Beauty

Looking into the mirror one morning a gush of thoughts ran into my head. “I look kind of old, my skin is not looking healthy at all and the dark circles under my eyes are so visible.”

These thoughts took my confidence away. I started looking deeply at my skin from different angles. As I studied my face in the mirror, I felt I looked physically unwell, older than my age (particularly from the side view of my face). I have been suffering with allergies and a persistent cough for the last few weeks and struggling with emotional stress due to some personal matters. Staring at my reflection, I thought, ‘what that has done to me.” I was hurting inside knowing that I had allowed the enemy to steal my joy and confidence. This realization led me to praying, from the depths of my heart, that the Lord would fill me with His joy so that I may feel well and my ‘healthy look’ is restored.

Just a few days later, I received a packet in the mail. My husband and I attended a fundraising event several months earlier and the owner of the ministry sent us pictures from the gala. To my surprise the packet had several photos of my husband and myself from the event. I found pictures that I didn’t even know were taken and every picture looked beautiful. There were even pictures taken from side angles that looked great and, not even for one second, did I feel that I looked old.

As my husband and I were looking at those pictures, he said, “how beautiful you look in every picture, look at your glowing skin”...

In that very moment, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “See how beautiful you look? As you were looking into the mirror that morning, I was right there with you, looking at you as well. I knew every thought, every worry, every concern you were thinking about”. He said , “Look at the pictures and see how beautiful these are.”

I immediately started crying and was filled with so much love that The Lord of Creation heard my self focused (and of least significance in kingdom of God) cries and it mattered to Him so much that He, miraculously, had me receive this unexpected packet of pictures right at the moment I needed them. The event happened almost a year ago and we were just one of just several hundred guests that came that night…. Only God can do this…:)

He helped me to see myself through His eyes that night. He reminded me, when I am beautiful in His eyes, I am, indeed, beautiful. Now, when I look at myself in the mirror, I do not have any of the worries I had about my looks. The Lord restored my joy and my confidence.

There are times when we (women) may doubt our outer beauty and worry about it, but God, who sees our inner beauty and cares about us, helps us to overcome those worries and doubts by making us see ourselves through His beautiful eyes and heart. While our outer beauty will age with time, the beauty of His love for us will never age– it remains forever.