We expect everyone to be perfect, except the One who is.

In Middle School, the Lord began to stir my heart to tell girls of the Savior's adoration of them. I recently found something that had really spoken to my soul. It comes from "Who Calls Me Beautiful" by Regina Franklin, an amazing book every woman should read. It is truly so beautiful, and such a perfect Word from the Lord for his daughters.

Before the beginning of time, I knew you. I knew what color your eyes would be, and I could hear the sound of your laughter. Like a proud father who carries a picture of his daughter, I carried the image of you in my heart, for you were created in my image. Before the beginning of time, I chose YOU. I spoke your name into the heaves, and I smiled as its melody resounded off the wall of my heart. Even your name gave me great delight.

You are mine. My love for you extends farther than the stars in the sky and deeper than any ocean. You are my pearl of great price, the one for whom I gave everything. I cradle you in the palm of my hand. I love you even in the face of your failure. Nothing you say or do can cause Me to stop loving you. I am RELENTLESS in my pursuit of you.

Run from me - I will love you.

Spurn me- I will love you.

Reject yourself - I will love you.

You see, my love for you was slain before the foundations of the world, and I have never regretted the sacrifice I made for you at calvary.

When I see every part of who you are, I marvel at the work of My hands, for I whispered words of longing and desire and you came into existence. You are beautiful, and I take pleasure in you - heart, mind and body. You are MY DESIRE. When you turn your head in shame and despise what I have made, still I reach for you with gentle passion. YOU are MY BELOVED and I am yours.

Here are some quotes that go along with this precious word:

Efforts to have a beautiful face and body rarely come from the desire to reflect more accurately the body of Christ. Rather, they have roots in the desire to make ourselves "pleasant to the eyes" (Gen. 3:6)

Beyond the dreams and illusions of childhood is One who calls me beautiful. His voice never falters, never ceases, even when I continue my childhood games, even when I keep listening to voices other than His.

Prufrock's love song is a cry to be known by a world that imprisons him in superficiality. It is a world that pretends to know life while it withers in spiritual death.

She lives with a divided heart, for she believes in Christ's ultimate love for her and yet feels burdened by her inability to love herself. Her struggle becomes an issue of spiritual pride - an inability to allow Christ to be enough beauty for her and unwillingness to allow others to see her insecurities.

I knew with my head, but not with my heart, that my beauty and worth are found in Christ.

We hear words of failure in our minds because we actively choose to give them an audience.

When we deride ourselves, we curse God's creation.

The world did not create me and does not know me. God did and does.

The only way we will ever know true, pure physical beauty is to seek a life of true, pure spiritual beauty.

True beauty is a life lived for Christ.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, I know who's fairest of all. His name is Jesus and because of Him I cannot define beauty as this world does. 

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Is it not incredible that even in our lowest times, when we feel like God's greatest disappointment we can STILL bring a sparkle to our Savior's eye!? How often we forget about the love of our God! The other day the Lord opened my eyes to this: We expect everyone to be perfect, except the One who is.

Wow. I was shocked. What a truth! We expect our family to serve joyfully, love constantly, and forgive  easily. We expect our spouse to never fail us or hurt us. We expect our friends to never leave us and to always encourage us. Yet everyone on this earth fails us. 

And then there is our view of the Lord. We expect him to be angry when we fail, not forgive us when we repent, blame us for all the evil, be harsh when we ignore him, forget about us, think us ugly and disgusting, not want anything to do with us. And yet...he is none of those things!

He reacts just the way we could only dream of!! He forgives when we repent, he responds in gentleness, compassion, grace, and kindness. What we expect out of all people, we can only expect from him, and yet we don't even do that! 

Oh how he loves! How he loves! He will never let us down. He will never ever ever ever...ever fail us! He is the lover of our entire being: heart, personality, body, quirks, voice, everything. 

This reminds me of a baby. When you hold that precious baby for the first time nothing comes to mind except "Wow, you are so perfect my sweet precious child!" The parents see absolutely no flaw in their child. And THAT is how God sees us! All beauty and all perfect. YES. He sees us as PERFECT. He does not see our faults, because of what Jesus Christ of Nazareth did upon that cross on the hill of Golgotha.   We are white as snow, precious and holy in the eyes of our Lord. 

He does not look at or dwell on our past. So why do we!? Let us fix our eyes upon the Savior, let go of our past as he already has done, and live for the glory and the honor of our Savior. For he loves you, greater than all. 

He loves you.