The Real Me by Natalie Grant

Isn't this such beautiful truth today?

He sees the REAL me. The REAL you.

And he ADORES that.

Soak in this truth today beautiful lady loves....

Beautiful - Bethany Dillon

We all desire one thing.

Let's be serious here.

Today I met with a friend and we were talking about exercise and eating healthy and came to the conclusion that there aren't too many women that go to the gym for any other purpose than to lose weight, tighten that booty, lose the underarm fat, my goodness the list could go on.

Why is this?

I mean, above all things, we desire to be beautiful.

I remember when I was going through my own battle with a minor eating disorder, that was the main thing I wanted.

To be beautiful.

To be desirable.

Often I desired to be flawless...

Yet, in time I realized that I am beautiful.

I am desirable.

I will never be flawless and I never want to be flawless.

My imperfections make me unique.

They make me beautiful.

Can I challenge you with something?

Can you take a dry erase marker, and write this on your mirror?

You are STUNNING. You are BEAUTIFUL. You are DESIRABLE.

ANYTHING. I want you to write whatever it is you need to so that you can remember how incredibly beautiful you are.

When things get tough for me and I don't feel beautiful, I don't feel good in my skin, you can bet on finding something written on my mirror. It will either be a verse, or just TRUTH. Words reminding me that I am so beautiful.

Soak in this incredible truth today ok?

Britt

And it was beautiful...

Last night was the FIRST gathering for The Beautiful Truth....

And it was absolutely beautiful.

All day I was just nervous, waiting...anxiously waiting for the evening that I had waited for..for a very long time...to begin. It was almost like I was in a cloud all day, trying not to think about the things I was afraid of, so that I could just get all that was needed to be done, done.

Funny story, for dinner I wanted to make my Mom's famous meatloaf for dinner, it's one of our favs, and it can be done ahead of time. So, as the timer on my oven was going off, telling me that it had cooked Henry the cow long enough, I went to put in this wonderful, thermometer inside to make SURE it was done...(it was my hubby's, might I add) The temp was not quite there, so I thought I would cook the meat a little bit longer, only about fifteen minutes. Little did I know what was happening behind that closed door. Fifteen minutes later, the beeper went off, and I checked the meat. I noticed I had left the thermometer inside, but thought it should be fine since the other one we have works like this. Oh boy was I wrong...and I knew it quite quickly...for the temp. screen was completely red, and everything was just a tiny bit disfigured...

I guess that's what happens when you leave an instant reading thermometer in the oven, for fifteen minutes...

Let's just say, Jason was just a bit on the "bummed out" side...:)

That's what happens when you have a huge, exciting, dream on your mind I guess!

Anyway, as some friends and I were setting up the Commuter Lounge, we thought, "maybe we should keep the circle of comfy chairs and couches small, because who knows how many will show..." Little did we know, that small circle would need to be stretched! As the girls started showing up, we noticed the circle was getting smaller and smaller, thus the need to add more couches! Talk about a WONDERFUL "problem".

Being that it was the first night, I wanted to just share the story of how The Beautiful Truth came to be, as well as my own personal struggle to find beauty in myself. I was a little nervous, yet I knew I could say what I had prepared in my sleep....being that I basically was for the last few months...But as I started to speak, my mind was jumbled and to be honest, I could not figure out where I was going with my words. The reason was not nerves, I mean I did have them. But the reason was...insead of having five beautiful girls staring at me, I had twenty! TWENTY! (And I thought/heard no one would probably come...) It was incredible! So I actually stopped mid sentence and asked Tina, one of our guest speakers this semester, to pray for me because I was just too excited to focus!

It was incredible.
It was beautiful.
It was humbling.

As the evening came to a close, and we all headed back home, I was overcome with such awe that I get to be the person sitting in that chair, talking about how great God is.
Why me?
Why do I get to tell my story?
Why do I get to be the one making this thing happen?
Isn't there someone else that can do the job better than me?

That's not how God works it seems...
He chose me, inperfections and all...
And I am utterly humbled, and deeply thankful.

Today, I woke up with such joy knowing that God did MORE than I could have ever thought or imagined last night...
And it's only THE FIRST NIGHT?!

What does God have planned?
Who else is going to listen to that tap on their heart to come and hear God's truth about how beautiful they are?

Now I am going to just sit back, sleep at night I hope, and enjoy all that God has planned for us ladies in these next few months....

Isn't it cool to be a part of God's ministry?
I'm in awe...


