just a reminder

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

-Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)

Last year I received a kind of insulting compliment. At the time I was extremely flattered but then I realized that it wasn’t a very pleasant compliment. A 13-year old girl walked up to me and said, “Hi Mandi. I just wanted to tell you that you are very pretty for a dark-skinned girl.” At the time, I was oblivious to what the underlying meaning of that compliment was, so I smiled and I thanked her.

Over fall break (two weeks ago), I had the privilege to attend the InterVarsity Fall Conference. Fall Conference is a weekend retreat for university students in the Baltimore area, filled with prayer, worship, and self-discovery. On the last day of the retreat, God revealed to me why I was often unhappy. I was insecure. I had never thought of myself as insecure but when God told me that I was insecure, I broke down because I knew that it was true. I hadn’t been able to admit it. I was insecure about how I looked and I didn’t really like what I would see every time I looked in the mirror.

Since then I have been working on my insecurities. I pray about them and I journal about them and it has been helping. One of the things that I keep asking myself though is, “Where did those insecurities come from?” Thinking back to the insulting compliment, it’s clear now that they come from the world - society. The young girl who complimented me (and I know she meant well) had skin just as dark as mine, probably even darker. For her to tell me that I was pretty for a dark-skinned girl was not only a reflection of the societal lies that she believed but also of what she thought about herself. I don’t know if I’m right, but I’m guessing that she was just as insecure about her complexion as I sometimes am.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

-Psalm 139:14 (NIV)

I know I’m preaching to the crowd, but it really pains me when I think about how dark-skinned people “shouldn’t” be beautiful and that only light-skinned people “should”. It truly pains me. I’m just here to remind you that no matter what society tells you, no matter what lies the enemy tries to feed you, you are beautiful. Your dark skin is beautiful. Your light skin is beautiful. God is incapable of making mistakes. Your skin color is not a mistake. How you look is not a mistake. If anyone tells you that you are not beautiful it’s simply because they are unable to fathom your God-given beauty.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

-1 Samuel 16:7

I would also just like to emphasize the fact that you don’t need to be insecure about how you look because outward appearance isn’t as important as the world makes it. What’s important is what is on the inside – your heart. Your body is temporary. When you die, it becomes nothing but your heart – that’s eternal. Work on loving yourself from the inside out. When your heart is beautiful and you begin to see that, you will find it easier to love who you are on the outside. God made you beautiful on the outside already, He just wants you to work on being internally beautiful.

God truly loves you.

With love,

Mandile

Shout-out: I discovered this app called yesHeis. It’s an app where you can watch Christian videos and find inspiration. You can share your faith with others as well! You can download the app here.