i found grace

Enough Already.

My heart is broken. I don't know what do.

Then again, maybe this truth is where the problem actually lies. I am astounded as I try to grasp hold of the reality we are faced with. I CAN'T wrap my head around it. It is an epidemic, and my very being is burning with a passion to fight it.

Women. We are loosing who we are. We are encouraging our own heartache. We are asking for trouble. And, we are condemning our daughters to despair.

If you are a woman, I am speaking to you.

You are beautiful. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. God himself designed you, just as you are. He loved you and called you his own, before you were a glimmer in your mother's eye. He wanted you to be with him so much, he sent his only son to die on a cross for you. HE WANTS YOU.

Your worth is not based on your dress size, your bra size, or your shoe size. Your worth is not based on what you look like in the morning, how much time you spend in the gym, or how many men want to date you. Your worth is not dependent on how many people approve of you, how many friends you have, or what kind of car you drive. It does not matter if you drink too much, swear too much, or yell too much. There is no relevance in any of these things.

GOD LOVES YOU. Just as you are.

I am so sad to see what we are doing. And I say we because I am a part of it. I have lost sight of the joy of salvation, and the cost at which I was bought and paid for- IN FULL. My worth is on that cross. My worth is something I can't touch, or see, or smell. My worth comes from something so perfect and divine, I can't even imagine it's glory. I can't grasp God in all his fullness, yet he sees me, and wants me. ME! Not because I am a good friend. Or because I love my family. He doesn't want me because I sing at church, or lead bible studies. He wants me, because he made me. And He paid more than I can imagine to hold me close in his arms, and call me beloved.

I sit here half in frustration, half in sheer excitement. I mean, to be called a daughter to the King. What more should there be?

Yet, I make it more. I make it SO much more. And I get frustrated with other women in my life when they critique themselves- and pick every thing about them to pieces. But, I do the same thing. I may not voice it, but I feel it. There is a bar that has been set by someone (they should be shot), that says :
Women of America- you should be:
~stronger
~thinner
~richer
~prettier
~younger
... And the list goes on. Point being- in this world we are NEVER going to be enough. And this is an outrage, right?

Well, this whole idea of not being enough, it's nothing new. In fact, it's because I know that I can't live a sinless life that the idea of Christ claiming me means so much. I am not enough to be with God, yet he still wants me.
The problem does not as much lie with women not being enough, it is what we are not enough OF.

God saw that in our humanity, we couldn't do it without him. He planned a way out. He knew from the beginning we would fail to live a perfect life. He KNOWS that! He created women to be soft, and lovely, and merciful. He created us to be strong, and wise, and nurturing. We are all different, created for His pleasure. God created us with free-will. All he asks it that we love him.

What we have done, is created a new image of woman. We have stripped her of her dignity by posing nude in magazines. We have robbed her of her value by taking her out of the home and pushing her into the workplace. We have turned against each other in judgment .We have accepted the standard by continually conforming, regardless of the cost.

Do I feel convicted? You bet. Today alone I made fun of a co-workers shoes, noted a mis-matched outfit, thought about how unflattering another's haircut was. I noted how loud one woman was, how passive another was, and silently listened as yet another woman was cut down. And this was all before 10am.

And I wonder why we have 10 year old girls with eating disorders. Why 13 year old have multiple sex partners, just to feel like they belong. Why high school seniors are getting boob jobs for graduation presents. I am part of the problem. I'm just as self-destructive as any of them- I am just better at hiding it.

My hearts cry is that we, as women would anchor our worth on the rock of Christ. If we could begin to understand our own redemption, we could share it with the women around us. Instead of judging our peers, we should be building them up with love. I want to take back the image God laid out for us. I want to claim it for myself, and no longer conform to the world. I want to spend more time talking about how Great my God is, than about who's on what diet, and who said what.

I am sick and tired of never measuring up to a standard that quite frankly, will never matter to God. I am done with proving my worth to people who have no say in my salvation. Our values have deviated from the course Christ laid out. We quit caring about what he wanted, and became obsessed with what out world wanted.

I desire to be like Jesus. To be fun, and dangerous, to challenge the minds of the people around me. I want to love recklessly, and laugh till my sides ache on a daily basis. I want to be uncomfortable in a world I don't fit until my father comes, to take me home. And when he arrives, I want to take as many people as my arms can hold.

The truth is, life hurts. Our parents and our friends don't meet our expectations. We get let down, and it breaks us. The beauty is this: It is our brokenness that allows us to see our need. It is up to us to need Him, and not this world.

posted by Elizabeth @ 7:47:00 PM