Image courtesy of Witthaya Phonsawat/ freedigitalphotos.net

We will make you earrings of gold, studded with silver ~ Song of Songs 1:11 (NIV) 

It seemed as if the man looked into my very soul.  He had spoken at church that night and now he was praying for people.  “You feel ugly inside. But the Lord, He’s dressing you up, and He’s going to put earrings in your ears, and a crown upon your head.”

I agreed with one thing. I felt ugly. The abuse I had suffered throughout my childhood left me feeling worthless. I tried to make myself look beautiful on the outside to make up for how I felt inside. I spent hours putting every hair just right, and I carefully applied every bit of makeup, as if putting on a mask to hide my pain.

Since that man prayed for me twenty years ago, my hair has gotten a little gray. I’ve stopped wearing much makeup; I don’t really like it anymore. On the outside I look nothing like the beauties you see on the covers of magazines. Yet I still feel beautiful.

As I spent time with the Lord, He changed me.  By his leading and guidance, I was shown the way to ministries such as Cleansing Stream, which helped me take off that mask and show people who I really am.

For so many years I listened to the lies I had been told as a child. Lies that said “you’re bad, you’re ugly, you don’t deserve anything.” And today I am able to replace those lies with the truth, such as; I am God’s daughter, I am precious, I am loved and I am valuable.

True beauty comes from what the Lord does in each one of us.  If we allow Him, He takes the things we’ve been hiding; our pain, our regret, where we’ve felt ugly or ashamed, and He heals those places within us.

Make spending time with the Lord in His word and in praise and worship part of your daily beauty regimen. Everything we do on the outside will soon pass away, but the time we spend with the Lord, letting Him do His work on the inside of us will last more than a lifetime… it will last for eternity.

Dear Father, I pray that you will touch every person reading this, that you will show them how absolutely beautiful they are to you. Let them experience your love, and help them to allow you to work in them, coming into those places that have been locked away within. Heal your daughters lord, of the shame, abuse and mistrust …heal them of the things others have done to them that shouldn’t have been done. And Lord, I pray that you would take these daughters of yours, lift them out of the pit, clean them up, dress them up and put them in a broad place. Let them praise you and sing about the wonderful things you have done in their lives. Snatch them from the hands of the enemy I pray, in Jesus name.