Daughter of a King
I’m a very impressionable college student whose opinion of myself can be swayed by what’s “beautiful” in the media’s eyes. Let’s get honest with each other here. When I was in 4th grade, my world was crashing down around me. My mom was sick and my dad wasn’t able to be around. I thought the only thing that I could control was my weight, so I stopped eating. For months, I didn’t eat and when I did, I only ate a few bites of something. My eating disorder was caused by depression and I was able to come out of it on my own, only because of Jesus. And if we’re being even more honest, I have always struggled with my self-image, like us women do. When looking at the media, my ideas of beauty and myself don’t match up. And it’s been a struggle for as long as I can remember.
I’ve been trying to look to the Word of God instead of the word of media, but when you keep seeing the “ideal body image” everywhere you look, its really discouraging. The thing that I have to keep reminding myself of is that I was created in the image of the only person who matters – God. That I was knitted together in my mother’s womb and that I am loved beyond measure. That I am a daughter of a King and he loves me for who he made me to be and that is the only thing that truly matters. That I am beloved by an amazing and powerful God who knew me before I was even born. When I think of that, I get so incredibly humbled and so overwhelmed with love that I have only experienced by knowing Jesus.
I’m still a work-in-progress, and I’m getting myself on track day by day. I am lucky enough to have encouraging friends, family, and sisters in Christ to pick me up when I’m down. Jesus and his love is the most amazing thing to experience and I am so lucky to be so beloved by a King who knows me by name. So let’s get honest one last time, the media sucks and their images of beauty are unrealistic and do more harm than good. But we are all beloved by the most amazing God, who made us the way we are for a reason and knew us before we were born. So if we have any standards to live up to, let’s live up to His standards, not the world’s.
- Shattered Glass - August 25, 2017
- Rising Tides Raise All Ships - January 19, 2017
- Daughter of a King - December 14, 2016
Thanks, Katie
You well said what many of us feel. I have the words daughter of the king as a screensaver on my computer.
It is hard sometimes to think of ourselves as beautiful and precious, at least i do struggle with that. and through scripture am reminded daily of the fact that God carefully created me for His own purpose and not my pleasure;not to look into the mirror and pat myself on the back. As i raise my little 5 year old girl, am starting to see her struggle with self image of her curly hair, she tells me she wishes she had straight hair like her nana….it’s hard and i know even when i read Psalm 139:14, at 5 she does not get it. I pray that as she grows, she will learn to understand that every part of who she is was carefully thought of by God who thinks of us all(His creation) as beautiful. Thank you Katie.
I haven’t set the best example for you and for that, I’m sorry. You are beautiful inside and out and God made you perfect! 🙂 xoxo
Yes, He makes us beautiful. And you are, Katie. You are. I have to check myself with my negative self-talk with my daughter. And I have tried so hard – but it still slips out. Thank you for this reminder, friend.