Independent Beauty Challenge Day #14

Today has been a really great day. I had a lot of fun at school (weird right?)

and learned a lot of stuff from reading 1 Peter today. 

 So... it's the last day. This challenge has been, well, challenging, but I'm so 
glad I did it. I was just so tired of looking to makeup to make me feel good 
about myself. I was tired of letting a bad hair day ruin the rest of my day. I 
was tired of focusing on my outward appearance so much and ignoring my spiritual 
needs inside. 

I've learned that this wasn't really an independent beauty challenge but more of 
learning to become DEPENDENT on Christ for my view of myself and ultimately my 
view of beauty. I'm learning to look to Him for who I should be, not to the 
world for what I should look like. 

You know, I doubt I will ever really feel beautiful. I don't think I'll ever be 
able to look at myself and be like "Wow, you really are a beautiful person". 
Because in reality, I'm a terrible, wretched sinner. I'm weak, I'm poor, I'm 
selfish.... but by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, I have been washed 
clean. I have been set free. I'm not dead anymore; I'm alive! God has brought me 
from hell-bound to glory-bound. He has saved me. It's ONLY because of Him that I 
can be a remotely good person. 

Knowing where I've come from and where I am now, I am completely humbled. I've 
crossed from death to life and did nothing of my own power to do it. It was all 
Jesus. And this challenge, these devotions, were all Jesus too. If it weren't 
for Him, I might have quit the first day. I can receive no credit. This was all 
God's doing. It was His idea and it was His grace that brought me through. 

I've struggled a lot over the past two weeks; trying to face insecurities that 
I've struggled with for years. But I'm ready to let them go now. 1 Peter 
5:6-7 says, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that 

at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because

 He cares for you." So that's what I'm doing. I'm giving all these insecurities to God. 
All these anxieties, I'm casting onto Him. So here You go God, take them all. My 
acne, my glasses, my smile, my nose, my eyes, my hair, my size, everything. I'm 
done freaking out about them. I'm done letting them control how I feel and how I 
live the rest of my day. If there's some way You will bring glory to Yourself 
through these insecurities of mine, then that's totally okay with me. This body, 
this life, was given to me. I am BLESSED to have it. I'm done complaining about 
it because I'm sure neither of us is benefiting from it. 

Now, I'm sure these insecurities will always be there. They'll never really go 
away. But I'm starting to see them less as insecurities and more as ways God 
keeps me humble. I mean, how prideful would I be if I actually had perfect skin, 
perfect hair, and a perfect body? 

But I'm ready to change. I'm ready to be refocused. I'm ready to put aside all 
this that has kept me from being who God has called me to be. It's a continuous 
battle, and it won't be totally won until I'm out of this life and away from 
this human nature. But, with my best friend Jesus, I stand a pretty good chance 
:) 

Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but 

Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the 

Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."