For the Ladies

"There are no coincidences, only answered prayers." I think that is already a coined phrase. However, I don't know if it is, the Lord has just been putting this in my head lately. To believe in coincidences is such a hope killer in the belief of an intervening God.

Anyway, that's not what I wanted to focus on. This is for the ladies, as titled, because it is a message I want to share with them, that I have received. It may be for men too, I guess, but I feel most for the women, as I know that these complexities are ones most women face.

And now for vulnerability. I have never felt especially beautiful. Or pretty, or any other word that I have been told by my mother and the Bible and yet I have refused to believe because of the lies of the world. I thought in my head, "the world says this kind of girl is beautiful. That is not me. Therefore, I am not beautiful." Crazy, right? But SO MANY women struggle with this, and like me, may not be aware that you do, or feel that the solution to the problem is in you, not in Christ.

Anyway, we are not our own orchestrator's of our fate, praise God! These were LIES (it is important to identify that they are exactly that) that I had been believing since I can remember. These LIES, then, were a stronghold for Satan in my life, that he used to tempt me and pull me away, as in Hosea 2:

¹³ I will punish her for the days
she burned incense to the Baals;
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,
and went after her lovers,
but me she forgot,"
declares the LORD.

And that's what I did. However, the following verse proves truer:

¹⁴ "Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her.

Twice in the past semester God has told me POWERFULLY and without a doubt, that I am beautiful. And not with conditions, as in beautiful because of anything outward, he just said "You're Beautiful." And again, "Beautiful." TWICE; weeks apart. First, know that God has SOO much patience for you. It abounds! He IS the God of patience! I thought surely He had enough of me, but not only is that a LIE (again, every thought captive) He is leading and alluring us! I want to encourage any women that read my blog that YOU too are BEAUTIFUL in the Lord. And we know this because He tells us. Capture the lie of ugly, that goes against so much truth, and don't seek justification in this world, as I have done, as so many of us are prone to do. We have already been justified, and made beaufitul :)