More Beautiful You Lesson 4

Lesson 4: The Worlds Deception. This chapter starts off by reminding us of those carefree days of childhood when it didnt matter if our hair was a mess (on a windy day or otherwise) It didn't matter about the calories in food, and it didn't matter if our clothes were hand-me-downs or walmart. We weren't concerned with labels. Those were the days of carefree giggles, spinning in circles, and being who we really are. Funny how sometimes as we grow up during the times of trying to find ourselves that is sometimes when we lose ourselves. Something often triggers these moments of growing up, the moments when suddenly all these things do matter and instead of a breeze being a blessing it blows your hair everywhere so you suddenly hate it, perhaps you give up the calories or...maybe you don't but you decide to throw them back up :( Or perhaps your parents end up going to second hand stores if thats all you can afford BUT the only thing you by is popular labels...the days of spinning in circles are over because that's just not cool...Sometimes thats triggered by someone saying something, a family member or a friend... I'm about to get somewhat transparent with you. You see when I was younger I never cared about that stuff, I hated makeup, felt like I was wearing a mask, I left my hair wet most of the time, and never styled it, and walmart was my best friend. If people didn't like me for me...who cared? Not me! Then one day my mother came to me begging me to start wearing make up. "It'll make you prettier" My grandmother started noticing I was fat when I was 15 (just after my father died) Suddenly I wasn't good enough for anything. And My mom started making me shop at Old Navy and other stores. Forget walmart, that wasnt cool enough for the look that was in and it was time I start caring! I felt worthless, and I fought my family and even my friends the whole way. The popular girls at school started taking me in the bathroom at school to do my makeup everyday...and suddenly I was a different person. I don't blame any of them. They just wanted me to look good...but it hurt my perspective in the long run and even today I have troubles thinking I'm pretty if I don't do my makeup. My hair is the one thing people never tried to change on me. That was my choice. The ONLY thing that changed was how I parted my hair. That wasn't a big deal. But now when I look at myself I see me again. I wear the amount of makeup I want to wear, I get my clothes where I want to get them and by golly I make myself look good in MY mind. It took a long time to get back to that but if I can anyone can. We're beautiful by being ourselves! Don't forget that, and if you have, it's a daily struggle but join me in getting back to that! Our culture makes us think we need all sorts of products to be beautiful but you know what, back in the 17-1800s they didn't have those products and people were still impressed by each other, by their personalities and minds! This lessons scripture: Exodus 20:22-23 & 1 John 5:21 What does God say about idols & how can beauty become an idol? Jonah 2:8-9 What happens to people who cling to idols? Mark 12:30 How can we avoid getting trapped into worshiping the idol of beauty? What practical things can you do to apply this verse to your life. Quote: "God wants to use the very things that hurt us most to bring the greatest good into our lives. He wants to demonstrate His power in us- if we will let him" According to the lies taught to us by our culture: What are some of your physical weaknesses? What are some of your strengths? According to Romans 12:1-2 what does God want you to do with your physical weaknesses as well as your strengths? Memorize Psalm 27:4 "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." What should be your one desire? What does David mean by the phrase? "that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life?" What does he mean to "gaze upon the beauty of the Lord?" Talk to God: Tell Him some of the lies society what you to believe about yourself. Ask Him to help you stop focusing on your flaws and start concentrating on Him Don't search for what the world calls beautiful but find in you what the CREATOR calls beautiful because to him EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU is beautiful.

More Beautiful You Lesson 3

I know that no one reads this but I made a promise to myself that I'd finish this study on here. So I will. This Lesson is God's Perfect Creation: This lesson talks about the Authors opinion that men were made as the rough draft to the beautiful creation of women. The author says "Believe it or not, you are part of God's magnum opus." WHAT. A. THOUGHT. Read Psalms 139:14. The book is now telling us to read Psalm 139:1-16: What do verses 1-4 say about God's knowledge of you? What do verses 5-12 say about God's protection of you? What do verses 13-16 say about God's creation of you? Read Isaiah 64:8: Think about a potter who is working with clay to make a vessel. How involved does the potter have to be in the process of forming the clay? How involved is god in forming every detail of your body and life? REALLY look yourself in the mirror and list some physical characteristics god designed for you that make you very special and unique? What are some abilities God has given you that prove you are His masterpiece? What are some Characteristics inside your heart that make God very proud of you? "The king is enthralled by your beauty' honor him, for he is your Lord." -Psalm 45:11 Since God thinks you are beautiful what is one way you can honor him? Talk to God and ask him to help you see yourself the way He does. Another plug: I have a bracelet that says "See yourself as God sees you" I LOVE this bracelet. If you need the reminder like even I do: http://christiandollarstore.com/asgodseyobrw.html I love the concept that we are that beautiful to God and we need to know that! Heres a song that I love. The concept is just amazing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-aXbjZJEI8

