"...spur one another on toward love and good deeds"

I recently wrote an email to a friend who needed encouragement. I quickly realized how much I struggled with these very same things. That every single one of us struggle with so much of the same crap. The words I wrote to my friend were not words of my own, and they definitely came from God. I felt the need to share these words with you all, because I know we all deal with crap, and we all need to hear these things.

I've taken out a lot of the email, because most of it is personal stuff pertaining to this friend, but I left in what matters :)

"I hate Satan. When I was little I would flip off the ground because I thought I was flipping Satan off. How random. He knows how to attack our weaknesses and worst of all he knows WHAT our weaknesses are. And even worse than that, right when we are getting right with the Lord and striving for the best, he moves in. He gets scared and sees us slipping out of his lock and into the embrace of the Lord, so he makes bold moves, hurting us where it hurts the most. So your family, you self esteem, your fear of failure are complete and utter lies straight from hell. It's easy for me to say to send them right back to hell, because it's easier said than done. I know what it's like to know something in your head but not in your heart, and that's where it matters.

I am so so sorry that you have to deal with feeling not pretty enough... Anyways, the point I'm trying to make is, you see yourself through a distorted lenses. You are beautiful. I know you don't feel it. It's so hard to feel it sometimes. If it's anything that my make up fast taught me, it's that it's so hard to love who you are just the way you are. Here's something that really helped me though: anytime I felt ugly, or found myself putting myself down, I stopped and told myself "Who am I to slap God, our creator, in the face and tell Him He messed up?" I know it's dumb, and at first it won't work, but when you put the Lord in those little things, He honors it. Also, when you call Satan out on his lies, the more you realize his lies, the more you see His truth. It isn't something that will happen over night. Unfortunately we'll struggle with this our whole lives. We live in a fallen world. I know that really isn't a consolation, but I dare us to struggle with this together, spurring each other on, and encouraging each other.

I am so so so glad to hear that you are turning to the Lord with this. Yes, Satan SUCKS and he wants you to succumb to the harshness of the world, but the Lord wants you to be broken before Him, turning to Him in your worst, when you're vulnerable and childlike- allowing Him to be the knight in shining armor, telling Him that you aren't strong enough to do this without Him. That is LOVE. It is beautiful and real, and I got goosebumps thinking about it. You may not see it, but the Lord is shaping you into this awesome beautiful woman, right beneath your own nose, and you don't even know it! All I can do is encourage your growth in Him, reminding you that me, your parents, midterms, we're all earthly things- we can't offer you what He can. We can only love you so much, and then we fail- but there God stands."