Growing up, I felt fat or ugly a lot of the time.
I was chubby, geeky. My hair grew sideways. Both boys and girls made fun of me.
So I also confess, at the risk of sounding superficial, that when I saw the photos from the Prestige “40 under 40” shoot, something in me teared.
As silly as it sounds, I caught a glimpse of who God had made me to be, in a fresh new way. In a way I’d never seen myself before.
I hadn’t realized, that in recent years, the mental image I’d had of myself was a mom drenched in fatigue, clad in exercise clothes and slippers, with tangled hair.
But to see myself in this new light, as a young professional with maybe a bit of badass— gave me a renewed glimpse of the person I have become, am becoming.
It inspired the possibility, that maybe when I sit on the plane on my next deployment to India or Africa, I needn’t give into feeling like an imposter, again.
There were lots of other photos they took that day- but as the team huddled round the screen, the Art Director said, “These don’t say YOU. These are just Chio (pretty) photos. I want one that says YOU. THIS final photo IS YOU.”
“But you don’t know me,” I said in jest.
“But I’ve read your profile. THIS IS IT.”
Do you, like me, have a poor mental image of yourself? Perhaps, it’s time to re-imagine how God sees you. 🔥
How does He REALLY see you? If you closed your eyes, and take a deep breath, can you see yourself through His lenses, too?
No matter how you feel, no matter what you believe, no matter how much you’ve fat-shamed yourself all your life into believing and breathing a lie, if you’re reading this today, know this- you’re beautiful. 💛✨Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise.
PS: To those of you who work in the beauty/fashion industry, I hope you’ll never give into feeling your work is useless— Because you can revive dead things in the past, recreate new possibilities in the future, revive hope in smouldering places. And surely, that counts for something. As silly as it sounds, I’ll never forget the gift of this shoot. 🙏🏾 Thank you to so many of you for your sweet and encouraging comments.💛