For someone who is has always been very insecure and has low self-esteem, I would have never imagined me writing a article about the subject of beauty. But here lately I have been very hard on myself and criticizing everything, even the small things that no one would ever notice. This caused to me to break down, feel worthless, and just overall like I would never be enough. Most of this comes from where people like to point out all of my flaws and remind me of them repeatedly. So finally, I decided to try to dig deeper into what Jesus really sees in me and tried to figure out how to see beauty through his eyes instead of mine or anybody else's.

So first off, let's look at what the media's definition of beauty is “a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight." Which is way different from God's definition which is “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." Proverbs 3:3-4. When I read the two different definitions it really made me take a step back and look at the way media has degraded the word beauty. Because God honestly doesn't care what you look like, heck he made you in his own image (Genesis 1:27), the almighty perfect God made you in HIS own image. Wow just let that sink in. Although the media may say that tiny waists, and perfect makeup are the way to be beautiful, makeup cannot cover up an ugly heart. That's what God is saying, beauty is your inner self, it has nothing to do with sight or the way you look. I'm not saying that you should stop wearing makeup, or doing your hair, because yes, some people, even myself enjoy looking nice and spending extra time doing things like that. But don't let that be what gives you all of your confidence, or let it become what you find your identity in.

But true beauty is more than your body or your weight. More than your hair, makeup or what size you are. But beauty is all of the simple things that God has made that society overlooks. I don't know when everyone decided the standard that it must be measured too. But true beauty is when someone gets excited over their favorite song coming on the radio. Beauty is when people help others who are in need. Beauty is when someone laughs until their belly aches from a corny joke. Beauty is when the light of Jesus shines through someone and they want to tell the word of God. Beauty is when someone doesn't take life so seriously and just sits back and enjoys the crazy ride. And there are so many more things that I could name off, but I think you get the idea. These are the things we seem to forget when we think of beauty. Yeah those outside things are nice but the inner beauty that's the real stuff. We all seem to miss these things because we are so quickly to judge or to criticize. So I encourage you to take a step back and open your bible, start to dig deep and find the true meaning of beauty. Go outside and see the natural beauty and how everything just seems to work perfectly in it's own cycle. Try to start to look at yourself through God's eyes, and realize that you can't fix what was never broken. (2 Corinthians 4:16)

~Liv