Who is Me? {part 2}

Yesterday I shared with you about the joy of discovering that God sees us as beautiful and graceful.  Today it's time to see how that inner beauty eeks out for the rest of world to see it!

Here's what I shared at our MOPS group ...

I fully believe that I would never have been able to move on to the next aspect of finding me if I hadn’t first discovered the beauty within.  God first had to redeem me as a person before He could release me to revamp my outward Package.

As I began to soak up this new internal identity, I experienced an overwhelming sense of freedom.  It was glorious!  Those standards that I had set for myself were slowly eroding away (along with my own self-judgements) and I found myself liking me a lot more.  And as I began to like who I was on the inside, I discovered that I wanted to reflect that inner beauty on the outside.

The challenge, however, was the fact that at the same time, I was a mom to three preschoolers and that meant that my fashion needs were low on the to-do list.  Really low.  Lower than the need to wash bathrooms or bathe my little people.  Yes, that low.  Add the fact that I was still wrestling with my own personal value and worth and you can be assured that I contented myself with pony-tail hair-do’s and any number of fashion-don’ts.

I continued to hide my graceful and beautiful person in a rather unattractive package.  My wardrobe consisted of over-sized tops and jeans from the 90’s ... the ones with the waist so high that it almost made a bra optional.  I resisted any clothing or accessories that called attention to me (good attention for being fashion conscious, that is) and I settled for being a bit invisible.

But, it’s no good being a new creation on the inside, while still presenting to the rest of the world the image of someone who doubts her self-worth.  This is where Brett comes in.  I remember the first piece of bling that he bought me.  I’m wearing it today.  When I opened the box, the first thought that popped into my head was, “Wow ... that is too big and too sparkly.  I could never wear that?”  I felt undeserving of that necklace, but that gift was bought because I am worth it.

Since that moment (and with a lot of encouragement from Brett) I have begun to allow the inward beauty that God sees to show up more and more on the outside.  And strangely enough, this has had a cyclical effect.  As I take care of myself and present myself as someone graceful and beautiful, I feel better about me and I act more graceful and beautiful.  And I can say with all honesty that Stacy and Clinton from What Not to Wear are fantastic resources for tips on revamping our packaging!

Of course, this is going to look different for each of us.  For some of us, we might find that a little bit of sparkle goes a long way.  For others of us, we might discover the more bling the better!  Truly, our outward presentation doesn’t matter much except that it is a reflection of how we value ourselves.  And when we acknowledge that we are worth clothes that fit us well, worth a hair style that is flattering, worth jewelry that compliments our features and even worth a little makeup to lesson the effects of nighttime nursing, I think we might find that each of us are incredibly beautiful packages!

Come back tomorrow for the final installment of "Who is Me?" ... as we join God in adding to the beauty around us!

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Day 1:  Mom in the Midst

Day 2:  My Button is Lame

Day 3:  Splendidly Lavish

Day 4:  Keeping My Head Above Water

Day 5:  Time-Warp Wednesday ~ Little Me

Day 6:  Me, Myself & I

Day 7:  Food For Though ~ Bacon

Day 8:  The Aches and Pains of Service

Day 9:  I Heart You

Day 10:  Who is Me? {part 1}

Day 11:  Who is Me? {part 2}