You are Beautiful.

You are beautiful.

Wanna know why? Because God made you. He crafted every aspect of who you are, and gave you your special ‘quirks’ so you could find your way to who you’ll become. Boy, girl, man or woman, He made you beautiful. The dirtiness and distaste you harbor against yourself is not what He intended for you. He never wanted you to be hurt or abused, He didn’t give you a heart only for it to be broken. He never wanted for any of humanity to know pain.That’s why we’re got Jesus. He, God Himself, the most beautiful and perfect Being ever, died in the form of a man, so His Beauty might become ours. So when the world calls you ugly. And your sins stain you - Remember that He Made YOU to be Beautiful, and He can make you beautiful.

Not only in His Eyes, but in your One’s as well. The beauty of your spirit, when you seek Him, will shine forth and everyone will take notice. Their eyes might not bulge out of their heads, but they notice. They notice your true beauty in a way that Honors both you and God. You’re ‘One’ won’t see you as beautiful because of what you appear to be. Or for what you try to become. He/She will see your real Beauty. The Beauty only God can give.

Things that might not be at all beautiful to you, things that remind you of instances in your past, can become beautiful too. There is nothing too ‘dirty’ that His Love and Mercy can’t clean and make anew.

Girls, no matter how many pieces of yourselves you’ve given away or had taken from you throughout your life, He can make you whole and pure again in Spirit, and make your Beauty that of one without scars.

Guys, no matter what you’ve gone through, or what someone did to you - the temptations, the uncertainties and wayward actions- whatever it might be – God Alone can fulfill in you the desires of your heart.

First with His Love, and then with the Love of the One He has made for you.We are called to seek God first, seek our comfort and love in Him, and when we do, He will shower us with this beauty, with this light and Love. And, in time, He will provide us someone here on earth to remind us everyday of how Beautiful we are in God’s eyes and their own.“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. …”

You are never ‘spoiled’. You are beautiful. I will say it again, He is beautiful. You are beautiful.

James 1:12-17 James 2:14-26

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

 ¹³ When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; ¹⁴ but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

 ¹⁶ Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ¹⁸ He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Faith and Deeds 

James 2. 

 ¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. ¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

   Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

 ²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless^[d]? ²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”^[e] and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

 ²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

CUT.

There is healing in the shedding of blood. In our spirits we know this. But, Satan has a way of twisting even the purest of concepts. There is true redemption in the letting of blood, of that there is no denying. But it isn't your blood that holds this life saving power. It's HIS. He gave His Life - He shed HIS blood, for US, so we don't have to shed ours. Over two thousand years ago, He took away the need for ALL sacrifice of the flesh. So to think that cutting, burning, hurting yourself in any way, is somehow relieving the pain of this world – it isn’t. It’s masking it. Only in HIS BLOOD – in HIS POWER AND HIS LIFE and RISENMENT, can we find the escape and purpose we seek.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5