The Beauty Within.,,

The Beauty Within…10-4-25

This lady is an influential person within the counseling/coaching/discipleship ministry. She told us a story at our luncheon that she had only shared once before during a presentation. As I listened to her talk of failure and the ultimate personal reasons behind hers, she spoke with simple quiet elegance. Her words were deliberate and the Spirit evident within her.

When she concluded her testimony and presentation, she went to a lady who had sat with us at our table. The lady’s face wet with tears. The speaker held her, and she wept openly. Her life touched by the abuse the speaker had suffered.

After the woman left, I went up to her and thanked her. I told her that I had once been a victim as well, with some of the same types of abuse. I said these words, “But now we are daughter’s of the King.” She said to me with tears in her eyes that “people don’t understand”. She hugged me tight. That hug where you let go first, but they don’t hug. She said that yes we’re daughters and saved by grace. Her cheeks were moist. Her eyes were bright. Her love for all humanity evident within every crease and line. Christ exemplified in her strive for obedience in spreading His word. 1 Peter 3:13-14, “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.”

Her life convicted mine. Her love and spirit convicting mine. Oh, I love and I forgive, but sometimes I don’t see with new eyes the person I’m forgiving. There are many ways to see an individual. Face value, inside out, what we want or choose to see, and others…

What way are you looking at people? What way are you seeing yourself? What way are you experiencing God’s love and compassion? Is your beauty evident within?

I Samuel 16:17, “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”