Keep the prayers coming!

Brit

Here it goes!

Just a few thoughts about The Beautiful Truth tonight...check out my personal blog...
http://brittanycavanaugh.blogspot.com/2011/01/beautiful-reality.html

Tomorrow night, if you are anywhere close to Columbia Bible College, check out The Beautiful Truth!

It starts at 6:30 and will be held in the Quiet Lounge, upstairs in the Student Center, look for the signs...

Come and grab some free coffee or tea and listen to me, Brittany Cavanaugh tell you what's planned for The Beautiful Truth this semester as well as share my own story of coming to know God's truth about my true beauty.

Would love to see you there!


If you can't make it tomorrow night, I will be posting on here the official dates of The Beautiful Truth.  We will be meeting two Monday's a month from January to April....very tangible ladies!

Brittany Cavanaugh

A Beautiful Gift

A good friend of mine, and mentor might I add, sent this to me the other day. Take a moment to enjoy the beautiful way God spoke into the heart of one of his girls....

       It seemed like a regular day. A drive out to my Moms,  to help clean  her house and go about my regular life. God, had a little surprise in store for me. It wasn't one of those over the top miracles, it wasn't even a prayer that I had given up, it was just Him knowing me and knowing what was lying deep within my heart. I had longed for a new jewellery box for so long. I remember having one as a little girl, the kind you open up and the ballerina does a beautiful dance and plays  music. I can't even remember if I carried anything in it, but to look at it and hear it made my heart melt. As an adult I don't have a ton of jewellery but I do have some and wanted a special place to put it. My birthday was coming soon and my Mom had already picked up my present and wanted to give it to me early. (Probably because I'm her favourite)

    

      Now, it hardly seems right to tell you this story without giving you a bit of a back story. I had been preparing a piece for a church that I would be speaking at in a few weeks to come. They were going to be decorating the tables with jewellery boxes, some ladies were bringing there's from home. They're theme was “God's treasures” It had made me a bit sad because as their key speaker I had no jewellery box. My fine possessions were scattered throughout my house in drawers, baskets and boxes. I didn't let it bother me though, I just simply carried on, until the day at my Moms.

            It didn't come wrapped up, no ribbon, just a big white box. I slowly opened it not knowing what was inside, and there it was, the most beautiful jewellery box a girl could ever ask for. It was huge, I could never own enough to fill all the compartments. It was rich in colour,smooth surface,it had soft lining, and a double compartment. It has little spots for earrings, rings and necklaces. My jewellery box even comes with a picture frame on the inside. It has  a lock and key and best of all it's from my Mom. She had no idea what this gift was going to do over the next few weeks and nor did I. I finally had a place to store all my treasures. After all these years, but how did she know? She didn't, in fact no one knew, only God. And he wanted to give me a special gift that day. To confirm were I was at in my preparing for the ladies tea  but also to remind me that,  “He gives us the desires of our heart”

            I went home and starting organizing, playing really. I was a little girl all over again. Collecting all my treasures and jewels. Trying them on before they went into their special place. I put a picture of me and my husband in the frame, and I placed my jewellery box on my dresser so I could always look at it. I grinned like a teenager going on her first date when I would see it in the morning. It was silly really, but it was all so amazing to me. All this and it still wasn't my birthday. God, still had more in store for me.

            My husband and I went out for the evening with friends to celebrate another year of me being older than my much younger husband. We finished off the night at our place with cake and more presents. All the girls had something, but Nikki my eldest did have something a bit different. A large bag, quite heavy, filled with  tissue paper. Before I could open it she grins and says” I know you already have one,but I had already stated making it.” I smiled back at her, curious now, not knowing what was inside. I pulled out the wooden object and placed it on the table. Nikki smiling with a shy grin says, “it's a jewellery box I made it in wood working.” I was overwhelmed. I had  probably waited 28 years or so to receive a box and now in the matter of 3 weeks I have two. It was beautiful, much plainer than the one I had received weeks earlier from my Mom. But still beautiful in it's own way. It didn't have anything that really jumped out at me, it just warmed my heart knowing that my 15 year old had made something so beautiful.  That from her hands she had created something totally unique and totally for me. It was a great finish to a great day.

