"From Gods point of view, you, too, are a princess. After all, He is a king, and you've chosen to follow Him, He has adopted you as His daughter. Your past is wiped away, and your future is defined by His adoption of you." -- Sally Clarkson
How do you see yourself? Unless you're a five year old I bet you didn't say a princess, did you? If you see yourself that way then I am so proud of you! You have a maturity that most of us women crave daily. In the book I'm reading right now, Sally Clarkson talks about owning your true identity and learning to listen to the new voices instead of the ones we all have convincing us we aren't good enough, pretty enough or cool enough.
It got me thinking. Oh how I yearn to be mature in that aspect. I struggle with that, a lot. I constantly compare myself to other women (don't we all?). I think mostly I let what other people think define who I think I am but in reality I know that the only one who I should be worrying about is God. And guess what? He thinks you're pretty awesome! As I'm growing up I've learned a couple of things. Things that I want to share with you in case, like me, you struggle with self image and truly seeing yourself as God does.
1. If you allow other peoples opinions of you to determine how you feel about yourself you are letting those negative people control you. Through social media I have had a lot of positive comments/emails etc. but for every 20 good comments there are 1 or 2 bad. I used to let those couple bad things people said affect me so much. Not everyone is going to love you and not everyone is going to love everything you say and do but I am learning that I am exactly who God intended me to be. And I should never feel bad about that.
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mothers womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous -- how well I know it." Psalm 139:13-14 NLT
2. When you are loving God closely you can see your true self. I have been trying very hard to be intentional with making quality time for me and God. Now, I fail at this most days and honestly I notice a difference. When I am deep in His word and covering myself with his promises and truths daily I am more likely to see myself how God sees me. But when I am rushing through my morning devotional just to check another thing off my list I am cheating myself out of more than I think. My day seems completely disorganized and I don't feel "myself". I feel like the person that the devil wants me to believe I am. Not worthy, insecure and more of the ugly step sister than the princess I know God sees me as.
3. Identify your self worth and beauty by what the bible says, not based on what the world identifies it as. One of the most important things I have learned is that outer beauty is fleeting but a girl/women who has a kind heart and treats people nicely radiates a beauty that no amount of makeup, botox or weight loss can measure up to!
You are all so beautiful and when you realize that, you will truly capture God's intention for where he wants us to live. Living in the truth that we are all princesses and deciding to like yourself just as you are because the King of the universe loves us as we are.
XOXO.
Tori