Girl
Talk:
True
Beauty
"As Mom of a 4-year-old little girl, I constantaly pray that I will give my daughter the precious gift my parents gave me: knowing that my insides mattered more than my outsides."
---Jenny Simmons
Crown of Beauty: Jenny, have you ever struggled to feel beautiful?
Jenny: YES. But not until pretty late in life. As a little girl I was super blessed to have a mom who could care less about makeup or style. It used to embarrass me that she didn't get all dolled up like the other moms. But then I realized that a lot of those moms spent a whole lot of time consumed with looking good. Not only did they require that of themselves, but they very often expected their daughters to be consumed with appearance as well. And a lot of times those girlfriends of mine felt pressure from their own moms to lose weight, dress cuter and spend more time on their appearance.
My mom fell on the opposite spectrum. She was my youth minister at church, and what I saw her consumed with was people. Loving on people and doing life with people. Ministering to families going through divorce, teenage pregnancy, cancer or even death.So while my mom couldn't show me how to use an eyelash curler, she was able to show me what it looked like to love people the way Jesus did...and that forever changed me.
To have a mom and dad who told me I was loved, I was accepted, I was created with a purpose and what mattered the most about me wasn't my outsides, but my insides, meant that I made it through junior high and high school not searching for love through appearance or acceptance. As a mom of a 4-year-old little girl, I constantly pray that I will give my daughter the precious gift my parents gave me: knowing that my insides mattered more than my outsides.
With that kind of love, it was tempting to step back with false humility and say, "Oh, looks don't matter to me! I love Jesus!" When you are well-loved by family, grounded in what you know God thinks about you, and even slightly moderately pretty, it can be tempting to casually say you don't care about looks. But don't be too quick to do this. It's not that easy for other girls. And one day, it may not be that easy for you to say either.
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