you are beautiful

This touched my heart.

In an era where what one looks like implicates what defines one’s personality we need to remember the true essence of beauty…. it is a celebration of you, your heart, your soul.

We are inundated with ‘ways’ in which to improve our external selves through the faux world of social media – where are those adverts and posts encouraging us to be us on how to help others, on how to become a ‘heart person’.

When did we stop appreciating the beauty that is what God created INSIDE of each of us, the talents we should nurture and the very features we were born with, painted and sculpted in His image. When did we stop caring about caring for others but instead merely caring about our looks?

Sweet girl,

The world is going to tell you a million things about who you should be, how you should act, and the way you should look.

Very few of those voices will be shouting, “your worth doesn’t lie in your appearance.”

Very few voices will be reminding you, “you are made in the image of God, you are perfectly you, and you’re body is not something that needs to be manipulated.”

A million voices will be telling you the exact opposite.

And lies will be flying at you like burning arrows telling you that you just aren’t good enough. They will tell you to look around at the other girls who have what you don’t. They will try to steal every ounce of your joy.

Believe me when I tell you, it’s not worth it.

Chasing some unrealistic, superficial body or appearance will never be good for you. It will never bring more love or joy into your life. It will never, ever make you better.

Looks fade. No matter how hard you try. Gravity comes, wrinkles happen, bodies age.

Souls don’t.

You weren’t made to be an ornament to look at.

You were made to be a vessel in which God works His good through.

Little one, I pray your days are filled not by chasing after an image, but chasing after Jesus and His incredible call on your life.

Love Always

JoJo

I haven’t blogged in awhile and right now I am a little tired and getting ready for a busy but hopefully rewarding week ahead.

I just had to share a question – heard in church tonight – and video as it touched my heart in ways I cannot even describe ( and for me to be at a loss for words, means it hit this little heart hard… ).

We live in a world where we are so focused on beauty and outer appearances and how we can improve our looks, our hair, our noses and get rid of wrinkles. How many ‘likes’ we get on an Instagram photo or followers on Twitter, how many friends we have on Facebook….I am the first to admit that I have fallen prey to this way of thinking, losing the ability to learn about a person, their interests, their personality, what makes them smile or cry… and how I can offer a word of advice or help directly in person or through a personal message instead of sharing a quote which is not even my own, and hoping that those that ‘need to see it’, will….

The question is simple and yet so intricate and important in getting back to a society that is humane and not just human. “If you had to describe the people you know without using physical attributes, what would you say”… think about it… describe who they are, what they enjoy doing, what they think about in lonely times and what their life long ambitions, hope and passions are. I get stuck on those that are in what we have deemed our ‘inner circle’ … the place where things like #youcantsitwithus and #coolkids are used … I am sure that those that have remained non-judgmental look at us and think “if only you knew how far away we would like to stay” … I say that because it is how I am beginning to feel, as I grasp at getting back to the real me. The loving, selfless, caring soft and sensitive girl I grew up as, and slowly start to become again…. Because let me tell you that all I became in that fickle world I occupied, was insecure, selfish and sad….

This video makes me weep…. as I learn again that every single person in this world is beautiful in some way…