Do you think I am beautiful?

This is a question that every woman asks and one that must be answered correctly? This book was a great read and I wanted to share a few highlights from it.
1. The question is mine to ask but the answer that truly will fill and give strength will only come from God. We can ask if we are beautiful but the only answer that ever can complete us is from God. He alone has the answer our soul is desperately searching for. 
2. Maybe the purpose of the question is to take me by the hand and walk me into the presence of the Creator. This was an interesting point. Sometimes we wonder why there are certain questions and feelings within us that almost seem impossible to answer, perhaps it is because God wants to drive us to Him. He alone has the answer, He alone can satisfy that longing but we turn everywhere else. There comes a time when we need to be lead into His presence because it is there that all our needs are meet.
3. He (God) is the only one who will ever be enough. His love promises to make you whole. Satan is good at convincing us that the world has what we need, that if we just keep looking around down here we will find that one thing more that promises to make us whole, complete and content. But all it does it lead to more holes than wholeness. Only the one who created us, the one who loves us more than anything else, is the one who can fulfill that promise. Only He can make us whole so that we are no longer wandering around lost, empty, and broken. In His presence there is healing and contentment.
4.We look into the mirror with our eyes. That is the problem. God does not see us as we see. I loved this. Every time I look in the mirror I am discontent, but that is because I see through my eyes, I see all my faults, imperfections, and failures. God looks down at me and sees a very different reflection. He sees someone who was made in His image, one who was meant to reflect Him to a dark world. He sees what I can become if I simply trust Him and let Him have control. This requires me to stop looking in the mirror as a person but instead look at it as He does, a work in progress.
5. Maturity in Christ is not about finally attaining some level of pseudo-perfection. It is about remaining in the arms of God. Abiding and staying even in my weakness, even in my failures. This was a great reminder for me. A mature Christian is not one that can withstand anything, or one that has "arrived". They are the ones who realize they can do nothing without Christ. They are the ones who have realized that they need to stay in the arms of God. When I am weak, or have failed my God again, I tend to want to run and hide, but those are the times I need to run to Him. He is there, waiting for me to come to Him. In His arms I will find healing, comfort and grace. It is here that I must abide because without Him I am nothing.

This book was a great reminder and help to me, I am something not because of who I am but because of whose I am. I am a child of God and that makes me beautiful, but this is not a beauty that is mine, it only comes when I abide in Him, when I spend time in the presence of my Creator and let Him work in and through me. In order to stand I must learn how to kneel and realize that He is my everything. Without Him I would be nothing at all, but because of Him I am beautiful and so are you!