The pain of beauty

B E A U T Y. A word that has many meanings depending on who you're talking to. It's been the subject of people across the world for generations. We see it in magazines, on billboards, across the Internet, in Hollywood, and well, everywhere. Women strive to be beautiful while men seek after it. It can invoke fear...pain...pride...peace. What is it about that little word that carries so much weight?

I don't want to get into a deep discussion about beauty or try and find some universal definition that doesn't even exist. I simply want to give a new perspective and tell you my journey...

Anyone that knows me really well, and I mean really well, knows that I have struggled with this issue of beauty for years. It's been a real source of pain for me. One that I don't completely understand. No one in my past, or present, has ever made me feel like I'm not beautiful. I've done a good job of that on my own. It's come from years & years of scrutinizing and picking apart all the little things about myself until they became huge things in my eyes. Until I believed the lies I was hearing in my head. I would venture out in saying though, that I'm not alone in this struggle. Women, especially, have a difficult time seeing themselves as beautiful. If you're a woman and you're reading this, chances are you've dealt with issues of low self-esteem and self-worth more than once in your life. And if you haven't, well then, you're a stronger woman than I am.

I'm probably the least likely candidate to be writing a blog on the topic of beauty. Especially when I haven't fully embraced my own. But, as I get older, I realize that slowly, at times very slowly, I begin to understand what it really means to be beautiful. It means not comparing yourself to others, accepting what you've been born with, working with what you have, finding the beauty in others, and most importantly, knowing that true beauty can only come from the Lord. He is beauty and it was because of beauty that He calls us his own. He endured pain to make us beautiful. That's the beauty I want to know more about.

In the coming months, I want this blog to serve as an encouragement to any woman who reads it. The Lord gave me the name, beCAUSEof beauty, not only for my wardrobe styling business, but also for a ministry to women that I believe He is calling me to. I love fashion (if you know me at all, you know that!), but I want whatever I do to have a cause behind it, hence the name. So, I'm not really sure where this journey will lead, but I'll keep you posted! Thanks for reading!