SELF IMAGE: NOT HANDSOME/PRETTY ENOUGH???

Growing up I was made fun of having big eyes and my front teeth were big...lol...I am just glad God gave me a personality that often does not allow me to take things seriously....so it never got me down but at the back of my mind ...I knew that if people made fun of them then they are not my best features........

Fast forward to when I became a teenager, the same dudes who would make fun of me now noticed me for the eyes and the smile the very things they thought were not so lovely....I didn't believe it until a guy friend of mine stared at me and went like " you have beautiful eyes"...am guessing God  spoke to me that day because since then I saw them as that..beautiful....
Lets fast forward again....now am engaged and the man of my dreams noticed me because of the eyes and the smile...mmmmmh...who would have thought??.....

The other day, I sat down with a couple of friends and every lady had a physical feature about them that they do not like....mostly because a parent or someone else had told them that that feature is not their best.....for some it was their weight, forehead, skin, legs, their behind, bust.....and they all wished they could change it......

Thing is, we are never born thinking we are not pretty/handsome enough.....it only happens when someone points it out and tells you that you are too skinny, too fat, too short, too tall, your skin is not flawless, your eyes are too big, your hips are too big...etc....what am I getting at?

You see when God created you, He was pleased with what He made because to Him it was perfect and Beautiful and He had a purpose..so we lose sight of the definition He has of us and we believe what we are told and we start comparing ourselves to others and try to be like them....so for me this is the message I want to pass today:



TO THE MEN

God created you strong enough to protect and to provide even if people say you are too skinny or too short...you do not have to be 6 feet tall and heavily built to prove your masculinity.....you find your masculinity in Christ not on the image the world has painted......
Because God created you with that body, height, hair, no hair,..every detail about you because that is exactly the way he wanted you to be....
Throughout the bible we can see the men God used to carry His will and none of them did their physique matter as much as their heart towards God....David was not the biggest guy but he defeated a giant...Moses was not a smooth talker but He is the greatest leader that ever lived......even when Samuel was sent to anoint a king although he went for the tallest and built brother but God told Him that he was not the one..Samson was the strongest guy that ever lived but he had to live in obedience to God in order to keep that strength..again His heart mattered more....God gave different abilities to these men in order for them to fulfill their specific assignment.....imagine if David looked like Samson....I bet you, we would not be amazed by that story because we would say he was strong enough to do it on his own....
Point is....Let not your motivation to have the best body or to look a certain way be that you think you are not man enough...let it be because you already love yourself in your current state and its out of that love that you take care of your body.....God designed you with that body, height and looks for a reason and you have to live to be exactly that so that you can fulfill your assignment on earth.....

So no matter the labels put on you...you are strong, you are capable, you have potential, you have gifts, you have talents...and God loves you whether you are the biggest guy, the smallest guy, the skinniest, the tallest, the shortest....God loves you and He has already equipped you to be a man who will make a change in this generation....you are a SON OF THE LIVING GOD...


TO THE WOMEN

God describes you as a ruby....meaning you are precious and beautiful.....
The bible insists that beauty is fleeting but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.....so where does the true beauty come from...outside or inside???
Throughout the bible we see women who were used by God....even for Esther..her physical beauty was not enough to make her queen...its because she kept herself pure and because she gained favor from God with the King's servant.......all the women in the bible were able to fulfill their God given task because they cultivated the unseen qualities...look at Ruth...she was loyal....Mary was obedient...point is..none of these women were used by God because of their physical beauty because that was not enough for what God wanted them to do....
We work so hard to hide our 'flaws' in order to achieve the picture portrayed by the world of a woman who is 'flawless' so we invest in looking our best physically forgetting what it means to be beautiful....

You see your body shape/size...your height...your skin color....your eyes...the shape of your head....the size of your body parts....is exactly how God wanted you to look like to fulfill your God given destiny.....
So you are precious, you are beautiful, you are stunning, you are worth more than you think you are....you are smart, funny, you are loved and worth dying for....

So no matter how 'ugly' you think you are...you are loved by the Creator of the Universe.....the reality is... you are powerful and you are capable of changing the world....you are a DAUGHTER OF THE LIVING GOD



So every time the thought of you are not good looking enough creeps up, ladies and gentlemen remind yourselves of this.....

Prayer:

Dear God,

I have believed so much on the labels people have placed on me and I have forgot your definition of me. Lord, forgive me and help me to see myself through your eyes , help me to love myself as you designed me. Help me to desire for the best in life because I am your child. Forgive me for comparing myself to others and teach me how to be content and see myself with new eyes and have the self-confidence that only comes from you. Amen