All I see are flaws but You see perfection

Alright ladies, has anyone else ever struggled with their self-image? Well I know I have. Aging and having a baby hasn’t seemed to do my body good– at least not in my eyes.

Before that, I struggled with certain parts of my body growing up. I was even told by someone I looked up to that if I didn’t change a certain body part on myself and have surgery, I wouldn’t be successful. It’s not like I was in modeling but yet that’s what I was told…

Fast forward to now and I’m getting wrinkles with age, I have stretch marks from carrying a baby, and it isn’t always easy to look at the mirror. I’m not sure if it’s the society we live in or just human nature to be unsatisfied with how we look and who we are. 

Botox for aging, skin creams for wrinkles, and even now transition surgeries if you aren’t happy with your biological sex– who you were created to be. Society tells us to make these changes if we aren’t happy instead of saying to love and accept ourselves for who we are.

But what does God see and say about us? We see our flaws but He sees our beauty. We feel unworthy yet He sees us as worthy. We see the mess of our lives and He sees beauty in the making. God accepts and loves us for who we are and sees us as beautiful with more value than we could ever imagine.

It’s hard to really see myself as God does but it’s a shift I know I need to make. Since I was old enough to change my hair color, I did. I wasn’t happy with that. I wasn’t happy with a lot of things and have insecurities like many people do. The struggle has always been real for me.

Now that I’m a Mom to a beautiful little girl, I’m learning I’ve really got to set an example to her about true beauty and not comparing myself or her to others in any way. For instance, I can’t tell her that her hair is beautiful and she doesn’t need to color it to be pretty, especially if we have the exact same hair color and I’m coloring mine. That would be hypocritical.

I can’t laugh and say “yeah right” when my husband pays me a compliment. I don’t want to teach my daughter self-doubt like I have struggled with for years. But those responses and behavior have been my normal for years.

I came across this song called “perfection” by Switch and it brought tears to my eyes and ministered to my heart. With girls and guys today struggling with accepting who they were created to be, this song couldn’t come at a better time. 

I hope you’ll join me in becoming confident of who we are in Christ and not hating what we see in the mirror or doubting our abilities in any capacity. God created us on purpose for a purpose and loves us for who we are. I choose to believe God instead of others who have put me down throughout the years and my own dark self-doubts.

It’s time we accepted that and loved ourselves too, not by becoming arrogant but by becoming more like God and who He has created us to be. Comparison and jealousy is what makes accepting ourselves even more difficult so we must fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 

“Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-3

If you wonder if you’re alone and the only person, you’re not. Every time you are having self-doubts, remember how important you are to God and He sees you as beautiful just the way you are. Remember this verse…

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.

    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

    before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.

    They cannot be numbered!”

Psalm 139:13-17

A Prayer For You

Lord Jesus, please show me how You see me. Help me to view myself as You do when I look in the mirror. I love You Lord and I’m sorry that there are times I don’t love myself and who You created me to be. Thank You for creating me with all my different abilities and physical attributes. I know now that I was created on purpose for a purpose and to doubt myself means to doubt You and who You have created me to be. Please help me to have a healthy self-image and to teach others to do the same too. Help me to speak life instead of death about myself and quit comparing myself to others. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Stay hopeful! 

If you have ever struggled with self-image or self-doubts, drop a comment and let us know what has helped you or if you still struggle like I do.