WHAT IS TRUE BEAUTY?

Does our beauty come from the clothes we wear, having the right hair style, perfect facial features, you know the perfect little nose, large beautiful eyes; well set cheek bones, and of course fitting into the right size clothing? I say NO, even though there is still a large part of me that wants all of these things to be just perfect. Though I may still have the desire for outward beauty, I know that is not where my true beauty lies. What I really must strive for has nothing to do with an outward appearance. When I am truly beautiful is when I am not focusing on what other people are thinking of me (whether good or bad), or being overly concerned about my appearance.
A woman is truly beautiful when she lives her life from her heart, when she is living the life that God created her to live. There are so many of us who are trying to fill someone else’s shoes, and we make ourselves miserable in the process. If you’re trying to be what you think someone else wants you to be, please, just stop! God has called each one of us for a specific purpose. There are some women that he has called into politics, some he has called into the business world, there are some women God has called into ministry, some women who are called to be writers and there are some women he has called to focus on staying home to be a wife and a mother. I’m sure there a great many professions that I could mention, but my point is this, there is only one place that you will truly shine, where you will be truly happy, there is only one place where you will be truly successful. You will only find that place when you step back and really listen; I mean really listen to your heart. What did you dream of becoming when you were a little girl? What are the things that make you feel good? What are the things that you enjoy doing most? Forget about what others are expecting of you; forget about what might be the most prestigious or prosperous life style. Get all those things completely out of your head and begin to dream again, feel again and begin to live again.
I’m reminded of the “Notebook” the scene where Noah is trying to get Ally to decide what she really wants and he says, “What do you want? Forget about what I want, forget about what Lon wants, and forget about what your mother wants! What do you want, what do you want?” An excerpt from the book reads, “You can’t live your life for other people. You’ve got to do what’s right for you, even if it hurts some people you love”. We have to forget about everything else, and just be still and listen to what our heart is telling us.
Right now our economy is at an all time low, and there are many people losing their jobs. Maybe this would be a good time to step back, do some soul searching and move into the place that God has for you. You may be concerned about whether or not you will be able to make enough money doing what your heart is telling you to do, let me recommend a book called “The Millionaire Maker” by Loral Langemeier. In this book Loral counsels individuals to do what they love doing and make money and even become wealthy doing it. I could also quote a gentleman friend of ours who is a motivational speaker and the CEO of his company. When they have to let someone go because they are not performing well with the company, they tell them “We are freeing you to do what you were meant to do”. I have heard it said that “A person will never make as much money as he will when he is doing what he loves doing”. This however, is not all about money, but about happiness and fulfillment. I simply want to assure you that if your concern is money then forget about it. Though I’m sure you will have to make some sacrifices, with your time and your finances, but in the end I believe it will be well worth it. You may even fail at first, but we learn the most from our failures, and our failures then become our assets. We must use our failures as stepping stones to success. There was a time in my life that I had an extremely horrible fear of failure, I mean I was terrified of failing, because I believed those failures defined me to be a failure. I was terribly wrong. We are not defined by our failures. We are defined by our tenacity, our determined spirits to keep going in the face of obstacles, troubles and yes even failure, as well as how we keep our integrity, and how we treat those around us during those times. I’ve even heard one successful mans advice to be “fail and fail big”. Our lives are strengthened by our difficulties; God himself knows that he says
16 “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are[a] being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever”. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: New Living Translation (NLT)

I encourage you to spend some time evaluating your life. How happy are you as a person? How fulfilled are you with where your at in life? Do you have to force yourself to get up and go to work in the mornings? Do you have to drag yourself through the work week just to get to the weekend? For those who may be earning a good income, but your simply just not fulfilled, ask yourself; am I having to compromise my principals, integrity or morality for this position? Is this really what I want to spend the rest of my life doing? There is absolutely nothing wrong with making a lot of money, there’s nothing wrong with being filthy rich, as long as you enjoy doing what you’re doing, and you don’t have to compromise your integrity in the process, or step on other people to do so. And what is the purpose of having wealth if not to help others, and our communities. I believe it is the duty of all the poor and the wealthy alike to give to others, and not horde up our wealth for ourselves.
11Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles, but the one who gathers by labor increases it. Proverbs 13:11:
This past Sunday, which was the last Sunday of 2008, one of our pastors at Calvary Temple Worship center in Modesto, Franklin Santagate spoke a great message on seeking God for your future, and the calling or work for your life. He read from the book Habakkuk, for those who aren’t familiar with the bible, Habakkuk is a book in the bible, found in the Old Testament.
Habakkuk 2:1,2:
1 I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint.
The Lord’s Second Reply
2 Then the Lord said to me,
“Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others. (NLT)

The message here is that we should set ourselves in a place to diligently and with perseverance seek God for the vision of what He’s asking us to do. We wait until we have received that vision and then write it boldly and plainly, post it on a wall, on a bulletin board or on our desk so that it is kept before our eyes, and then we must run with it.
The bible also says in Proverbs 13:12
12 “Hope deferred makes the heart sick (weary),
But a dream fulfilled is a tree of life”.
We can’t keep sitting back waiting for our dreams to be fulfilled, or continue in the pursuit of something that is simply not what God has called us to. If we continue in this way we will be in a continual state of disharmony and weariness.
There is obviously much more to obtaining true beauty, beyond the topic of our life’s work. There are many other things such as freedom from fear, bitterness, unforgiveness, resentment, anger, hurt etc… the list can go on and on. This is a process that all of us should be in. I don’t think any of us could say that we have arrived, and we no longer need to work on improving ourselves in any way. Please keep in mind that the purpose of perfecting oneself isn’t to achieve perfection, but to obtain freedom, joy and the full and happy life that we were truly meant to live. I know that even as I’m writing this much of it is what I’m learning myself or have recently learned.
I hope you will stay with me and even share this with other women in your life, as we discover together our true beauty, and become the women that we long to be, the women we were created to be.