"Tiaras & Glass Slippers"

     Well good evening Beautiful! Nice to see you here :) I am so excited to have you here because tonight marks the second "Tiaras & Glass Slippers" post. I'm also excited because I am currently on a series that fits perfectly into this segment as well, so for the month of November I will be doing two "Tiaras & Glass Slippers". And from then on I'll be posting one once a month, so stay tuned. So to begin... If you've missed out on what I've been talking about on the blog recently, I'm on a series right now talking about being enough. If you haven't checked out those posts I highly recommend you to head on over. And the sub-title of today's post is "The Trap". 

     There is nothing wrong with being beautiful! In fact that's how God designed us. But unfortunately throughout the years the meaning of beauty has been thrown straight into a mud puddle. I think it's time that we pick it on out of the mud and make it sparkle again so we can see what it was really meant to be. Are you ready to dive into this?

     When you think of genuine beauty, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Go ahead. Take some time to think about it.

     Now that you've thought about it a bit, I want you to take a look at beauty today. Everything you thought of... Is it something that is celebrated in today's culture, or is it shoved carelessly on the back burner?

     Every time you step out of the house you see evidence of beauty. Whether it's the genuine kind, or the muddy kind. Now, I'm not calling anyone muddy so just bear with me for a moment. The messages we hear about beauty today are selfish, and quite frankly very demeaning to who we were designed to be. These messages tell us, "Less is more. Please don't show us those hideous blemishes. You have to be this size in order for you to be likable. You have to buy absolutely everything you want because that makes you cooler." You get the drift. Everywhere we look we have a chance to see what beauty is "apparently" supposed to look like. We see the beautiful images in the magazines, and the perfection of the celebrities on screen. And it has even gone as far as ads and commercials being all about, "You've got do this, look like this, be this, have this, in order for you to be enough!"

     Please hear me when I say there is something so much better than that. There is a beauty that is like diamonds. Priceless, and breathtaking! Throw away the idea of a muddy beauty. "Yeah, I know where this is going. Inner beauty is better than outer beauty. Blah, blah, blah!", is what you may be thinking. But hold up a second! I hear what you're saying. That message has been so misinterpreted. The religious people have gone and made it all about "You shouldn't be beautiful on the outside, just the inside counts." But really it's all about the motives behind it! Therein lies "the trap". 

      If your outer beauty is just manufactured so you feel like you're enough and feel like people will like you more, than inner beauty is better. If outer beauty is the most important thing to you than you're not giving inner beauty a fair chance at developing. But when you focus on developing genuine inner beauty, outer beauty is a by-product. You can totally have both! Like I mentioned, it's all about the motives behind it. There is nothing wrong with outer beauty! We were designed not only to have inner beauty, but also outer beauty. God wouldn't have given us curves, long silky hair, and our unbelievable fashion sense if he didn't want us to be beautiful on the outside too. These are only a few of many examples. 

     But this muddy beauty I'm talking about is trying to convince us women that we are worth less. It says it is not possible to be genuinely beautiful. It calls you ugly, forcing you to try everything in your might to make yourself "more" beautiful. It bullies you, and it pushes you around. It calls you too fat, too skinny, not curvy enough, too curvy, cover your face with this, wear this, don't wear this, and on and on and on. It tries to take away all your self-worth by rubbing you further and further into the ground. Do you know why this is happening? The devil wants you taken hostage by these lies. He wants you to believe that you are nothing, and nothing you will ever do will make you better. He wants to silence your desires for genuine beauty, and he wants to snuff out all hope. 

     But darling, that is NOT, I repeat NOT, what God's thoughts are towards you. He created you to be beautiful. In a broken world He wanted the radiance of women to brighten the place up. He knew that our smiles did far more for a broken soul than we could ever imagine. He knew that our compassion and our kindness was unlike any other. He knew that the love we have to give was the kind of love that would heal all those around us. He created us with so many beautiful qualities. And on top of all that gorgeousness He also created us to be beautiful on the outside. In case you haven't noticed... We as women don't look as rugged as men. Ha ha. We have a certain elegance about us. The fact that both the rugged and the elegant exist together is a pretty darn good plan I'd say. (I don't know about you, but that ruggedness "ahem"... Need I say more?) Anyway! Moving on. He he. That desire within us to be beautiful. There is nothing wrong with that!

     Where does your beauty come from though? Does it come through a self-confidence rising from within because you know who God created you to be? Or does it come from the need to make sure everyone likes you, and you're perfect, and you're enough? As your "homework" I'd suggest you should take a close look at which of those two sounds more like you. And then start working on believing You Are Beautiful.

     Do you know how gorgeous you are? You are incredibly gorgeous, love! 

     I'd love to hear what you consider to be genuine beauty! So share away in the comment section below. Till next time, Lovelies!

And now for this week's outfit...

• Tank top - Walmart
• Cardigan - Papaya
• Pants - JC Penney
• Shoes - Ardene
• Scarf - Christmas Gift
• Belt - Ardene
• Smile - Courtesy of, "In your face muddy beauty! I'm beautiful without you!"