More Beautiful You Lesson 2

Despite tweeting about my blog last time, sharing it with the followers of LLLTD and my own and even was RT'd the wonderful David Cristini- I'm not sure how many people read it. But a know a few did and that makes me happy. I want to continue this study and I'm determined to finish it since it's taken me over a year to post about it. So... HERE WE GO... Lesson 2: God's description of beauty. (Those that don't believe in God PLEASE keep reading- this is good stuff) The book starts off by talking about how ALL beauty originates from God. Everything created by God is beautiful...the cool thing is starting at the Trees, seas, and bees,He created every single one of us "me's" (see what I did there? lol) Have you ever stopped to think that not everything God created is tangible or external. Beauty is NOT just external. Beauty is internal. He didn't just create the beauty. He created the things that make us work, our brains, blood, and all that stuff that isn't something we think of as attractive (hello- they are our innards! haha) But they do help make us who we are. Our brains help mold our inner beauty through personality. Some of us are amazing artists, some of us amazing musicians or actors! Some of us are nurturing...we've ALL got something in us that makes us unique and who we are as ourselves! There is a scripture that describes this better than any rant I could go on: 1st Peter 3:3-4 (sited in the book) "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." Like the book says, the verse doesn't say looking good is wrong but that the value is more on INNER beauty. What's in your heart, what makes you tick? The next part is a search through God's word. Feel free to look these up- the each describe the aspects of beauty that are important to God. IN FACT- I'd LOVE for you to comment and tell me what you get from the verses! Proverbs 11:16,22 Proverbs 31:30 1st Timothy 4:8 DISCUSSION POINT: How would you compare what is important to God with what is important to our society? I love this quote: "Remember, a perfect body never bought anyone peace during a difficult experience; it never produced wisdom in dealing with a complicated relationship; it never granted anyone a free pass through the gates of heaven" Here are some basic things about true beauty that God created: 1. True beauty comes from spending time with God. All His beauty secrets are written for us in the Bible. If we want to discover them, we need to read it every day. 2. We need to spend time praying- sharing our fears with Him and allowing Him to place His peace in our lives. 3. We need to learn from other Christians who can help us develop godly priorities and grown in our faith. One of the other great points this book makes is "Have you notived that there are no descriptions of any women in the Bible? We are vaguely informed some of them were lovely to look at but never are any of their physical features described for us" HMM... food for thought- their INNER beauty, their hearts are what is shared with us most. The Looking In the Mirror section: Ask yourself: "How much time do I spend each day working on my outward appearance? (list the things you do)" "How much time do I spend each day working on my inward appearance? (list the things you do)" "Who is the most beautiful woman I know according to God's standards? What makes her so attractive?" Memorize 1 Samuel 16:7 "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." "What are some specific ways that God wants you to view beauty differently than the world does?" "What are some things you can start to do today to make yourself more beautiful in God's eyes?" "Talk to God: Tell Him how you would like Him to help you grow to be more beautiful on the inside" I feel like I need to stress a certain point: I've never met a girl that has thought she's beautiful ALL the time. We're girls. We struggle with the point of beauty. We poke and prod at ourselves and if we still don't like it we let other poke and prod! No matter your size, how you do your make up, or what clothes you wear...WE ALL struggle with this point! You are not alone. I'm talking ALL sizes of girls struggle with this "beauty issue" The smallest of girls either get the idea that they are too fat (yeah I know...) or that they are too skinny and not good enough. And the bigger girls often feel they will just never find anyone to love them because they aren't good enough. It's all about self worth and it's something every girl is bothered by. At that point- love yourself, love who you are. The best part of you is who you are on the inside, the kindness, the love, the sarcasm, the humor, the fiestyness, whatever it is that makes you- YOU! God Loves you for who you are and heck so do I and I don't even know you. A little bit of a plug here: Another person who loves you for who you are is David Cristini who I'm going to tell you a bit about (he doesn't know I'm doing this- HI DAVID) If any of you on twitter follow @DavidCristini on there that boy is AWESOME and a LOT of girls have twitter crushes on him. I think of him as a little brother and I'm SO thankful he's in our lives! His whole point is "Every girl is beautiful and special and OH how true that is! And if you DON'T follow him on twitter you should! He's ALWAYS tweeting positive things that make us girls feel as awesome as we truly are! Another thing he has is bracelets- Check them out and get one (please): http://egibasbracelets.bigcartel.com/product/every-girl-is-beautiful-and-special-bracelet I couldn't find a video for the song I wanted to share tonight "He Thinks I Am Beautiful" by Loralie. It's a great song. If you want to hear it let me know. I've got it on my computer. Check this out- Another great song is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUTxl_cteGg

