You ARE beautiful

You know on your facebook newsfeed, how it comes up with different people that some of your friends have just become friends with? Well, I saw one little thumbnail of this girl come up on one of these, and with nothing else to do for the next few minutes, I decided to have a sneaky stalk of her profile pictures. Sure enough, her lack of privacy settings allowed this overly inquisitive teen to peruse her photos with ease!

As I was looking at her photos, there were just SO many with comments like 'I pout WAY too much', or 'Need to get my roots died', or 'My face looks so fat in this'. There were so many other comments like this, where she had obviously sat and taken a whole load of pictures of herself and then put REALLY derogatory comments about herself underneath. Not only was I horrified by the comments themselves, but in all the pictures, she had piles of make-up on, fake eye-lashes, tattoos, and her chest was hanging out. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with make-up, or tattoos, although having your chest on full display, I will say, is entirely inappropriate. What I am saying, however, it's just not necessary!

This girl was putting herself down and putting unnecessarily harsh comments about herself. Maybe she believed them, or maybe she was just fishing for compliments, but the point is that she is worth so much more than that!

I'm not wanting you to focus on the words she used, and the way she looked. I want to focus on what was behind all of that. What was it that drove her to use those words in pursuit of compliments? What desire was it inside her that meant she needed to hear those words to feel valued? Why did she 'need' that much make-up or hair-dye or tattoos?

She wanted to feel wanted.

Now, you may think that I am completely judging this poor girl on a few facebook photos, and that I actually have no idea what's going on inside her. To be honest, I don't think I'll ever truly know the story behind her pictures. But I do know that she stands for what a lot of us girls feel like. I do know, that we all want to hear compliments at times, and there are days when we really don't feel like stepping out of our rooms, because we feel so disgusting! There are days when we feel like we NEED make-up, and we NEED compliments, and we NEED to cover up the mess that's going on inside. We NEED those things to make us feel whole and beautiful.

I want to tell you today, even if you've heard it a million times before, that you are absolutely gorgeous, just the way you are. Bruno Mars, is right! The world tells us that we have to look a certain way, dress a certain way, be a certain size, have a certain type of hair, own a certain type of car, and have a certain type of boyfriend, in order to be worth something. God says that you are worth so much, that he would die for you! Even though you may not always do things his way, or you may use his name in vain, or you may do things that aren't right, or you may not even believe in him, He thinks that you are worth more than L'Oreal does! He knows every intricate detail about you, the good and the bad, and yet He still chooses to love you unconditionally. There is nothing that you can ever do to make him love you more or less.

He wants to satisfy your cravings and fill the emptiness that the world will never be able to.

On those days when your hair is just not doing anything like what you want it to. On those days when you have a spot right in the middle of your forehead (I know how you feel!). On those days when you feel like you've eaten an elephant, and should probably diet for the next year. On those days when the guy you like doesn't even appear to know your name. On those days when your friends all appear to be ignoring you. On those days when it feels like the whole world has a boyfriend apart from you. On those days when you feel helpless and lost. On those days when you just need a hug. On those days when you just want to hide in your room and cry... Please remember that there IS someone out there who thinks you are the bee's knees; God. And his opinion of you is the only one counts. 1 Samuel 16:7b - 'The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'

When we think about the way that our outside appearance no longer matters, it starts to put so many other things into perspective. Having the latest designer clothing is no longer relevant. Wearing a load of make-up is no longer necessary. Buying a load of materialistic items no longer seems that appealing. The bible says so many amazing things, and I really do encourage you to read it and see what words God wants to reveal to you. These words stuck out for me today - 'You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. That is how the Holy women of old made themselves beautiful.' (1 Peter 3:4)

The most important lesson that I have learned (And I'm only 16, so I'm honestly not going to pretend that I've got this all figured out in any way shape or form!), and a Gift for Eternity that I want to share with you, is that God has made you just the way he intends you to be. You are entirely unique, as you are 'fearfully and wonderfully made' by God (Psalm 139). God has an ultimate plan for your life, designed perfectly for you (Jeremiah 29:11). And there is no way that anybody can bring you down, when the Creator of the whole entire universe has called you by name (1 Peter 5:10 and Isaiah 45:3).

Maybe according to the world's standards you don't feel beautiful... maybe even according to your own standards... But to God's standards...

You ARE beautiful!

To finish with, here are some pictures of people that I think are truly beautiful... Please don't be offended if you do not feature! I still think you are absolutely gorgeous, and if you're lucky, you may feature on a future post :)

P.S. To any smelly (nice or otherwise) boys who may have been reading this, this is a little insight into the female mind for you. You may be able to tell that often we are a lot more fragile than we act.