I’ve rarely considered myself beautiful.
There have been days – certain outfits, certain hairstyles, certain photos – where I’ll think, “I look pretty today.” But the first time a boy called me beautiful, I could hardly believe him.
Capable? Yes. But beautiful? That seemed harder to hold onto, more elusive.
In the first few pages of the Bible, God crafts and creates man and woman – carefully, tenderly, and utterly on purpose – and then He stands back, admires His handiwork, and deems them very good. Not just good. Very good.
The only thing is: most of us don’t agree with Him.
Maybe we believe others are good. Our friends, our sisters, our daughters. We see their beauty and goodness from miles away. But us? Many of us hardly think of ourselves as good, let alone very good.
Years can go by, but you likely still remember the way a comment lodged itself deep inside your heart. And often, we don’t simply remember the comments that were made but we can still feel the hot shame that crept up our backs and burned into our cheeks. I think it’s why so many of us don’t believe we’re very good.
It takes immense courage to ask Jesus to show you the wound, and to let His kind and careful hands dislodge the arrow from your heart.
My niece just turned five years old. I curled her hair for the first time the night before her birthday, twisting the hot iron around her dark blonde locks and watching them cascade gently over her shoulders. She was stunning. Absolutely and totally beautiful.
She’s not just good – she’s clearly very good. The thought that she could one day grow up believing a lie about her beauty made me feel sick to my stomach. I love my niece with my whole heart. I keep telling her how beautiful she is, and right now, at five years old, she believes every word.
I look at her beauty and choose to believe it for myself, too. God made me not only good, but very good. The more I’ve come to grasp the love Jesus has for me, the more I see me the way He sees me: beautiful.
Here’s what I’m coming to realize: any time we disagree with God, we believe a lie. God formed and fashioned every part of me, and when I haven’t come to an agreement with what He says about me, I believe a lie.
Come into agreement with God. Come and agree with Him — how He made you is very good indeed.
I love what it says in Exodus 34 – how when Moses spent time with God, his face became radiant. “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.”
I think we become even more beautiful when we spend time with Jesus.
Each week, I meet with one of the pastors on staff at my church. We get together early before the work day to pray together. It’s often the highlight of my week: spending time with both her and Jesus. She’s 73 years old and is truly the most beautiful person I know. She is radiant. She spends so much of her time with Jesus, and radiates beauty. She makes every room she enters more beautiful.
You’ve likely heard the adage that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The One who dreamed of you before you were ever a thought, who formed and fashioned you, who painted the color of your eyes – He beholds you and calls you beautiful.
God made you and then called you good. But not just good – very good. Come and agree with Him.
What great true words! Thank you for sharing, Aliza. In college I was at a pool party with friends. One of my closer buddies asked a question of another guy by the pool that has stuck with me. My buddy asked this gorgeous muscled basketball player what he thought of me. I was frozen in my steps. Why would you ask this hunk that about me & in my hearing! I carried more weight than 90% of the bikini clad girls I knew & seemed to always be recovering from whatever bug was going around. I was NOT a guy magnet by any stretch of imagination. I felt like my about to be ex-buddy was setting us both up. Being the diplomat Mr Hunk was he said “she’s beautiful when she’s healthy”. Wow! He said I was beautiful cloaked with a caveat that wasn’t true very often but still. Years later I had a conversation with said hunk & he mumbled something about having seen Jesus in me when we were in college. Yes he did see me as beautiful. He saw Jesus! May we always spending time with & agreeing with Jesus’ assessment of us! Blessings! (((0)))
I love how he saw Jesus in you, Ruth! You are beautiful indeed. <3
Beautiful message! I have a 13 year-old daughter, who is now beginning to have more of an interest in clothes and her appearance and how she looks and thankfully she is very pleased with herself, but I will remind her of Genesis 1:31 – blessings!
So thankful to hear that Susen!
Beautifully written, touches a tender spot and brings healing xxx
So so grateful, Barbara. Bless you
Love this. It’s felled with deep insight & understanding. I praise God for your testimony.
This stuck out to me because of how Jesus has healed my own heart of trauma. “It takes immense courage to ask Jesus to show you the wound, and to let His kind and careful hands dislodge the arrow from your heart.” WOW! It initially hurts but the immense joy afterward is resplendently abounding in our hearts.
Yes, Tanya, that line struck such a cord with me as well. So true. It’s a scary place to go, and the best place to go, because both His truth and His comfort accompany you on the journey. What a gift that nearness is, no matter what difficult paths we may walk with Him.
Yes Libby! His truth and his comfort accompany us… how beautiful!
I love that language – “resplendently abounding”. Thank you, Tanya!
Excellent post! I loved this! You are so right — we can easily believe at five years old that we are beautiful but that belief erodes over time especially when we are graying and wrinkling!
Blessings to you, Valerie!
Aliza,
I never thought of myself as beautiful. Just plain. Now that I’m older I realize that beauty is more than skin deep. There is an inner beauty that radiates smiles & love. It encourages & hugs people. That is the kind of beauty I now see in myself. A kind of radiant glow that says she’s been with Jesus.
Blessings 🙂
So so beautiful Beth – I see that beauty in you every time you comment here!