Who am I?

Confidence is a funny thing I'm learning. 

I was talking to a friend about it the other day. Here's some [edited] parts on our conversation. (hahaha, I had to rewrite some of it because there were so many typos and stuff it was so hard to understand!) And just a bunch of my thoughts all plied together in a {slightly confusing} paragraph. haha(:

Ok here's the thing...

Whenever I think of confidence..I think of being confident in yourself. Like saying, "Wow! I am so good I can conquer anything by myself!". Or whatever

And so when people are like, "Hey, you need to be more confident!", it always confuses me because I'm like, "Well I actually can't do any of this on my own".

But, I'm starting to see confidence differently.

I'm starting to see that when people say "You need confidence!", that what they're saying is to be more confident in who God made me to be.

So I'm trying to figure out what that looks like for me to have confidence...to have confidence in Christ! And, what do I need to change? (And, I think it's gonna be a lot, haha)

First of all, I think that I'm realizing that I'm not totally content with who God made me to be. So, I need to become totally satisfied in Him. I need to be thankful for who I am though Him. And, to let people see Christ and what He is doing in my life...instead of a girl who isn't willing to be content and have her confidence stored up in Christ.

Because that's what confidence all boils down to: Christ.

We actually are not able to do anything on our own. We are incapable of even breathing without Christ. But! With Him, we can have confidence.

I think it's important for us to remind ourselves of our value (because of Jesus and what He has done with us) and who we are in Him...

I mean, I am daughter of The King! . . .that in itself is something beautiful! ♥

So, who am I?

I am a girl who is confident in who Christ is in me.

Sorry, guys. I know, this post is kinda confusing..because I started talking about like a million different things all at once...but hopefully you can sort of understand it. haha(:

I would love to hear your thoughts! Leave a comment!(: Love you guys!

Beauty?

Beauty.

Let's just all admit it. I think we could probably all agree that, if you're a girl...beauty has been on your mind at least once. (And, if we're all being honest...it's been on our minds way more than just once. ...Or is that just me? haha)

Like, what is beauty?
How do you define it?
What does it mean to be beautiful?
What do people think about me?
Would they look at me and say, "Wow, she's beautiful"?

Just about everything around us says that beauty is what you look like on the outside. You're beautiful when you have X amount of boys constantly following you. You're beautiful when you are the prettiest hair and you're skinny enough to "fit in" . You're beautiful when all of your clothes come from Aéropostale and Abercrombie & Fitch.You're beautiful when you wear make-up. You're beautiful when you are the most popular girl in school who everyone loves and wants to be like. You're beautiful when you are dating the quarterback on your school's football team.

You're beautiful when _________.
**Fill that blank in with whatever you want that we might say defines beauty.

[On a side note! I don't have anything against these things! Seriously, I don't care what brand your clothes are, who you date, or whether you wear make-up or not! ...Especially the make-up part. Make-up is great. hahah!]

Here's the cool part, though. I am learning that...

 None of those things are the definition of beautiful .

I have been learning what God says defines beauty.

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your Inner self, the Unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of Great worth in God’s sight ."  (1 Peter 3:3-4)

It is amazing how different God views beauty compared to the world. This verse says that beauty is not what is on the outside...but what in on the inside. Beauty it not how we add things to ourselves to make us look good. Instead, what people should notice about us me is what is on the inside: a gentle and quiet spirit. When people look at me I want them to see God and who He has made me to he through His Son. 

That doesn't mean that looking pretty is a bad thing! It just means that what is important to God (my heart! ♥) should be the what I focus my time on. Because, here's the thing: External beauty does not last. People get old. Their sparkle fades. (I was trying to come up with something really catchy to prove my point, but..yeah. I've got nothin'.) But! there is an unfading beauty that is of great worth in God's sight; and it comes from inside. That unfading beauty is a heart/attitude of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, & self-control.

So, here's the question that's been on my heart for a while now: What do I want to be noticed for?

My mom always tells me, "Pretty is as pretty does."

Pretty on the outside is only pretty if it's pretty on the inside.



Thoughts? Questions?  Leave a comment! I would LOVE to hear what you guys have to say about this!

What's Going On Now?

Hey, Everyone!(:

Happy Monday! Happy 9th Day of December! And, Happy 15 Days Til Christmas!

Hope you are all doing awesome & being amazed and reminded every day of how truly amazing our God is.

So, I know...it's been awhile..again. (Why does that seem to be all I write on here lately?!) But, here's the deal. I'm actually not going to try to do a recap over what's been going on here for the past two months (...because basically it's been nothin' but school, and no one wants to read a whole blog post about that! Ew.) Instead, I'm going to be writing about what has been on my heart lately. Hopefully you will be encouraged, or challenged, or something and get excited about God even more!

WARNING: I'm not a Bible scholar. But, I am trying to look at the Bible and find out what it means for me. And I am excited to share what I have been learning with you in these next couple blog posts because it just gets me SO excited. So, take it or leave it. Thanks for reading anyway!(:

Love you guys & I'm praying for you!

-Valerie

PS...yay for Christmas break! I'm offically off of school until January 13th! ...and this is why I love college classes..haha