Apology and More Beautiful You continued

I Am SO sorry! I haven't updated this blog in over a year. Not that this is an excuse but here is what happened: After posting that the unexpected happened! I GOT A JOB! I worked for about 6 months and then spent the last few months kind of taking care of myself due to the stress the job added (completely unnecessary stress) So now I'm back and I've learned a LOT. I'm going to pick up where I left off with More Beautiful You (AKA the beginning) And we'll get through this. Then I'm going to add some other things I've learned. Over the past year I've undergone a lot of changes. In the job I had available to me a clothes closet in which I was able to get some fashionable and nice clothes. Suddenly with this job came an amount of confidence I never new I had with that I wore less makeup, nicer clothes, cuter shoes and ACTUALLY styled my hair more! This taught me that with confidence comes a desire to stand up straight and just do it! But beyond that my confidence brought out my natural beauty! It was amazing! Then I quit my job. With the stress of being jobless (again) I gained a ridiculous amount of acne, I'd never had acne this bad in my life. I felt ugly and gross. So I decided to fix it. I started getting into home remedy stuff and suddenly my acne got better. I'm working on losing weight for health reasons and I'm just happier because I know I'm working on a MORE BEAUTIFUL ME! Confidence has everything to do with that. Hold your head up my dears this is only the beginning of our journey, and I will try not to flake out this time (ha!) Lesson 1 (day 1) of More Beautiful you: Lyric used: "Little girl 14 flipping through a magazine says she wants to look that way" THE WORLD'S VERSION OF BEAUTY: I don't think I need to say too much about this lesson. We all know it- media controls our views of beauty. In magazines, movies, TV shows (reality and otherwise) the girls shown are 9 times out of 10 very tiny. The trends are revealing and the make up often caked on! Plastic surgery and Photoshop are medias best friend and they want it to be OURS too. The view of perfection that they show is just....unrealistic and downright...ridiculous! This book says that the number of cosmetic surgery procedures performed on girls 18 and under have nearly doubled over the past decade. The fact that media has done this to us is only proven by our reactions from friends and family (yes even parents) I've known family members who have ENCOURAGED eating disorders and surgery on the young person who they deem "unpretty" COME ON! That's just NOT right. This book delves deep into scripture which I will share with you the verses: Genesis 3:1-24 look it up and then answer these: In verse 6 what 3 things about the fruit from the forbidden tree made it attractive to Eve? How does our culture use these same 3 lures to entice us to seek more than God has already given us? What should Eve have done to avoid being seduced by the serpent to sin? Now it's time to look in the mirror. What does beauty mean to you and what aspects do you desire the most? The book goes on to suggest memorizing Psalm 119:36-37 Following the scripture is your choice, though I do recommend it. I found my own personal love for myself in my love for Christ. I've had people ask me "You are a bigger girl how do you keep your self esteem high?" Because GOD CREATED ME! I'm bigger because that's part of my story. I want to help other girls see the beauty in their differences, the things that stick out about them make them beautiful! I'm bigger yeah... but I am working on myself not because I think I'm ugly but because my health wants me to. Girls we can rock the bodies we can have, be who you are and you don't have to be a smaller size to rock it. As for the smaller girls who wish they could gain weight (yeah they exist) do your best to do just that but STAY HEALTHY. Remember ladies you don't need to show every part of your body to be respected or loved just be you- and when you see your beauty the world will too <3 Until next time... STAY BEAUTIFUL! <3 Check this video/song out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuCIcIQmBgU