The Looking Glass became Lethal.

"Let's play 'Rugrats'!" my best friend exclaimed as we headed out to lunch recess. My face brightened, and I was about to express my thrill, when she said it:

"You can play Tommy... 'cause he's the ugly one."

I was seven. I had never taken my looks into account, and I barely recognized the concept of a beautiful person. But that day changed everything.

My struggle began as a seed with one trivial comment, was watered by our media-saturated culture, and then fertilized by Satan's venomous lies. Swiftly, my seed grew into a Sequoia of deep, agonizing pain. The looking glass became lethal. Nasty thoughts would run through my mind every time I caught a reflection of myself. Countless times a day, I would see another girl and wished I looked like her. 

My battle is not confined to the past. It is still a daily conflict of wishing I was different than I am; desiring to look like that model, and I am quite certain that if you are a woman reading this, you can relate. You can relate to feeling like you're not good enough.  You can relate to seeing another woman and envying her looks. You can relate to never being satisfied with your own beauty. 

On January 30th, I wrote, "I believe there is great strength in the individual who dwells on Truth, ponders rightness, and meditates on loveliness. I aspire to be this person." Now, when I was writing my first blog about Christ-like thinking, I was anticipating the Christ-like thinking to be aimed toward others, difficult situations and the world. But, exactly eleven hours after writing those words, I told myself, "You are worthless." God immediately directed my thoughts back to my new resolution, and He stated, "The thoughts you have about yourself are not true, therefore; you are not thinking Christ-like." Wow. I was hit with a strong conviction. I was overlooking the way I think about myself. So, how do we know what is a true thought about ourselves? Well, we can start - and end - by understanding the way our loving God sees us. 

"For You formed my inward parts; 

You wove me in my mother’s womb. 

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 

Wonderful are Your works, 

And my soul knows it very well." 

Psalm 139:13-14 NASB

 ^"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, 

which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."

Ephesians 2:10 NASB 

    "You are altogether beautiful, my darling,
And there is no blemish in you."

Song of Songs 4:7 NASB

"The LORD your God is in your midst,
A victorious warrior.
He will exult over you with joy,
He will be quiet in His love,
He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy."

Zephaniah 3:17 NASB

 ^"Then the King will desire your beauty.
Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him"

Psalm 45:11 

Looking in the mirror does not need to be torturous. Keep what Christ thinks about you in the forefront of your mind.  Believe what He says. It's Truth.