Real Beauty in Marriage

           

The world tells us that beauty is defined by the way a woman looks and by the way she presents herself. If a woman shows enough skin or dresses a certain way, then she is perceived as “sexy” according to the worlds standard of beauty. Girls, let me tell you something, YOUR BODY IS NOT FOR THIS WORLD TO DEFINE! Your body was designed by God to be precious, pure and the temple of God to be loved, valued and treasured by you and your husband. Brad has ALWAYS told me that confidence is sexy, not what I am wearing or how much skin I choose to reveal to the world. You see, it is NOT the worlds approval I should be looking to gain. I should not be getting dressed thinking, “Will others think I look good?” “Do I look like the Pinterest model I posted wearing this?” The problem is, we as women have lost our own confidence in beauty because we are aiming to fit the standards of this world. We are aiming for a beauty that DOES NOT EXIST!

            I am THE WORST…sigh… I literally beat myself up almost daily with a lack of confidence in myself because I feel as though I JUST CAN’T KEEP UP. I often feel like age has approached me at warp speed and taken over my body like a magnet attracting every virus and bad thing out there and zapping it straight into my body. The last year I feel as though I have been on an uphill battle with my health and yet I am not getting anywhere. My insecurities and confidence has taken a beating to say the least. I beat myself up that everything I have gone through has aged me drastically and now I battle wrinkles, lines, dark circles; REALLY, just name it!

            However, I struggle when my husband tells me I am beautiful or pretty. I don’t see it, how can he? The problem is we live in a world that tells us what beauty should be, what marriage should be. We live in a world that has lost value on what is real and what is not.

            The truth is: Marriage is not always pretty. It is not always beautiful. In fact, its messy, hard, challenging and beautiful all wrapped into one. There are really great days and really bad days. There are days when I do not like him and there I days when I know he does not like me. Marriage is about CHOOSING one another in a world that says you can find something better when life gets hard. Marriage is about love, partnership, forgiveness, grace, AND…the ability to pursue God TOGETHER! I think that is my favorite part. I have never said that Brad is my soul mate. He does NOT complete me. The problem with asking a spouse to complete you, is that we place that person above God and then they become an idol. If I put Brad above God and place him as that person in my life, then I am setting him up for failure EVERY SINGLE DAY! NO one can complete me except for GOD!  I had to learn this early on in our marriage. I loved Brad so much that I did place him and my love for him above God. I had to learn that I could not look to another human, especially my husband to find my value and worth, I had to find that in Jesus Christ alone. Once I did that, I realized that my husband did not complete me, but yet he complemented me. Together we were better. We were able to Pursue each other and Christ together with encouragement, love and forgiveness.

            You see, Brad calls me Beautiful. He calls me pretty. He calls me his because we choose to say, “I still do” and fight for a love that’s worth fighting for. He loves me at my worst and forgives me when I am unforgivable. He accepts me for me. You see, Brad is a daily example to me of God’s love, grace and mercy to me every day. God accepts me when I feel unworthy. He loves me when I am unlovable. He calls me Beautiful, and He calls me His! I am a MASTERPIECE; created, designed and DEFINED by HIM…not of this world!

        

       So, girls; when you feel like the world is telling you you are not pretty enough, good enough and will never measure up... REMEMBER...Silence the lies of world. Do not let the World define you. You ARE a masterpiece, created to be loved and valued and SO much more than an object because of the way you look and/or dress. Stop comparing yourself to the worlds vision of what beauty SHOULD be. Look in the mirror and see the reflection of who God designed you to to be and NOT the lies of an imperfect world. Social media will show you the fairy tale life of the perfect body, perfect skin, perfect family and perfect everything you think you want. The problem is; perfect doesn't exist here on earth. Behind every filter, perfect picture and flawless imagine is a REAL person with REAL insecurities JUST LIKE YOU! God did not call us to be like the world, He called us to be different. Be the change. Be the reflection of beauty this world NEEDS to see. Be the light in the darkness. Be imperfectly perfect in His image. Be you!