Thursday, April 4, 2013

Feelin' Ugly?

God Thinks You're Lovely, No Matter How You Feel
copyright 2009, Ron Levellie
 

 
Do you ever feel ugly? I don’t mean zits, wrinkles, or warts ugly. I mean the kind that creeps into your soul unaware and then rushes out your mouth and mugs your loved ones when you and they least expect it.

                  A snarky word in response to an innocent comment.

An accusation based on your insecurities and emotions.

                  A meltdown when you feel overwhelmed by too much life and too little time.

Then afterwards, you look in the mirror—whether it’s a glass one, or your soul glaring back at you one—and you think, “you are so ugly.” 

It isn’t true, you know.

Just because you acted from pride, insecurity, or foolishness, is no proof that you are an ugly person. You feel like a failure because you didn’t live up to your expectations of someone who loves with mature responses. And you’re disappointed in yourself.  

But God wasn’t surprised. He knew about those owies in your heart. And He already planned a way to get you out of them.  

It’s called grace. 

It means extending kindness and favor to someone who doesn’t deserve it.

Only Jesus can give us the confidence we crave.
And really, none of us do. Deserve God’s grace, I mean. It’s only because of Jesus’ blood that we can be God’s children. It has nothing to do with how we behave.  

·         Believing that will help us overcome our insecurities.

·         Receiving it will help us control our foolish attitudes.

·         Choosing to forgive ourselves and start over will help us grow up emotionally.  

Everyone has owies in their heart. We discover them when we act ugly. But we don’t have to believe the lie that we ARE ugly. Through God’s grace, we can begin again.  

It’s a new day, you LoVeLy YOU. Be kind to yourself, and receive God's grace.

I hope you will extend grace to me as I take a short break from blogging to visit my grandkids. I'll be back soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

9 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing this Jeanette. It's a reminder I need from time to time.

    Have a wonderful time with your grandkids.

    Love and blessings.

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  2. Enjoy your grandkids! Love this post about grace, one of the things I am most grateful for.

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  3. Hello beautiful, enjoy those grandchildren.

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  4. The art is so cute-could she be you! :-) And I appreciate what you have to say here. Yes, it's so true. And of course, you can go play with the grandkids with our wholehearted blessings! Be blessed.

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  5. Did your son do that illustration? Very cute.

    Have a great visit with the family!

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  6. What a nice post to leave in our hearts as you go on your visit. I know your words uplifted me today.

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  7. I felt that way just last week, and then God reminded me that I am made in his image, which means I am patient and kind and--all the things I was not feeling. It was time to grasp that he had already made the change in me and I just had to adopt it, not keep fighting. That's a continuous battle.

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  8. great one... enjoyed reading... thanks for posting...

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  9. Thanks, dear friends. We had a fun time, but it's great to sleep in our own bed again!

    Jill: I like that outlook: He's already made the change, we just need to adopt it. Very wise!

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Oh, it's YOU! I'm so happy to see you here today, and look forward to reading your comments.