I Don’t Want to Hide Em Anymore

Maybe it’s a little too much information but I often get some of my deepest most profound revelations from the Lord when I am in the shower.  I have met others that experience the same thing…I guess it’s better than getting them while I’m sitting on the toilet right…hahahaha.  Ok now maybe that was a little too much information.  Oh well…sorry.

Ok anyways, back to the revelation.  I had hopped in the shower for the second time in about an hour.  I took a shower before my workout because I had to run afterwards, but then ended up needing to take another after my workout.  Watch the video below to see why I needed a shower and I will then share the revelation.

Alright Lu so what does a stupid tire flip and a really heavy clean have to do with anything?  I’m in the shower scrubbing off all the dirt and the rubber stains and I realize how fun that was.  Yes, getting a little dirty, wrestling with a tire for about 15 minutes trying to flip the thing, ending up with bruises and a little tire rash was fun!!!!  It’s been many many years since I enjoyed being strong.

I have spent my whole life as an athlete.  I have always been strong, I have a bootie, legs and shoulders…as I have mentioned before.  They benefit me none is singing beautifully or learning to play the guitar.  They do not create grace and beauty as I attempt to dance elegantly.  What they are good for though is running fast, jumping high, picking up heavy things and training at high intensities.  To tell you quite honestly I hated it, I hated being strong.  I would seriously out loud say I wish I wasn’t strong, I wish I had arms that looked like shovel handles and a flat butt that pants slid off of…SERIOUSLY I did, don’t laugh.  It was true.

So back to the revelation, I got out of the shower and I was putting on my clothes for the day and doing my makeup.  I had a super cute outfit for that day, good hair, some bronzer on my cheeks, and some mascara.  I just stopped and smiled and just realized that I had overcome something so incredible.  I never questioned by beauty or femininity as I flipped the tire, I wasn’t a beast as I was flipping the tire.  I was a beautiful woman who was made to be strong, the Lord has given me a platform as a trainer.  It’s who I was created to be.

So for the first time in a very long time my worlds and heart were not divided, I was not the strong girl for one moment and then once the cute outfit, hair and makeup on I was beautifully feminine.  I was just beautiful throughout. There was no dichotomy in my head or my heart.  Oh man what a revelation. If I walk in only certain parts of who God has made me to be, it’s like the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.

The Parable of the Bags of Gold

    ¹⁴ “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. ¹⁵ To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,^[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶ The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. ¹⁷So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. ¹⁸ But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

 ²⁴ “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵ So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

   ²⁶ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷ Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

   ²⁸ “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. ²⁹ For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ³⁰ And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

I do not want to be the foolish servant.  I want to walk fully in who God has created me to be.  So basically the beautifully feminine athlete inside of me has once again been awakened, but with her comes no shame only a desire to be faithful to what the Lord has given me.

So I ask you this, is there somewhere in your life that you have buried your talents?   A place where you have hidden who God has made you to be.  I say, talents inside of you rise, I say talents inside of you awaken, I say talents you no longer can stay dormant, you must wake up because Jesus needs us to walk in the truth of who He has created me to be!!!!

 

Booties and Boobs

The beautiful booties of those who bring good news. Oh yes, I just said that….I know I took scripture and tweaked it. The verse actually says beautiful are the feet….but these words came quietly out of my mouth as I stood in the dressing room today. I’m not gonna hold anything back here…I got a bootie, it’s perky, it’s wide, it’s got plenty of dimples…it’s my biggest bodily insecurity!

Here’s the problem with all of this. God created my body. The God of the UNIVERSE, THE UNIVERSE, THE UNIVERSE…you hearin’ me? He created our bodies. He made us all look different on purpose! Not so we could pick our bodies apart in front of the mirror but so that we could splendor at His beautiful creation! How boring if we all looked the same. What if every woman had big boobs and flat butts….that would be a bummer because the bootie is a splendid creation. Or what if we all had big booties and no boobs….same thing….we were created different.

My body will never look like a stick thin woman, I put on muscle very easily. But rather than choosing to want that I keep reminding myself about why God created me as He did…HE FINDS IT BEAUTIFUL AND THERE IS A MAN OUT THERE WHO WILL FIND IT TO BE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BODY HE HAS EVER SEEN. A Godly man’s standard of beauty should always be his wife. If we are thin, he loves thin, and then if we gain a little weight his standard of beauty is what my body looks like. What MY body looks like, not any other!

The Lord created my body the way that He did because He created me to run fast and jump high, to pick up heavy things and to be able to compete as a high level athlete. He finds that beautiful in me. But it took me a long time to realize that He didn’t create me to be a musician He created me to be a beautiful strong athlete. The creator of the world finds those things beautiful as they are used for His glory! But for so long I fought that. I wanted smaller arms, a smaller butt and some boobs….but that was not what God had in mind when He created me. I see a picture of the three of them up in heaven chatting as they created the body of every woman. This one will be able to do this, this, and this….while others will do this! He created athletes, artists, singers, mothers, business minded women, we all have one thing in common…BODIES. Bodies that He has given. We are to love them and take care of them.

How often do we look in the mirror and speak out these truths?

I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139….”My body IS beautiful”

I am a stranger and an alien to this world. 1 Peter 2:1….”I’m not supposed to look like the airbrushed models, that is the world’s view of beauty.

I am complete in Christ. Colossians 2:10…”God didn’t forget to make my bootie smaller and my boobs bigger”
I am free from condemnation. Romans 8:1-2…. “I eat right, I exercise, I honor my body for the glory of the Lord alone.”

I cannot Be separated from the love of God. Romans 8:35-39… “No matter what I look like the Lord loves me just the same.”

I am a temple of God. 1 Corinthians 3:16….”I am not apathetic with the taking cares of this one body given to me.”

I am God’s workmanship, created for good works. Ephesians 2:10…”I am beautiful because I was created in the image of Christ. I take care of my body that I might be able to carry out the works of the Lord for as long as I breathe”

I gotta be honest that’s not usually what I say when I’m looking in the mirror. I have felt the challenge to do so as I write. What would happen if we began to see ourselves as the Father sees us. But there’s more…..

The biggest issue in this society is that the outward is what makes us beautiful, in the eyes of the world that is what matters. Forget the heart of the person, what kind of jeans are they wearing and what has she done with her hair. For our beauty is what lies on the inside. We should take care of ourselves but that should not be the basis of beauty.

Tomorrow I will be doing part II of the stronghold of what this looks like as a stronghold of satan. We will look at how when we stand in front of the mirror and pick apart our bodies…it’s sin.

So I challenge you to stand in the mirror and tell the Lord what love about your body, thanking Him for giving you a body that works. Then begin to ask the Lord what He loves about you. Sit down with a piece of paper and ask the Lord to tell you what is beautiful, not the outside but what makes you beautiful on the inside. What it looks to be beautiful in the eyes of the Lord from the inside out!

I might own a gym, know how to eat healthy, but I still struggle as does every woman so I’m merely challenging you in the places the Lord has been challenging me. So Father I pray that you would give me eyes to see me as you see me. For eyes to the beauty you created. For those that read this, that they would see themselves as you see them! God that we would only look to you for our affirmations and not to the world. So, unveil our eyes, that the scales would fall and beauty would shine! AMEN!

Don’t be afraid to knock on the door of the Father’s door….HE WILL ALWAYS ANSWER!

Picture by Gypsy Jane Photography