I have met more beautiful young women in Boulder who have a similar distress: they don't see themselves as beautiful. It's as if they look in a mirror and see something drastically different from the reality of their beauty. So, I have decided that I should imitate the prophets of old and, begging for God's blessing and guidance, dare to speak on the Lord's behalf. So, here goes:
Thus says the Lord to those who cannot see their own beauty: You my beautiful daughters do not see things rightly. You have a misplaced sense of shame about yourselves It's a shame of who you are as well as what you look like and how you come across. All those things are not where shame belongs, says the Lord.
Thus says the Lord: You have a sense of shame for what you should not be ashamed of. Feel shame for your sins, not for your looks. And even with your sins I will gladly forgive them so you can move on without shame, says the Lord.
What underlies this sense of shame is the need to be affirmed, says the Lord, the need for approval from someone other than Me and other than you. You crave compliments and then immediately disdain them. You seek recognition and when it is given you think it is worthless. You are looking for approval from outside, and when you don't get that approval, your security in yourself evaporates.
Thus says the Lord: You have no need for that kind of thinking and reacting because I affirm you, says the Lord, I love you, says the Lord; and I have called you to be who and what you are. And that should be enough, says the Lord.
