Dear Monica (and all of you other women out there who are my sisters in your own way),

I hate watching you grapple with beauty.  I hate hearing you wish this part was smaller or less pimply or fuller or whatever you wish. I hate hearing you say these things because you are believing the first lie.

The lie that snake whispered in the very beginning:  “Did God really say…”

God says you are:

“created in His own image.”
“fearfully and wonderfully made.”

And yet all you (and I) can sometimes hear are the lies in the media questioning those truths (Satan’s lies).

Beauty is smart.
Beauty is perfect.
Beauty is a perfect home.
Beauty is a full bust, a slender waist, and curvy but narrow hips.
Beauty is a soft manner.
Beauty is service.
Beauty is doing it yourself.
Beauty is a number on the scale.
Beauty is a hair color.

Can’t you hear it?  The snake hissing in your ear, “Did God really say that you are beautiful and that you reflect Him?  Oh, but those thighs, those hips, those ankles, those too short eyelashes! Did He really call you ‘very good’?”

God made you, Monica.  Unique.  With a specific purpose.  A specific calling.  And a beauty that no one else will have.  Because you are you.  The only you.  (and as a mother of identical twins… yes, that beauty is even unique to each of them.  What a strong case for the soul… that beauty so different even within the same DNA.)

Hold your head high.  Listen for your calling.  Create as your creator creates.  When your appearance is criticized, hold your head high, look the offender in the eye and whisper the truth. “God created you beautiful and unique, friend.  Why should my form and calling be any less unique than yours?”

I love you, sister.  Love you just as you were made to be.  The person then, now, and who you are becoming.  Listen to the truth: you are God’s beloved.