Seeds | Identity

Goodness! It's been almost a week since my last blog post. I've been incredibly busy with work and surprisingly enough, I'm even on break! Is it really a break though when you're working non-stop? Ha, nope! Oh well. I'm excited to be coming back to the blog with a good read on Identity, the 2nd post in my new blog series "Seeds". Let's dive in.

Identity... Who are we? Or better yet, whose are we? We'll start out with finding who we are, ladies. Firstly, go check yourself out in the mirror. Yes, I'm being completely and utterly serious. Do you look like your mom? Maybe you have your dads eyes? Technically, we were made from our parents and they determined the DNA that would make up you and I. Sometimes we blame our parents for the way we turn out in life. Maybe the divorce cycle has run throughout your family tree and you believe it's just bound to happen to you as well. Or maybe your mother lacks confidence because of the way your father talks down to her so you feel as though you're only deserving of a man who will talk down to you as well... Hey! Maybe you have an amazing family. Your parents love each other and your father treats you and your mother like princesses, but you feel inadequate. Let me remind you of something...

Your identity is not in your family. You may share blood with your parents but you obtain your very own personhood that can change the cycle of your family tree. You can change your way of thinking as well as the way you feel like you can't live up to your parents expectations. You are worthy of love and valuable.

Okay, go look in the mirror again... We all have this "auto-piloted" way of thinking when we look in the mirror to automatically pick out every single flaw. 

"My nose is too big." 

"My hair is too curly." 

"I'm too pale." 

"I have crooked teeth."

"I'm too fat."

As girls, we often put our identity in our looks. We grow up learning how to put makeup on, how to fix our hair a certain way, what's skinny and what's fat based on the 80lb models in magazines and then we find ourselves creating nonexistent standards on what beautiful really is. What sucks even more is that men are being brainwashed in the same way. For the longest time, I found my identity in my looks. What did the popular girls look like? What do pretty girls wear? What do people say about me? Does he think I'm pretty? Those were questions I'd ask myself daily and most of the time I couldn't afford to look like the popular girls so I was screwed! After high school I realized that all of this worrying was pointless. If we find our identity in our looks it lessens the value of our hearts. We become superficial and shallow. We care more about ourselves instead of others. We consume our heads with false idols, unhealthy habits and devalue our self confidence. I want to be remembered by the people I impacted, not by the latest trend, hair style or look. After all, one day we'll all be old and wrinkly and no amount of liposuction or botox will make us young again. 

So focus on your heart and BE beautiful in your own skin. Quit comparing yourself to other girls and start loving them! You obtain beauty. Now embrace it. 

Alright... now remember at the beginning of this thing when I asked "whose are we?"... Welp! I'm about to tell you. Speaking from my personal faith, I believe whole heartedly that we all were made in by and in the image of God. You are God's Masterpiece - Ephesians 2:10. The Bible teaches that God loves us perfectly and unconditionally. His perfect love is not based on our perfection or anything except Himself (see 1 John 4:8). The best part about knowing this is that even when we don't love ourselves, God still loves us. We are uniquely and wonderfully made in the image of God and BY God who is completely flawless. At the end of everyday when I take my makeup off and stare at my reflection in the mirror and start to point at every blemish and flaw in my appearance or personhood, I remind myself that I was created in the image of a perfect God. So whether I find my identity in Him or not, He sees me as beautiful, smart, lovely, talented, worthy of love and I can't help but smile. 

Whether you believe in Jesus or not, He believes in you. And if you take anything from this blog post, I hope you take the ultimate point and that's that you are beautiful. You aren't who the world says you are. You are uniquely and wonderfully created to be exactly who you are right now. So be you the best you can be.