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Precious girl,

I don’t know if you meant to weep that loudly or not.  I’m not sure if those were quiet sobs that had reached the point of no return, or if this was actually your way of pulling back the curtain on your pain for all to see – what the mirror has done, the lies it has told you, the way it has limited and so poorly defined you.

I so connected with your feelings that I was ready to barge in that dressing room at Lane Bryant and take your face into my hands like you were my own sister and tell those feelings that lie to you what’s up.  Aren’t you counting your lucky stars that I showed shreds of self-control?  Plus, the thing about barging into strangers’ dressing rooms to preach a Psalm 139 sermon is that law enforcement might not take too kindly to it.

I too remember the stores, the feelings of failure and inferiority, the ways those images I saw in the mirror morphed into these big lies I started to believe about me.

The Enemy had a field day with me. 

But he won’t get you like he got at me if I have anything to say about it.  Look, I know this next part will make you all kinds of uncomfortable.  At first.  But I will pause to pray right now that you could trust me, a stranger…and trust the heart of a God who is enthralled with you.

I just wanted to pass a note to tell you that you’re so lovely.  

That red hair–did you know women spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get their own strands shaded the way God has so artfully hued yours?  It was shiny too, and if you write back, please let me know what products you are using because I would also like to use them since they ARE WORKING AND EVERYTHING. But I digress.

Your skin with nary a blemish— as I watched you try on some things that didn’t fit and get discouraged, what you couldn’t see was just how beautiful you looked in so many different colors.  God made you a special canvas to display His glory, friend.

I know it sure doesn’t feel like that now.  I completely understand.  But could I pause to tell you a little secret?

Satan keeps lying to you in those dressing rooms and messing with your image of yourself in that mirror because he is afraid.  He’s afraid of what will happen if you offered the beauty of your brokenness.  He’s scared of what will become of his treachery if exposed by God’s glory inside you.  He knows the most powerful thing in this world is somebody who knows who they are and WHOSE they are…when we take off the smock of lies we’ve donned and exchange it for a garment of strength and dignity.

I heard it in your tears: deep vulnerability.

“You see, beauty indwells every woman…. it reveals itself for a moment, then fades back into cover. Usually it comes when she doesn’t know it…Rather, something is happening that allows her defenses to come down for a moment. For instance, when someone is listening. She knows that she matters. Someone cares about her heart, wants to know her. Her beauty emerges as if from behind a veil.”  Captivating, John and Stasi Eldredge

Come out of that dressing room and offer your precious beauty to a world that’s truly starved for it. 

{And don’t forget to bring your hair products.}

 

Love,

Lauren from The A* Team

 

 

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