This article is just the tip of the iceberg of what you will get when you hear Holly Wagner at our Bella Conference October 6-8. Register online at www.fhclife.org  or go to or contact the church – 708-614-6000.

 

Most of us look at fashion magazines and feel depressed shortly afterward. Why? Because we feel as if we can never measure up.  When we look in the mirror our imperfections shout loudly.

“Big pimple in middle of forehead!”

“Serious baggage under eyes!”

“Very large nose!”

“Lots of crow’s feet!”

“Disappearing lips!”

Those women in the magazines look perfect. I would like to let you in on a little secret…shhhh…the women in those photos aren’t perfect either. I know.

 

Because I was once one of them.

 

I showed up on modeling assignments looking anything but perfect. It took: hours of hair and makeup geniuses…hemorrhoid cream on puffy eyes…tape to hold everything together…photoshop to get rid of the pimple… all to create an illusion. Honestly, there were times when the image was so fictitious it might as well have been a cartoon!

 

I recently interviewed Jennifer Strickland who at one time had been a model for the designer Armani. She told stories of the price she, and other young women, paid to look the way designers wanted them to look. There was not one young model she encountered who was not using drugs or dealing with a serious eating disorder.

She told of one model known for her smile.

In fact her smile graced many billboards advertising toothpaste.

She looked ‘perfect’ and happy.

In reality she threw up nine or ten times a day and was desperately unhappy.

She looked in the mirror and saw flaws.

She saw what she wasn’t.

 

I have read articles and heard various news stories of women around the earth who are desperately trying to change themselves into some image of beauty. There are young girls in Japan who are putting steel rods in their legs because they think that taller is beautiful.

Who said?

There are women in India who are paying to have their skin lightened because they think lighter is beautiful.

Who said?

There are some Asian women having surgery to have their eyes made rounder.

Who said that round eyes were more beautiful???

 

Why is it that we always see someone else as more beautiful?

The only way to defeat this way of thinking is to look in the mirror and shout…

Go ahead.

Shout it out loud.

 

I praise you (God) because of the wonderful way you created me. Everything you do is marvelous! Of this I have no doubt. (PS 139)

In fact…why don’t you just whistle at yourself right after you shout!! We were created in the image of our creator and he calls us beautiful…marvelous…every curve, freckle and strand of hair…beautiful.

I get this picture of God right after he created us. He looks at us and does the Italian thing with his fingers against his lips…bellisima…perfecto!!

God has declared that we are marvelous…beautiful.

Yet, we don’t really believe it, so we look and wait for someone else to tell us. Some of us dress in such a way to show every curve…cleavage (if you are lucky enough to have some J)…hoping that someone will say we are beautiful. Your creator has already said it…but I can too…ok…you are beautiful. No matter the shape of your eyes, the size of your nose, the color of your skin, the texture of your hair, or the smoothness of your skin…YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!!

Most of us have probably seen the movie Shrek. At the end of the movie, after ‘true loves’ kiss, Fiona is disappointed to find out that she did not turn back into the woman, but instead remained an ogre. She looked at Shrek and said “ I was supposed to be beautiful.” He replied, “But you are beautiful.”

You and I have been given true loves kiss.

And He says we are beautiful.

written by Holly Wagner  http://www.godchicks.com/hollys-blog/i-was-once-one-of-them/ 

Advertisement