"I am Gorgeous!"

On a special birthday I had a few years ago, my best friend went all out decorating to give me a "princess party". It was awesome! It was the most elaborate celebration I had had in years and was very fun. I wore a tiara and there was pink everywhere! Part of my gift from her was a coffee mug that had a picture of a mirror on it and said "I am Gorgeous." Everyone who sees this mug thinks it is so funny! One lady told me she could never drink out of it but that she knew I could "pull it off". I thought about this for a while. What did she mean by that?

At first, I was a little hurt. Did she think I was vain? Or snotty? I realized that she meant she wouldn't feel comfortable making such a bold statement, but she hears me say things like that all the time. I am not vain or snotty, just bold-confident.

When I was young and people would be mean to me in some way, my mother used to tell me not to worry about them, that they were just jealous cause I was prettier than them. She wasn't being serious exactly but it always made me feel better. At the same time, I think it made me feel pretty. I would look at myself in the mirror and admire all the things about myself I liked. As I got older, I had days when I just didn't feel too gorgeous but I would look at myself and claim my beauty! I made this a practice and think every girl and woman should do this everyday...even when you have a big zit on the tip of your nose or the worst hair day known to man!

Speaking affirmation is such a healthy thing to do to help build your self-esteem. If people tell you ugly things and speak unkind words, over time, you start to believe the lies. You start to feel like maybe what they say is true. This is how the devil works against us. With words and lies. He finds our sensitive spots (like if we think our nose is too big or that we aren't as smart as our peers) and he uses that to get to us. Have you ever noticed how on that very day of the aforementioned zit incident, your teacher decides to have you work on a project with the cutest boy in the class and to make matters worse, the other person on your team decides to ask "what is that thing on your nose?" while everyone in the class laughs. This is no coincidence! This is a set up, my friends. The devil set you up to make you feel bad about yourself. He wants you to be embarrassed and want to crawl in a hole and hide from everyone. He wants you to think that the cute guy thinks you are a big giant pimply looser! ...and sometimes it works.

This is not what God wants. He wants us to choose words that uplift and encourage. He wants us to treat others that way but He also wants us to speak that into ourselves. He wants us to use our words to combat the lies of the enemy (devil) and to fill ourselves with His truth. We are called to "love our neighbor as ourselves" but some of us don't think too much about ourselves in the first place. How can we show love, kindness, forgiveness, and mercy to others if we don't know how to love ourselves? It starts there.

As we build ourselves up, we become more resilient to allowing ourselves to believe the lies. We have more confidence and know, what we know, that we are awesome; pimple and all!! When that day comes, which it will, we are prepared and can take it all in stride. No pimple can knock us down because we are strong in the Lord!!

I challenge you today to begin celebrating how God has made you and all the amazing things that make you you. Look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself "I am Gorgeous!" Proclaim it and believe it.

*Challenge: Take some time today to write a list of 8 things you love about being you...think inside and out. Things about your personality, how you look your natural talents. Keep the list somewhere accessible, like on the back of your medicine cabinet mirror, and remind yourself of these things every day!