I\u2019ve been here at my Austin family\u2019s home for over two weeks now. Here\u2019s the bonuses of being here:
\n1) Breathtaking views of Austin\u2019s Hill Country from their back patio \u2013 perfect for a morning of holding hands with God and His creation.
\n2) Hanging out with the critters.
\n3) Going make-up free and even coiffed-hairdo free.
\n4) Being on the elliptical equipment to do my 4.5 mile workout each day.
\n5) Eating out of their pantry and refrigerators.
\n6) Wearing jeans and a t-shirt or my work-out clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, if someone were coming over or I was invited over to someone\u2019s home or taken to dinner (I have been several times), I gussy up, coif my hair, put on a little spray cologne and wear an attractive outfit. After all, I want to dress for success. Actually, I\u2019m loving both sides of this girl \u2013 the no frills and the dolling up. I love me \u2013 both ways. I love who I have become in the process of loving God with all my heart. It\u2019s taken many seasons to get me to this self-assured season. Remember Jesus\u2019 words to the lawyer: \u201cLove your neighbor as you love yourself!\u201d (Mark 12:31). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But there ARE those times when I allow myself to feel \u201cless than\u201d when I see you younger, flawless, smoother complexions, trim figures, silky hair and wearing shorts that show off your legs especially when, these days, the spider veins in my legs remove all desire for shorts or a swimsuit. There\u2019s all kinds of strange \u201cwisdom bumps\u201d (as my dermatologist calls them) appearing in even stranger places. But, here\u2019s the truth of the matter. We need to stop beating ourselves up for the way we look, be it extra weight around our middle that we call \u201cour spare tire\u201d or whatever our imperfection obsession might be and start loving the body God created especially for us. We are the only make and model of us on planet earth! One-of-a-kind!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While I\u2019ve been here, I\u2019ve taken to the elliptical equipment in the fitness room, doing 4.5 miles daily (76.5 miles for the 17 days I\u2019ve been here). It\u2019s great exercise and good for the body, mind, and soul. AND, the most important, is the quiet, alone time with God and me that builds up the inner me which is the most important, for sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can\u2019t love our neighbors as ourselves if we don\u2019t know how to love ourselves. When we focus on feeling imperfect on the outside, we lose focus of how far God has brought us on the inside. Besides — I have a feeling our outside isn\u2019t as bad as we think. We have a purpose and we have a calling and we can\u2019t walk in any of it if we can\u2019t see beyond the mirror. We\u2019re all on this journey together and seeing beyond ourselves is a wonderful way to travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No matter what we\u2019re struggling with, God is bigger. I need to remember that the next time I get another “wisdom” spot. When we feel defeated by our imperfection obsessions, Jesus is right there to help us overcome those woe-is-me feelings. When the enemy tries to sell us a load of lies, let\u2019s don’t buy it! I know that\u2019s easier said than done, but there\u2019s nothing sweeter than trusting God in our human frailties and darkest moments. Let\u2019s look at ourselves the way God sees us and say goodbye to our struggle with imperfection. God sees us through the sacrifice of Christ, and that is more perfect than anything we could ever hope for. We truly can surrender all the pieces of our life to the One Who made us and the One Who gave His life for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve been here at my Austin family\u2019s home for over two weeks now. Here\u2019s the bonuses of being here: 1) Breathtaking views of Austin\u2019s Hill Country from their back patio \u2013 perfect for a morning of holding hands with God and His creation. 2) Hanging out with the critters. 3) Going make-up free and even…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13932,13933],"tags":[12122,6169,3391,8924,2283,2496,13926,13931,218,13925,8784,5472,205,13928,13927,13929,13930],"class_list":["post-10553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-love-your-neighbor","category-love-yourself","tag-calling","tag-exercise","tag-flawless","tag-god-is-bigger","tag-imperfection","tag-inside","tag-less-than","tag-lose-focus","tag-love-your-neighbor","tag-love-yourself","tag-mark-1231","tag-mirror","tag-purpose","tag-silky-hair","tag-trim","tag-wisdom-bumps","tag-younger"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10553"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10557,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10553\/revisions\/10557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}