Identity, Part Two-ish?

I remember writing something slightly similar in one of my first blog posts, but one thing I have found to be on my mind lately, and what has been a big part of my journey.  Self-Image. Good or bad, you have one, and in this day in age it's a lot easier to have the latter.  Everyday I am shocked to the extent in which young girls will go to make themselves feel good.  This topic, for me, breaks my heart because I was and still am in some aspects one of those girls.

I have struggled with self image, and an eating disorder since the 7th grade. At 12 years old, I think that is when I started to notice how I looked, what the numbers said on the scale, and which size jeans my friends were buying, how people thought of me. And off and on life continued like that.  But can you blame me, or any other girl in the world?  We live in a society where we have a size 00, where plus size is just the size for a woman with curves, where 4 out of 4 my best friends have sometime in their life struggled with an eating disorder.  Eating disorders are only on aspect of self image, this isn't the topic I really want to focus on, the thing that has been on my heart lately is Identity.  For years I found my identity based on what other people thought of me, and brought me to do things I would never dream of.  I was constantly seeking social acceptance, I wanted that confirmation that I was beautiful, funny, that I meant something in this world.  It actually just broke me down even more, I was constantly being rejected, pushing my way into the crowd, just to be pushed back down.  It's an endless cycle and it deceives you to the point where you think you are happy, I believed I was. I thought I had an awesome life, only to be left alone, with no one.  Except God and my family. That's what miraculously changed my life.

It was in those times, instead of weekends out, I stayed with my parents or my neighbors, it was then that I started to find who I truly was, who God made me to be.  I wish every girl could experience the love I have felt that comes from the Heavenly Father.  A love so great, you are completely satisfied.  You see ladies, God created you in His image.  And if you didn't know, God does not make mistakes.  He made you fearfully & wonderfully.  You are His princess.  Truly.  And I'm not trying to get all cheesy & sentimental, but how can I not? Girls all over the world are trying to find their identity in their friends, looks, boys, themselves. Spoiler Alert, it will always, lead to disappointment & self doubt.  You see, the difference with finding your identity in Jesus Christ means that you will never be rejected, you will never be not good enough, He will never make jokes about your weight, or tell you to get a nose job, ever. It will never happen.  Because what He says to you is "I love you, my daughter, my beautiful creation, there is no flaw in you, if only you could see how gorgeous you are my princess."  He wants to tell you that over and over again every single day until you know it in your heart.  When we are completely & utterly satisfied in God, when we know who He created us to be & we live in it, then no one not even the meanest of people can touch us, because I was created by God who also created the flowers, the trees, the oceans, and that's a pretty dang solid foundation to stand on.  It's an identity that is constant, one that doesn't shift by what society says, because you will always be reminded that you are so much more than that, you are a daughter of the king.  You are worth more than your outward appearance, the number on the scale, what size jeans you wear, the boy who disrespects you. None of that, let me tell you none of that matters in the real world, and none of that matters to God. You are worth more and you deserve more.

Instead of focusing on myself, instead of putting all my energy in to how I think about myself or am perceived by others, I've changed it around to how does God see me?  Ok, so I know that today, tomorrow, & every day after that God loves me, that He created me for a purpose and a plan, He died on the cross for my sins, He knew me before I was in my mothers womb, He calls me His daughter, His princess, He tells me I am beautiful.  So how can I take all of those encouragements and live it out?  How can I best represent who God created me to be, how can I glorify Him through my life, how can I encourage others, how can I bless others?  And it's hard, it is so hard sometimes, but when I focus on Jesus, and when I think that the God of the universe cares that much about me that He sent His one & only son to die on the cross for me and for my sins, I am confident in who He did create me to be, and I am satisfied fully, because I know that no matter what society says about me, God will say the same things, That I am valuable, I am beautiful, I am loved. Finding your Identity in Christ is the only foundation which cannot be shaken, because His love for you is constant, ever growing, never ending.  And when I overwhelm myself with His presence, all else fades away, nothing else matters but to know that I am created & loved by my Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ.

What is your identity?  

"I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most 

glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought 

about, born in God's thought, and then made by God, is the 

dearest, grandest, and most precious thing in all thinking"