“People put you down enough – you start to believe them.”

I am a girl who loves watching classic movies, classic chick flicks to be exact. The movies, “Father of the Bride” and “You’ve Got Mail” are a few favorites. A few days ago a movie that was filmed in this era was on tv and I watched it with my family. I am not going to say what it was but I am sure that certain readers will be able to figure out what it is.

The storyline of this movie was a socially high up business man falls in love with a woman who is looked down upon in society. A few lines stuck out to me. He said to her, “You could be so much more,” and she responded, “People put you down enough – you start to believe it”

Those lines are sadly the truth for so many people. At least for me, negative words stick with me longer than any compliment does. Through high school I was critizied for my looks from various “mean girls” at some point during every school year. My freshman year I listened to them the most but it eventually became common knowledge to me. I didn’t have to be told that I was “ugly” because I believed it myself. I believed them even though I would get random notes from my peers saying I was “pretty” and through those years people who knew what the standard of beauty (whatever that is) is would compliment me for my looks, from makeup artists to a few people who are active in the entertainment industry in LA. But I still didn’t believe them, even though the girls who said those things really didn’t have any qualifications to tell me that I needed to change my physical self.

I relate to those lines in the movie because I have lived them. I have let my ‘enemies’ decide for me how I am going to view myself. If I look at the spirtual side of this, if I believe that I was created in HIS image and I am built and look the way that HE wants me to be, shouldn’t that have been enough for me? God has the perfect standard because He is perfect Himself and He knows WAY more about internal and physical beauty than anyone here on earth. If He wanted me to be the 5’1″ and pale as a snowman that I am, than that is just fine. If He wanted me to be “beautiful” by the world’s standards, than I won’t complain. I will be grateful for everything. Every little inch of my body that I find myself feeling insecure about, I am grateful for because that is how He created me to be. When I am feeling down, I know that I can fall into my heavenly Father’s arms and be reminded that I am a daughter of the KING and was created in His image and that is more than enough for me.

Love you all. In the words of Taylor Swift, “Stay beautiful.”
(Psalms 139:13)

Here’s a picture of me in my earthly father’s arms.