embracing me and the me i want to be...

for years, like most women, i've struggled with comparing myself to others. i've said things like... is my hair as pretty as hers, i just wish i could get my hair that color, wow they've got a great body- i just don't think i could have that body even if i worked my head off, man, that girl has got great boobs (come on, you know you do this one too) if i could just get a boob job then these saggy nursing boobs would perk up and they'd look as good as hers! i hope my husband doesn't compare me to her... and the list goes on and on... but now, the lord has brought me to a good place. a place of contentment with who i am. who i am in Him! who i am compared to his word, NOT other women. There will always be someone with prettier hair, perkier bigger boobs and a flatter stomach than me. and i'm ok with that! I'm embracing me and the me i want to be! i'm embracing my natural hair color, that's what God gave me. I'm blessed to even have hair. How dare i compare that blessing from the Lord to someone else. I'm embracing my cellulite! lol! I've got it, maybe it will go away someday, maybe not, but that's ok. I'm the Lord's and he loves my cellulite! I'm embracing my saggy boobs from all that nursing. i'm blessed to have nursed my children and i'm blessed to have healthy breast tissue. How dare i compare that blessing from the Lord! I know, I know. Some will say, this girl thinks you shouldn't get your hair highlighted. You shouldn't workout. You shouldn't have a boob job. NO! that's not what i'm saying. I'm saying, check your heart! Ask yourself why you do the things you do? Why do you wear the clothes you wear. Is it to honor God? or show off in front of others. Show your body off? Show off how much money you have? Why do you work out and eat right? Is it to be healthy and be the best temple for the holy spirit you can be. Because after all, as believers, the holy spirit lives within us. I had a wise woman tell me "We are a spirit with a body!" How profound! The spirit lives forever but the body passes away. So, my question is, why waste time on the perishable when the imperishable is what it's all about! The everlasting! Fellow sisters, live for the Lord! Compare yourselves to his standard alone, not those of the world and of your fellow woman. Ask yourself why you do what you do... check your heart... it just might surprise you. I know it did me! Praise you Jesus for teaching me! Help me to apply these principles to my life daily, hourly and moment by moment! I pray my fellow sisters in you will not struggle comparing themselves to me or others and that i will not have the same struggles in comparing myself to them. Help us to not pick ourselves apart in disgust for this is a lie of the enemy. Thank you Jesus for our uniqueness and inward and outward natural beauty in you! Help us to HONOR you in the choices we make about ourselves Jesus. We praise you Lord! Amen.