today i was at a women's breakfast at our church. the lady speaking was an australian woman from adelaid. the whole thing was awesome but the one phrase that really stuck in my mind (which she quoted but i can't remember who it was she quoted). anyway, she said "become the first rate self rather than second rate someone else".

the older i get, the more i am loving it. i used to worry about turning another year older, and i can't believe myself for saying this, but i have learned to love getting older. i have more confidence and widsom now then i ever had and i am loving it. i have realized that it's not the size of my butt that will make me happy and content, it is the peace within, that God gives, that makes me love life and self. i used to read and watch and in a lot of ways try to live lives of women i saw around me but it was never really me. when the influence was gone, i was back to my old self, which i really wasn't sure who it was.

granted, there are steps i have taken that i believe have set me free from a lot of pressure that society around pounds in the heads of women. i don't watch nearly as much tv anymore and rarely do i read who is the sexiest man or woman alive and why (although i still get the bug once in a while to buy the celebrity life magazines). it makes a HUGE difference! there is no need for the perfect abs that britney used to have because God has put perfection in us just the way we are - with a dose of healthy food and exercise.

i am realizing more and more that i have been made beautiful. with my cellulite and other things that might not be up to the standards that the world sets but i am happy to be who i am, as fat and thin as i am with the size of my nose and width of my butt. i can't wait to have daughters who i can instill that peace in. who i can help understand their value before they have made as many mistakes looking for that peace as i did. i have broken that generational cycle in my life with my faith. i can't wait to see my daughters grow up knowing that they have been made perfect just the way they are and they don't need to starve themselves or do plastic surgeries to have bigger boobs or straighter nose.

i see girls around me going through the same thing i did when i was younger. i so wish i could let them see life from my point of view - to see how unique, beautiful, perfect, awesome they are. with all their faults and past and mistakes they've made. it is so not because of what they've done but because of who they've been made by - an awesome, loving God, who takes so much pleasure in His creation. after we were made, he said - it is good. and when adam saw eve, in the original hebrew text, he said "wow". WOMEN, WE ARE THE "WOW". we are the crown of the creation, we are the last thing that was made, i think there is a good reason for that. just like sometimes you leave the best for the last, i think God knew exactly what he was doing. but that's entirely my personal view. so lift your heads up higher today, girls, you are beautiful and perfect. in fact, tell that to yourself right now and smile to that.