faith fuels my fire
Feb 23, 20237 min
As you may know, in January 2022 I had weight loss surgery. Since then I've lost 120 lbs. The first 93 lbs I lost in the first 6 months and then I lost about 30 in the other 6 months. Losing weight so drastically has caused a lot of body image issues for me. When I look in the mirror I don't see what other people see. I still feel like for the most part, I am as big as I used to be, and when I was that big I didn't feel like I was as big as I actually was. So I've really been having to adjust and kind of rewire my brain of beauty and different things because it's been hard. If you've ever lost a lot of weight at one time, went through weight loss surgery, or had any type of body issues at all, maybe it's hard for you to gain weight, or whatever the circumstance is for you, you probably know what I'm talking about.
In the world today with all of these supermodels and so many people out here just trying to get "hot girl summer" ready, doing these workouts, just trying to have the "slim thick" body, all these influencers on Instagram, and all of the different things, it can be very difficult navigating through that. It may make you question if you are still beautiful if you don't look like those supermodels or influencers on Instagram. So today I wanted to go over 5 Bible scriptures about beauty and what the Bible says about it.
This episode is part of a little ongoing series that I've been doing where I go over different Bible verses on a certain word each week. We've done strength, peace, joy, and salvation so far, so if you haven't already go and check out those episodes.
First I want to say a quick prayer... Lord, I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. Please open up our hearts, our minds, our eyes, and our ears to you LORD. Please just wrap your arms around each person reading this right now. Please helps them, protect them, and help them to see that they are beautiful inside and out, man or woman, they are beautiful and they were created in your image. I love you with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen.
I want you to write down these verses, and whenever you start to not feel beautiful or you feel down about yourself, I want you to go back to these verses and remember that outward appearance doesn't matter and God doesn't view us the way that people do. God sees your heart and your beautiful soul is what matters.
- So this Bible verse really helped me to know that beauty doesn't come from outward appearance, from what people see. It doesn't come from our clothes, and the different jewelry that we wear, getting our hair fixed, doing our makeup, and all that, that is not where our beauty comes from. God doesn't see all of that stuff. He sees our inner beauty. Our heart and pure intentions are where our true beauty comes from.
- So when we look to God, we are radiant. We have that inner light that shines through and we don't have to be covered in shame. We don't have to worry about, "Oh well I don't look like what these other people look like," or "I don't feel beautiful," because to God we are very beautiful. We are made in His image and when we look to Him, we are radiant, our light shines through, and we are beautiful.
Oh hey friend, sorry to interrupt this blog post, but I just wanted to remind you guys that "Christ Transforms Me," my 90-day journal is available for purchase on Amazon. To learn more about the journal or to purchase one, go to www.faithfuelsmyfire.com/journal
- This is when Samuel was trying to find the next king for Israel, and the LORD said to him that He doesn't look at the outward appearance. Whenever Samuel went to Jesse's house, Jesse had all of these sons and they didn't even think about David as being an option for the king because he wasn't tall, strong, and didn't look like what a "king" would look like. So the LORD said that He doesn't look at what man looks at. He looks at our hearts.
- So when it comes to beauty and self-image we need to be focused on our hearts, getting right with God, having that strong relationship with Him, and desiring to love Him more than anything. When we focus on our inner self, that inner is going to shine through. We don't have to worry about our outward appearance, that is not what God looks at, and God is the most important thing. Whenever we know that God loves us and that God sees us as beautiful, no matter what we look like on the outside, that can help us to have the reassurance to know that we are beautiful. It doesn't matter what our outward appearance is, but we need to look more inward and focus on loving others, serving others, humbling ourselves, and focusing on our relationship with Christ and not so much on our makeup, hair, and those things. That will help us with self-image and body image because we are not focusing on outward appearance and we are not putting all of our attention on what other people think that we should look like or what we think we should look like based on how other people look, but we are focusing on what God thinks about us and having that close relationship with Him.
- So this is saying here in this verse that, even though day by day we get older, and we are going to get wrinkles, we are going to eventually waste away as this form of our human body, but every single day we are being renewed in our heart and in our spirit. God is constantly renewing us. So we can have hope and don't have to worry about our bodies wasting away because our true home is in heaven and we are not taking our bodies with us.
- So in a world that focuses so much on beauty, charm, and looking and feeling beautiful, we need to focus on fearing the LORD, looking toward Him, and being fully devoted to the LORD. That is the type of woman and man that we need to be. We cannot conform to this world and we have to know that our beauty has nothing to do with outward appearance. Our beauty has to do with our heart, soul, and spirit.
- When we are saved by Jesus we have the Holy Spirit within us, and the Holy Spirit is perfect and beautiful. We can let that light shine through and we need to focus on the LORD and fearing God, and being fully devoted and dedicated to the LORD and not focus on our outward appearance, because that is not what matters. If we are constantly focusing on our relationship with Christ, loving others, serving others, and portraying the fruit of the Spirit to others, people will be able to see our inner beauty shine through. It won't matter what we look like on the outside because that inner beauty will shine through. There can be people in this world that can look very beautiful on the outside but not good people on the inside and that will also show. We will be able to tell a person that looks beautiful but doesn't have a beautiful heart and soul. Then there are people that do have beautiful hearts and souls that shine through.
I hope this episode helped you to know what the Bible says about beauty and that God doesn't look at our outward appearance. He doesn't look at what people in this world look at. He looks at our hearts, and He knows our thoughts, He knows when our intentions are pure, and that is what God looks at.
I love you guys so much.
Never forget to choose faith over fear.
-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)
p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, spiritual growth, mindset, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along with this hot mess life of mine. New episodes daily.
For more info on the "Christ Transforms Me" journal or to purchase it click here
You can also follow me on Instagram (_lorenacamille_)
For past Bible Studies on the books of Jeremiah, John, Acts, Luke, Galatians, & 1, 2, 3 John join our Facebook Community
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights