Beautiful and Beloved

SAM_4291 Beautiful women are quite diverse. Some wear cute dresses with coordinated eyeshadow, others wear jeans and oversized tee shirts. Some are stay at home mommas while others manage companies. Some lovely women are divorced, single, widowed or married. But I will tell you what makes a woman beautiful. A gorgeous woman is one who is fixed on Jesus. Her clothing style, family status and hair color matter little to her identity. This woman finds herself worshipping Jesus in the middle of the chaos. She cries out to Jesus to speak the Truth to her when the lies thunder on her heart. When the painful moments come, she raises her hands and cries out to her Abba Father who hears. A lovely woman doesn’t look to others for approval, identity, or worth because she knows she belongs to the King of Kings. While she does take care of herself, she is not the focus. Jesus is and bringing others His love is her upmost concern.
Maybe, like me ,some mornings, you don’t wake up feeling gorgeous. Maybe you don’t even feel loved. Where is your focus dear sister? Where is your focus? Jesus loves You!! I heard this ever since I was a little girl but recently it has actually started to plant deep roots in my soul. No longer is “Jesus Loves Me” just a song, it’s my heart cry. When the lies come and make me feel shameful and gross I must choose to remember that King Jesus left Heaven’s splendor because He loves me and dear friend, He loves You too!
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” John 15:9 (NKJV)
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the Light of His glory and grace.”
Sometimes the pain of this earth overwhelms me. I cry out for relief wishing God would erase what I don’t want etched in my story. But He is the Author of my life, not I. In the middle of the painful moments I must lift my eyes to Jesus and through the tears sing hallelujah. He is worthy to be praised. When I stand on the mountaintop, He is worthy to be praised. When I am wandering in the desert of doubt, He is worthy to be praised. When I am lying in the valley, He is worthy to be praised.
Someday, for those who have trusted Jesus, we will be in Heaven. All our wrinkles, blemishes, stretch marks, broken bones will be gone! The brokenness, insecurities and lies will be gone and we will no longer remember the pain of the past. We will no longer lie awake tossing and turning over former regrets. Being free will be so wonderful! But somehow it won’t matter quite as much as we might have thought. All we will see is Jesus’s face.
JESUS, the one who bore our sin and took our shame. Emmanuel God with us. Only this time He will really be with us. In the light of His glory, all I will be able to do is worship. With arms lifted as He wipes the tears away, I will sing, hallelujah.