Reasons Why I am Beautiful

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I have made myself a promise. 

I am not going to talk, think, or act like I am not beautiful. 

Because I am. 

Denying that I am beautiful hurts me and it hurts the people who see the most beauty in me. 

I may not be perfect yet, but that is only because I have not fully become who I was made to be yet. 

But that doesn't make me any less beautiful.

So today, I made a list of all the reasons why I am beautiful. 

Here it is. 

Reasons Why I am Beautiful:

* God made me in His image and likeness, and who is more beautiful than God?

* I am a woman - the pinnacle of all Creation.

* I possess Feminine Genius.

* I am confident.

* I have long red hair.

* I have big brown eyes.

* I have freckles.

* I have a lovely smile that I use often. 

* I am honest.

* There is a great deal of love in my heart.

* There will never be another me, so no one can set a standard for how I should look. As long as I am the best version of myself, I am perfect. 

Stay beautiful.

Life Is Beautiful

I don't think my life has ever been quite this beautiful, and I can't wait to see where it goes. 

These are things that make us feel alive
These are the times that make us realize

Life is beautiful.

Paperman

I love this beyond all words. The music. The animation. The love story. 

Perfect in every way. 

Enjoy : )

A picture-dump post

I have just had what was probably the best week of my life, and all I want to do is share a little beauty, so here you go. God bless you, and enjoy!

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Peppermint Winter

Just look at that! JUST LOOK AT IT!

It finally feels like the Christmas season! It finally feels like Advent, even! I don't know how the genius worked out that we celebrate the coming of Jesus at a time when the world is so magically beautiful! 

Fearfully and Wonderfully

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I learned this yesterday. 

I woke up with about 20 minutes to roll out of bed, eat, and head out the door to babysit for our neighbor's twin girls. 

Oops. 

So I scrambled out of bed, took my hair out of the French braid I slept in, and looked at my face. 

I faced reality. 

"There is no time to put makeup on."

And that was fine; I was just going to be seen by my neighbors and two 2-yr-old girls who care a lot more about Bambi than what their babysitter looks like. 

But then, a crazy idea popped into my head. 

"I'm just not going to wear any makeup today. Not even when I go to work at the grocery store."

My brain immediately yelped:

"NAY!"

Okay...my brain does not speak in old English. 

"NO! Bad idea! Don't do it! What will people think!"

But I wanted to. I wanted to prove to myself I really am beautiful just as I am.

At the same time, I'm angry that I needed to prove that to myself.

I continually struggle with my identity as God's daughter. I don't need to be defined by anything external. I am beautiful inside and out just by being me. 

But I did do it. And I didn't look ugly. I didn't look 'pretty'.

I just looked like me.

And I had never felt more beautiful. 

 "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful..."

Psalm 139: 14

Things get better

I keep coming across these things on my tumblr...

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okay this is probably going to sound stupid but i wonder how it feels to be one of those pretty girls who get hundred of notes or likes on pictures of their faces

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And all this does one thing for me; it breaks my heart, because they all made me realize something. That's where I was 4 years ago.

And so, I would just love to tell anyone who feels like that:

Things get better. 

It does. You move on from those moments of being lonely and having no friends. You make it past the pain and the sorrow and the isolation.

Things get better.

Maybe it takes a long time, but it happens. 

You meet new people who are way nicer to the ones who ignored you or treated you badly. 

You find people who admire you and love you for qualities that maybe you can't see.

Things get better.

You're not always going to be here. You're not always going to feel like no one understands you, and no one is like you. You're not as alone as you think.

Things get better. 

I promise. 

Papaya Art

My sister came home from college with the most fantastic notebook I've ever seen.

Thanks to my access to the internet and my holding of a job and my possessing of a debit card, I took the liberty of looking up the company, finding the site, and purchasing one of my own.

https://www.papayaart.com/

Unfortunately, I want just about everything on the site.

AND I found images of one of their store locations.

HELP.

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All of it. Yes. Please. 

Beautiful Girls

"Monsters are real, and ghosts are real, too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win."

- Stephen King

Recently, my dear friend Rosemary brought to my attention something depressing and disturbing. She discovered by chance, in trying to help an online friend with an eating disorder, the phenomenon of Ana and Mia, which has become pretty much a cult for girls with self-hate and eating disorders to worship being skeletal and forbid themselves to eat.

Discussing this, it broke our hearts. Why would beautiful girls ever believe they were so imperfect, they wanted to become emaciated? Why is being 'thin' the only standard for beauty anymore?

"The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode, but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years."

-Audrey Hepburn

She was so right. Whatsoever is true is beautiful.

Rosemary was particularly upset about this, and asked what we could do, how we could help?

Well, if they can speak out for their ugliness and their imperfection, we can speak out for their beauty and their worth.

Every woman is beautiful, not because she is worth something, or because she is perfect, or because she can contribute something to the world. She is beautiful because she is a daughter of God. She is beautiful because she is a woman.

If 'Ana' and 'Mia' portray perfectly beautiful girls in light of anorexia and bulimia, than 'Grace' will portray a perfectly beautiful girl who loves herself for how she has been created, not what she can starve herself into being.

Hundreds of thousands of girls, probably in my state alone, are killing themselves because they believe, with every ounce of who they are, that they are ugly, fat, and unlovable.

I don't know who I can reach on this little blog, but I have to tell them that they are beautiful.

They probably won't believe me, but its true. We are afraid to admit what is true, because we're letting the lies define us.

"... the truth holds the greatest magic, the greatest beauty, and sometimes the greatest danger...."

-Esther Friesner

To beautiful girls. Dear God, please grant them your eyes for just one second, to see themselves as You see them. Show them their worth, and show them they are loved. In Your Holy Name, I pray.

Amen.

 "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works ; that I know very well"

-Psalm 139:14