I quit wearing make up.
It started out as a "I don't have time to do make up today so I'll skip it."
And guess what. I actually felt better. I didn't feel like I had gunk covering my face, which is how I feel when I wear make up, but also I felt free. The funny thing is people didn't even notice. It took me a while to be totally comfortable with it. But then I decided that it would be my "thing".
I also quit fighting my hair, the straitener got left at home when I came back to college, the blow dryer hasn't been on forever. I have embraced my wierd wavy/curly hair.
I have done research on how to take care of my hair and skin, so I'm not totaly with out maintence in the morning and before bed. But I feel better, free.
Another thing I have done is lost 20 lbs, through healthy eating and exercise. I'm training for a 5k now.
These things I did these changes to my appearance were because I was sick and tiered of hating who was in the mirror. And after the change started I continued because I felt better.
God has taught me what it means when we say "My body is a temple" He made me uniquely beautiful, he created me to be his vessel and do his work. It is my job to maintain this vessel, and make it physically able to do his work. To maintain this vessel, I had to learn to like it. I had to quit hating the weird way my hair isn't quite curly, I had to quit being obsessed about my extra weight that kept me from doing physical manual work. I have to be able to walk into a patient's room with the confidence and assurance that I can help them feel better, and if I want to crawl into a whole because I hate my body. I can't do that. If I hate my self, that is a road block from helping others.
I'm not saying all my insecurities about my body are gone.
But, I like my self.
God is working on some other things, deeper things that I don't like about my self, that are still a challenge in my daily ministry, habits and quirks that I that I need to embrace, and sins I need to banish.
I will never be perfect. But God made me to fit his purpose perfectly. Insecurities about or bodies, personalities, and lives are not from God. They are lies deeply rooted in us from or sin nature.
I am embracing me. God made me for this life, he made me for this path, for his purpous.
Are you embracing you?
