

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So, if loving others as much as we love ourselves is so important, I'm recommending that we start expressing how much we love ourselves so that we can elevate the love we have for others. I love getting compliments, but maybe I shouldn't desire that from others as much as I give them to myself. What do I most want to hear? Maybe you and I can start a love fest with ourselves and start by putting up some post it notes on our mirror that helps us out with the compliments: "I love YOU"......."I trust you"......"I am so proud of you"......"You are beautiful"....."I appreciate you"....."You are so strong"......"God loves you"....."You light up my life"......"Wow! You lost weight!"....."I love that color on you!"

Oh, by the way, your hair looks AWESOME!

So let's go ahead and love ourselves. We've been been given permission.

God's Love Messenger

Day 3 in this Month of Love and I get to be God's "Love" Messenger today.

You are a shining star. You are a picture of divine wonder. You make God smile and you make heaven dance. You are so beautiful! If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it! If He had a wallet, your picture would be in it. If He had a Facebook page, you would be His profile picture.

Now, just soak that thought in and realize....you are His beloved child and you are always on His mind, and His arms are reaching out in love to you! He is deeply and profoundly in love with YOU! Just feel that love and sense that embrace. Now, doesn't that feel so good?

He is passionately, utterly relentless in His pursuit of you. And best of all, there is no earning of His love — God’s love is an absolutely free gift of His very self to us. For God there are no reasons for love — God loves us because God IS LOVE itself. Amazing, isn’t it? This all-surpassing love that God has for us calls forth a response in us, as God invites us to share in the love that is God’s very self. He just simply asks us to reach out and accept His love....that is so rich and free.

The truest measure of God's love is that He loves us WITHOUT MEASURE!

Psalm 33:18, 20 "I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself."

Zephaniah 3:17 "The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing."
#GodLovesYou #FullyDevotedToHim

Renewed: From the Inside Out

Renewed: From the Inside Out

Okay….so I’m in that mature season where it seems I'm noticing a lot of those advertisements and labels that shout out “Renew your youth! Reduce those lines and wrinkles! Guaranteed success or your money back! Become a new you!” And, I’ll admit, I’ve yielded to their promises and purchased some of those products. I’d like to tell you that, as they promised, I look ten years younger…..NOT!

A few years ago, my curiosity about halting the inevitable, got the best of me and I went to a plastic surgeon for a consultation. Okay. I’m being real. LOL! Staci went with me and when the doctor started stretching my skin and it looked “baby smooth”, she hollered “OH MY GOODNESS!” Quickly I said, “Don’t act so excited. When you’re looking for a new car to buy, you don’t act so SOLD. You need to work the salesman to get the best deal.” But, too late, she already gave away that I’d look 10 years younger if I’d let him do his wonders on me. His $25K estimate helped me to conclude “I’m okay with this vintage look!”

Really, the truth is I AM okay with my age, and I’m okay with these lines that seemed to have come from nowhere...quickly. I’ve earned every line and crease with every story I’ve lived. Those stories make up who I am. And I wouldn’t trade my stories, and my years, for anything. I’ve lived long enough now to see, even the tough years — the ones I didn’t think I’d survive — how God used every one and every experience to bring me to a place of deep assurance and sweet peace today. Through it all, God showed Himself stronger. And my trust in Him grew. The journey from youth to maturity has come quickly. But this journey with God has taught me that renewal really is possible, but it’s not the kind of renewal that’s promised in a store-bought product on a shelf or a surgeon's knife. Restoration and renewal begins with yielding to our Creator…..and letting Him renew us from the inside out.

Yesterday, my post was about cleaning up, cleaning out, AND cleaning in…..purging from the inside so that our outside reflects His beauty. My Mom always said “Beauty is skin deep….it’s what's in your heart that makes you beautiful.” I think about Mother Teresa. She had more wrinkles than anyone, but at 85 she was younger and more vibrant than a 20-year old, as she loved and cared for hurting humanity. From the inside out....she was extraordinarily beautiful.

When we realize WE ARE BEAUTIFUL, because the marvelous, exquisitely beautiful ONE lives in us, and when we embrace THAT BEAUTY and let it shine through our eyes, speak through our mouths, hug with our arms, love with the love of Christ, then we will be renewed and the fountain of youth will be flowing out of us to a hurting world.

Proverbs 31:30 "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."