Editor’s Note: Last month we posted Reshaping Your Eyes and the reader response was record breaking. Not just record breaking… record smashing. Clearly, there is a need for us as women to understand where our beauty comes from and what that means in our everyday lives. To help meet this need, we’re focusing this month’s theme on “Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder: Seeing as God Sees.” Join us all month long as we seek to conform our sight to God’s mold. Let us know what you think of the articles by commenting and sharing with your friends. Come fill your cup… and let it overflow.
Last Sunday morning, I chose an outfit that made me feel amazing. I always feel my best when the things I wear reflect my personality. Fitted jean jacket, long tiered skirt, turquoise jewelry. I did my hair in an angled french braid around to my shoulder and pulled a few wisps to curl around my face. I glanced in the mirror, happy with my reflection and ready for worship. I pulled on my favorite cowgirl boots and headed out the door, feeling a bit of confidence buoy my spirits.
Then I arrived at church and saw her.
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Nearly 10 years my junior, she was, as usual, dressed to the nines in calf-length high-heeled boots, clingy sweater with trailing ribbon flower and a short black skirt. Did I mention in addition to being 10 years my junior, she’s at least that many pounds lighter?
I wiggled my toes in my snub-toed, gray cowgirl boots and felt the confidence I’d left the house with float away like a helium balloon cut from the bunch. My shoulders fell as any illusions of my beauty on that particular day burned to ash.
Oh, what a Leah day!
Leah, the unloved. The dim-eyed sister who could only catch a man through trickery and deceit. Did she feel the same way I did Sunday when she compared herself to Rachel, the beautiful sister everyone loved? Did she feel dowdy and ridiculous like I had? Unworthy of notice, like a stump compared to cherry tree in full bloom?
I’m betting everyone reading this article has experienced a Leah day. A day in which, compared to another woman, we feel like an unloved, dim-eyed sister.
But there’s a powerful lesson in Leah’s story that’s often overlooked. In Genesis 29:31 The Bible says, “Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.”
The Lord saw Leah.
The Creator saw her. Not as dimmed-eyed Leah, but as a precious child. He saw her emotions and struggles. Saw that she was unloved. The scripture does not say the Lord saw she was ugly. It says He saw her. And he acted on her behalf. He opened her womb—like a father watching over a favored daughter, the Lord intervened and blessed this woman he’d created and loved.
Isn’t that what we’re really looking for? To be noticed. Seen?
1 Samuel 16:7b says, “…For God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Similar to Leah’s situation, when God looked at your heart He thought,
“She so beautiful—She’s to die for!”
Just like Leah, He saw you. Your flaws. Your accomplishments. Your struggles. Your gifts. Your sins. And he declared you beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that He sent His son to die for you, so that in His beauty, yours would be complete.
Have you ever thought of yourself as a complete beauty? Yes. You. Completely Beautiful in Christ.
Colossians 2:10b says, “…and in Him you have been made complete…”
Colossians 3:3 says, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
There are few things more beautiful than a bride, but quite possibly more beautiful is the expression on the face of the groom when he sees his beloved for the first time. Read Ephesians 5:25b-27 with yourself in mind as the bride:
“Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her; that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless.” (Emphasis mine)
Next time you’re having a Leah day, one where you find yourself comparing your outward beauty to another woman’s; when you have a day like mine, when you’re wondering if anyone ever really sees you—remind yourself of this truth: You are worthy of His notice. He sees you, his gorgeous bride and
You’re to die for!
More Articles in This Series:
- First Aid for a Broken Heart - May 24, 2018
- Where’s Your Mind During the Lord’s Supper? - July 10, 2017
- Which Filter Are You Using? - September 27, 2016
Welcome! We are so glad you stopped by. Come Fill Your Cup is a group of Christian ladies dedicated to equipping women for study and service. We know you are busy and that life’s hectic pace pulls you in so many directions, but you can’t truly be the woman God desires unless you take time to fill your own cup…not with spa days (though we love a good spa!) or the latest novel…but with God’s Holy Word. We want to help you with that! Our goal is to reach you in the midst of your busy day and give you encouragement, education, and fellowship as you strive to live the life God has laid before you. Our prayer is that we can help fill your cup so that you, in turn, can overflow to all those around you. So, as we like to say…come fill your cup, and let it overflow!
I don’t know you. I don’t know what you look like. I don’t know how this manifests in your marriage or how you interact with your husband on the matter. If I could get my own wife to honestly listen on the matter, then I would ask her to look at herself through my eyes instead of her own. I would like to say that she is beautiful and see her light up at the compliment rather than look at me with skepticism.
Beautiful story and scriptures. And love the picture of the man I guess looking at his bride. But my husband has never looked at me that way. Wife to him is just a word and legal discription on a piece of paper. I think he loves me. But there’s no connection to what your talking about here. Would be nice if there was.
I used to feel that way about my husband. I never felt like his beautiful bride. I look back on our brief marriage and I wonder if I looked at him the way this man is looking at his wife. I wonder if I made him feel he was the most handsome man in the world to me. No, I didn’t. He is now married to someone who makes him feel great about himself and he makes her feel like a queen. Read the book – Love Languages. Some men don’t know how to express themselves. In our society, there are so many single mothers and men who do not teach their sons to cherish their wife, that little boys do not grow up learning how to treat their wife. Every woman should feel like a queen to her husband and every man should feel like he is the one she adores. I am sorry if I offended but I truly know how you feel.
I loved seeing that look in my 2nd husbands face. He was such a great man. Good luck to you!
Kelli,
Great article!
You are so right in pointing us to the One who sees the beauty in us–the beauty in the blood that covers us. No matter what anyone else thinks of our “temporary tent” housing our soul, He sees our intrinsic value and bestows upon us undying love.
Thank you sister Kelli for this much needed article. I have so many of these Leah days and now I will meditate on this article and the verses you shared with us to remind myself that God loves me and He does notice me!I have a wonderful Father in Heaven watching over me. Thank you again!