            The next day  I brought out both boxes and placed them on the table, and that's where God really began to show me something remarkable. I had already examined my beautiful box from my Mom. I mean everything about it was so perfect. You only had to look at it from a far to see how perfect it was. I hadn't really spent the same amount of time with the one Nikki had made. Nikki had mentioned when she gave it to me that she only received a “B', which I thought was ridiculous because she had done such a wonderful job. I started to look more closely for the same flaws that the teacher had found and slowly I could see them. Her box was a bit off centre and over lapped at the sides, it had many small dents and scratches. The latch was broken, uneven and coming away from the metal. Near the back there were a few places with  small separations from the wood. But so beautiful, hand made, completely unique and definatley one of a kind. I would never have noticed the small imperfections that this box had held had I not gotten so close to the details.

            I got it, the message loud and clear. So many of us are after the mass produced. The perfect body,  perfect skin, hair. The fancy clothes, careers, men and the things that we can fit into our little compartments. All our treasures stored  away in boxes for no one to see. But God sees all of it, all of our dents and scratches. The broken pieces of our lives. He sees the places  that have become separated from Him. We keep people at a distance so that we can merely be on display for them to simply admire us. I began  giving the same attention to detail to the box  my mother had given me, it became obvious that the mass produced box also held imperfections. That each one of us  has imperfections, and some feel the weight of only being offered the “B.”  The teacher that graded Nikki's box was just doing his job. He probably never considered the time and thought she put into making the box, he probably didn't think that it might have just been the way she intended it to look, and that to her it was perfect the way she made it.

    

             Nikki's jewellery box is far from plain, there is only one like it, there can never be a carbon copy, some may try to make something similar but none will ever be the same as hers as there is only one that has passed through her hands.

        Tina Brunelle  

He Sees Your Face

You're beautiful.

This morning I was spending time journaling and just spending time with God. The lyrics of a song that had come on hit me hard.

I see your face. You're beautiful.

Now, the writer of this song, Beautiful by Phil Wickham was singing this straight to God. He was expressing how it felt to be looking at our Creator.

But as I was listening, and praying, I felt like God was saying, I SEE YOU Brittany Cavanaugh. I SEE every single girl in this world. I see their face. They are BEAUTIFUL.

Isn't that just an incredible thought?

God SEES YOU! He SEES ME!

He sees our faces. He knows US. And he SMILES.
He says that WE ARE BEAUTIFUL.

No amount of exercise or dieting can change that.
Nothing can change that.
No matter what size we are, no matter what we look like. We are BEAUTIFUL the way we are today.

I felt such joy when reading this knowing that no matter what, I am beautiful. So even on the days where I didn't get ready, God still sees me and says, "YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL BRIT". Even on the days that I do feel like dressing up and being girly, GOD SAYS I AM BEAUTIFUL.

Beautiful.
YOU
Beautiful.
ME

Soak in that truth today.

Britt

Defining Beauty

What is your definition of beauty?

Is it the way you look?
Is it the size of jeans you wear?
Is it the number on the scale?
Is it the color or style of hair you have?
Are you beautiful only if you are lean..thin?
Are you beautiful if you are completely toned and "in shape" according to what we read in the mags?

Do you define whether or not you are beautiful if you go to the gym six days a week?
Or if you eat under 1000 calories a day, or maybe even less?
Is it how you see yourself in the mirror?
Does it depend on if you are in a relationship with a guy?
Or does it depend on how much attention you gain from them?

Really, think about it.

What is it that defines your beauty in your mind?

For me it was the way I looked in the mirror. It was how "toned" my stomach was.
It was how many times I worked out, or how "well" I could eat.
It depended on the complements I received.
Honestly, I could go on, and to be honest, all the questions I asked earlier must somewhat have to do with my old definition of beauty because I'm the one that came up with them....

And then there was a day where I realized these things were all a lie. They were not the true definitions of beauty.

Don't get me wrong here. I believe we have a responsibility to take care of our bodies, to eat well, get exercise.
I love getting my hair done, getting mani's or pedi's once in a while.
I love to dress according to seasons, and have fun with fashion.

These things are not bad.
They just cannot define whether or not we are beautiful.

We can't compare ourselves to others in order to see whether we are beautiful or not.

GOD created us BEAUTIFULLY. WONDERFULLY. Just as my favorite verse in Psalm 139 says,

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; you works are wonderful, I know that full well.
 Psalm 139:13-14

Do we believe this?
I do.
After reading this verse every single day for 3 weeks, I began to seriously see a change in the way I saw myself.
Do it, I challenge you to put this somewhere that you will see it everyday, and READ IT.

BELIEVE IT.

Britt