I had the absolute pleasure of speaking and leading worship at a girl's retreat this past weekend. We had about 10 girls there and had a blast all weekend. We played fun ice breaker and get to know ya games. We learned about 3 aspects of worship: thanks/praise, wonder at creation, and surrender. We learned about being God's Princesses and what that should mean and look like in our lives. We got to wear tiara's and pig out on candy and watch princess movies. It was an absolute BLESSING to be at this retreat!
One of the things I was most excited about for the weekend, was being able to share my testimony! I have never really shared my full testimony as a "speaker" before to a group of people, so it was a completely new experience for me. Being able to do that was confirmation in a way that I am where I need to be and on the track God wants me to be on. He is doing things in me lately that are blessing me beyond my wildest dreams! And this weekend was icing on icing on icing on a huge cake I feel is my life now as a devout follower of Christ.
However, NOBODY is perfect (I am the farthest from it). So it did not surprise me that after leaving the girls and being on a spiritual high, I caught myself listening to and believing the untruths of Satan. For the last few days he has been whispering into my ear that I am gaining weight, that I am not pretty enough, that I need to lose weight in order to find someone to love and marry me-just all kinds of CRAZY nonsensical garbage. But, I didn't catch that it was nonsensical until I let it sit heavily on my mind for a few days.
Talking with a girlfriend of mine last night, I came to realize that girls and women of ALL ages struggle with feeling beautiful. The girls we spoke to at the retreat struggle with knowing they are beautiful (whether they know it or not) because it is apparent in how they dress, the language they use, etc. They had forgotten (or maybe not ever known) that we are Princesses, Brides of Christ and are BEAUTIFUL and have SO much worth to Him.
But even knowing that truth, I still forget it!....ALOT! And I find that other women have that same problem too! My biggest enemy used to be my mirror. I would look into it and see ugly. big. worthless. needs improvements. I don't know when it happened, but all of that changed! And now I look into the mirror and see pretty smile. big blue eyes. decent weight. hey, I'm ok! BUT the enemy in the mirror moved to pictures. Because when I see pictures of myself ALLLLLL I do is point out how HORRIBLE I look. Oh this needs to be fixed, or I look so bad in that dress, or geez my legs and arms look huge, etc etc! When did my enemy in the mirror switch to my enemy in pictures? And when my enemy in pictures in conquered, where will I find him next?
Being a woman in this world is H.A.R.D!!!! Having to fight battles with image, make being a woman even harder. The world's standards for beauty have changed, and even though we as Christian women claim not to live of this world, we let the world's standards of beauty tell us how we should feel about the way we (and others) look. God has fought the enemy. And won. Our battles are in His hands. So why do we continue to insist on taking control ourselves, only to find ourselves crying on the floor hovering over a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream? Or running and sweating like a dog counting every calorie we take in and everyone that leaves, living in such bondage? Why is satan so clever that he knows he can ALWAYS defeat us if he just starts talking 'body image' into our ears.
Our God is more powerful than satan. And you know what? The same God that sent His son to die on the cross and rise again, the same God that healed the blind and raised the dead, that SAME God-lives inside of us. So we have the power through Christ to defeat satan. God created women dead last-we are the CROWN of all creation. And like man, are made in HIS image. So you see, we have no flaws-to say that we do is saying WHOA WHOA WHOA NOW, Lord of the Heavens and Earth, Creator of all the Universes...I think you messed up somewhere. If that is the convo YOU want to have with the Lord Almighty, then be my guest!
We are not perfect. At 12 years old....to 69 years old. We are not perfect. And satan will insist on telling us how not perfect we are, every second of every day for the rest of our lives. Let the Lord surround you with peace. Ask Him to romance you, to show you His glory, and to show you how beautiful you are to Him. He will answer those prayer-ask, and you shall recieve.
Oh, and as Christian women, young and old, we could all help each other out by building one another up instead of constantly tearing others down. Even when you don't know someone, or are observing from afar-that person is still God's beautiful creation whether you see the beauty in them or not. And to talk about yourself is just as bad as talking about others. Don't you think it breaks God's heart when He hears us talk that way about our beauty? Which is in turn....talking about HIS beauty??
"Has anybody told you, youre beautiful? You might believe if you could see what I see. Cause everything about you, is incredible! You should have seen Me smile the day that I made you, BEAUTIFUL....for Me!"--Love always, God.
In Him,
Meg
