Tag: Beauty Begins

Total Surrender: The Beauty of Brokenness

Can you recall times in your life where you felt completely alone? Perhaps there was a situation that left you overwhelmed? Sucks right? It’s never easy to go thru seasons of intense pain such as heartache, depression, mourning, or even illness. Our natural response is to run and hide or curl up and die. However, these times are usually when we cling to God the most. Think about it, when you broke up with [ insert former bad here] or lost your job at [ name of company ] didn’t your prayer life shift? I’m willing to bet you that during those seasons of your life you saw a lot of spiritual growth.

I remember this time a couple years ago being in the ER once a month from April to June in excruciating pain from several large kidney stones. If you’ve ever had a kidney stone you know that it feels like the wrath of God, no seriously. During post-op recovery it hurt to move, let alone use the bathroom. I had to learn all about taking better care of my health. It was during this time I decided to draw strength from my gift, worship. So many days I spent reading God’s word and meditating on scriptures about health and healing. I came across Hillsong United “Oceans” at one point and that song changed my life. It was a reminder that in every season, God requires my trust.

Without faith it’s impossible to please God and seasons of pain will test our faith…but you can push through! You see, beauty begins where self – reliance ends because we must learn to depend solely on our Father. When we come to the end of ourselves, in complete surrender, we become beautifully broken and God can use our situation for His glory. Scripture tells us God is close to the brokenhearted ( Psalm 34:18 ) so if you’re currently hurting allow Him into your pain and let him make beauty from ashes. Don’t try to cover up the pain with makeup and pretty masks. What’s more important, your image or your impact? 

Satan would love for your pride and shame to keep you from sharing your story with others, those who are experiencing the same trials. It’s his desire to make you feel like a hypocrite when you look at your past ( or present struggles ) compared to your confession of faith. Remember this sister, we overcome by the word of our testimony. WE ALL overcome…not just the one who was tested. Your testimony could stop another woman from experiencing the same hurt, so allow God to use you as He sees fit! Romans  5:3-4 states: “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” Be encouraged love, all things are working for your good…even this! XO – KIRA

 

Pretty Hurts: The Distorted Reflection

Pretty-Hurts-Music-Video-Beyoncé-Part-2

Would you rather be described as beautiful or pretty? (Ask yourself and answer honestly) Now ask yourself, Is there a difference between the two? 

This is one of the initial questions we are asked to ponder in Beauty Begins: Making Peace with Your Reflection by mother/daughter team Chris Shook & Megan Shook Alpha. Chapter One entitled The Distorted Reflection invites us to discover the beautiful truth about God’s word concerning us, his precious daughters. But first, we must confront the lies we’ve accepted about ourselves via the OG liar himself, Satan. Jesus sheds some light on Satan’s entire agenda in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” 

See, the enemy of your soul wants to rob you of your self-worth, self-image, and your self-esteem. If Satan can get you to believe the lie that you are inadequate & cause you to hate your reflection, he succeeds in getting you to declare war on yourself. Why? Because he would hate for you to realize how fabulous you are or how fearfully & marvelously made you are…or that you represent God’s artistry. If you ever came into the knowledge that you are distinctly unique & important to God, you’d be unstoppable! Unfortunately, many of us accept the lies without question and the quest to be pretty and perfect begins.

In the song Pretty Hurts Beyonce poetically describes the ugly truth about our societal obsession with pretty: “Pretty hurts, Shine the light on whatever’s worse. Perfection is the disease of a nation. Pretty hurts, Shine the light on whatever’s worse. Tryna fix something, but you can’t fix what you can’t see. It’s the soul that needs the surgery.” After listening to such lyrics, one has to ask, If pretty hurts why bother? Well, as Chris & Megan point out in our reading, over time our culture has confused the concept of pretty with true beauty. With each decade changes in fashion & beauty impacted our overall perception of what was desirable.Pretty varies from culture to culture & is constantly changing within cultures.

In American society we’ve shifted from curvy to slim to waif thin back to curvy again. Hemlines have gone up an down, changing every decade as much as our fad diets. When women rely solely on the inconsistency of cultural ideals, it promotes insecurity & a need for man’s validation. The remedy for our national disease is the truth of God’s word and a willingness to embrace our true reflection in Christ. Beauty begins at the Cross! God took the ugliest event in history and used it to produce death defying, earth shaking, unconditional love.

It’s time to turn away from the images staring back at us in the media & see our true reflection in God’s word. Don’t believe the lies that you’re too fat, too skinny, too dark, too pale, too weird, too nerdy, etc… You are a masterpiece, God’s work of art! If you haven’t already, grab a copy of Beauty Begins and join Kira’s Krew as we finish up our 2nd quarter study of Self Love this month. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” Rest in this truth all week long and allow God’s love to cast out all fear. This week, make a list of beautiful traits you would like to build into your character, based on the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galations 5:22-23. Allow the seeds of love & righteousness to produce fruit!

Love you to life, XO

 

 


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