What’s in Your Mirror?

reflectionYou are who you believe you are.

If you do not know who you are, your confidence will waver.

If you believe a lie about yourself (like you are ugly/weak/unwanted), you will be self-conscious, and no matter how beautiful your image is, you will not give others confidence in you.

Sometimes what women see in the mirror is completely different than what she feels about herself. All too often even the most gorgeous of girls speak (or at least think) poorly of themselves. Why do you suppose this is?

The best of miracle products, spa services or surgical procedures may make the feminine heart feel more confident for a time, but have you ever heard of a case were they satisfy the deep longing in her soul for a better reflection? I don’t think it is because women are shallow or selfish. I think it is because God put this yearning in our hearts for a reason (more on that in Confident Beauty).

When I am run down and not feeling well, I like to dress up. Most people dress for how they feel: when they feel run down, they put the sweat pants on or stay in their robe all day. I am not saying I never do that, in fact yesterday’s migraine kept me from ever getting to my makeup, but for the days I have to be productive no matter how I feel, I have found it wise to dress up. I feel better when I look better.

It’s a girl thing, don’t you think?

Not that men don’t have more enthusiasm for life when they know they look good, but I would dare to say (and I think most would agree) that the intensity of this natural desire to look beautiful is stronger for the female gender. Its just part of who we are. Our men may taunt us for it, but they like us looking fine so, really, they shouldn’t. If they only knew how deeply their harsh words sometimes wound us, they wouldn’t make us feel as if we were vain or self-consumed. They just don’t understand. But why do we expect them to? We don’t even give each other grace for this desire! We make each other feel badly for over-dressing or under-dressing!

But no one is a worse critic of what is in the mirror than the woman standing in front of it.

Yea, we are complicated and hard to understand. We need to have more grace for ourselves and for each other, do our best to understand the feminine heart. I encourage you to learn your personal Img.ID so that you can give yourself the makeover that works for you. It is simply a fact of life: women are more self-consciousness on bad-hair-days, and when mamma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!

Sort of like the days when a man feels broke or weak.

Just sayin.

*****

Catrina Welch is an image- and life-coach whose message is not as much “what not to wear” as it is, “Know Who You Are,” which is the title of her book of guidelines for your personal image identity. Catrina has also written a Bible study to help women overcome their confidence conflicts; it is titled Supreme MakeOver: a Rich and Refreshing Devotional Experience. Her other books include Footprints Through the Sand: a Consolidation of Life-altering stories about Loving and Losing a Trisomy-18 Baby and Confident Beauty: Reflecting the One Who Made You with the Images in Your Mirror and Your Soul, which will be available in book stores this spring. All of these books are available now at www.CatrinaWelch.com

If you are interested in having Catrina come speak to your friends, colleagues or ministry you can contact her on facebook or by email at catrina@catrinawelch.com.


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