When you look at yourself in the mirror, what do you see? What is the first thing you noticed about yourself?
If I am completely transparent with you, I noticed all the physical traits I didn't like about myself. I criticized myself so hard that somedays I didn't want to leave the house because I felt everybody else would notice them too. Then I grabbed my phone to scroll down Facebook or Instagram, and all I saw was beautiful skinny girls with perfect skin while the reflection in my own mirror was showing me a woman who was getting older, has a far from flawless skin, a big nose, and a body with few extra pounds. I only pay attention to the things I didn't like about myself.
The same thing happened with my interior self. As a single woman, sometimes I felt unlovable, that I owned a nonattractive personality or that I will not find somebody to love me. The way I saw myself in the mirror was reflected in how I perceived myself as a whole. Sometimes my self-love was not a loving one after all.
As a woman of God, I learned to accept who I am and see myself from a different perspective. The world has created a perfect image of who or how you should look like, making us feel, in other words, less. It gives us a false standard of beauty, making us believe that a particular personality is generally accepted or you need to look a certain way to be liked and loved.
When I open the bible, I learn something completely different about myself. Psalms 139:14 says: I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
Ephesians1: 4 says: Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. I am who God decided I was going to be. He didn't create me perfect or flawless. Before the world was a world, I was in his mind. Therefore, I should only see my self through God's mirror.
In a superficial world, I dare you to be different. Be yourself. Look at that woman in the mirror and love her. Love those stretch marks. Love those extra pounds. Invest your energy in self-love, feed your spirituality, and individuality. Loving yourself starts with you, nobody else. Don't pay attention to the world, and don’t fall for the enemy strategy to rob you of your identity in Christ. The enemy is a deceiver and will try everything to keep you away from everything God says about you. If he can convince you that God does not love you, He wins. Because when you don't love yourself, you do not love God's creation. You are telling God he made a mistake with you. You are taking God's sovereignty away by not accepting yourself.
The world offers you a shattered mirror with wrong reflection of you. The enemy wants you to defocus from what God says of you to make you believe you are not enough; you are not worthy; you are not attractive. When you don't know who you are in Christ, you become a puppet to the enemy’s plan against you. It is easy for him to manage your emotions and how you feel about yourself when he makes you doubt of who you are.
The same way you filter your photos on social media, filter how you see yourself through the Word of God. Let's see what the word says about us.
YOU ARE LOVED - 1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.
YOU ARE WORTHY - Luke 12: 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
YOU ARE THE IMAGE OF GOD - Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image...
YOU ARE CHOSEN - 1 Peter 2:9: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
5. HE LOVED YOU AT YOUR DARKEST - Romans 5: 8, But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Your identity is in God and God only. Don't let the world dictate who you are. Be the woman God created you to be. Lift your head up, lift that spirit, love yourself. God created you with a purpose that is far beyond what the world thinks of us. Embrace yourself, God loves you and you should do the same.
Be blessed!
