Feelin' Ugly?

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.

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 hearts. 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.