Beauty From Ashes: Youniquely Made

Do you see yourself as beautiful? I doubt most women would describe themselves as beautiful when listing their attributes even though beauty products are a $650 billion a year industry.

I was never a girly-girl. While other girls shopped and put on makeup, I was outside running across the cattle guard with my twin brother or hiding army men in the sand so Dad would run them over with his '73 Chevy when he drove home from work each day. I never realized other girls did not grow up as a tomboy like me.

Don't get me wrong...I loved growing up a tomboy! To this day, there is nothing I would change about my childhood. But if I could talk to the younger me, I would tell her she was beautiful just the way God made her.

Unfortunately, I allowed people to get in my head like one particular celebrity who wrote a book talking about how she also climbed trees and wore boys clothing. She believed this lifestyle was proof that she was meant to be attracted to girls and not guys. I disagreed.

My friend, we should never look to society to help us identify ourselves. The DNA I possess inside my body is mine. Even though 50% of my chromosomes are shared with my twin brother, I am still my own person with my own identity..

According to Psalm 139:14, I am fearfully and wonderfully made by a Creator who knows me from the inside out. My frame was never hidden from God, even while in my mother's womb (Ps. 139:15). He saw my unformed body and sculpted me like clay on a potter's wheel.

In my latest ladies devotional book, Beauty Rises Again: From Brokenness to New Beginnings, I tell the story of a woman whose beauty was only skin deep.

The story began with her husband, Nabal, who refused to see to the physical needs of the Israelites (1 Sam. 25). David promised to kill Nabal and his entire family. While on his way to face Nabal, Abigail met David and his men. After giving them the provisions they asked from her husband (bread, cakes, wine, etc.), Abigail spoke truth into David's life reminding him that God would continue to bless him and his family because he fought the Lord's battles. She knew David was headed to the throne and wanted to ensure he would not have a senseless act of bloodshed on his conscience (1 Sam. 25: 31).

David listened and relented from destroying the family of Abigail. Although 1 Samuel 25:3 described Abigail as an "intelligent and beautiful woman," David saw to the heart of this woman who would become his future wife. He saw her genuine and compassionate spirit which was the complete opposite of her husband Nabal. Only God could gift to someone such beauty.

Whatever you are facing today, please know that you are beautiful in the eye of your Beholder, because we are made in His image. Let the words from 1 Peter 1:3-5 speak to your heart and settle in your mind, "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."

So, now let me ask you again. Do you see yourself as beautiful? Can you now see how you are YOUNIQUE in the eyes God?

If you have any questions about Jesus Christ or what I have written today, please email me at whitneysparks4110@gmail.com.

Join my LIVE online Ladies Bible Study group each Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. CST as we learn how God can break our chains of brokenness and sculpt our lives into something beautiful.