Why is it that the majority of women struggle with what they see in the mirror? According to the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty (2011), only 4% of women around the world used the word “beautiful” to describe themselves. What about the rest of us? Too many of us are using words like “ugly,” “frumpy” or “fat” to describe ourselves when we look in the mirror. Even as Christian women, we can struggle with what we see. So, what are the words that you’ve used to describe yourself lately? Here’s one more question: Would God agree?

For years, I stood in front of the mirror and hated what I saw. Yes, I knew that God loved me. Yes, I knew that I am precious in His eyes. But, I never felt like I was enough. I’d flip through magazines and compare myself to the beautiful women with smooth skin, perfect bodies, and gorgeous hair. Why can’t I look like them? Feeling discouraged, I’d consume a quart of peanut-butter fudge ice cream and criticize myself for not looking like them—and for eating too much ice cream!

Then, God took me on a journey to discover the truth about beauty and my identity as His creation. That precious truth seeped into my insecure, yet longing heart. I never wanted to be beautiful because I wanted to be famous or rich. I longed for beauty because I saw it manifest in the world around me. In Genesis 1, I read that EVERYTHING that God created was beautiful. Then, I realized that since I am God’s creation, I reflect God’s beauty, both inside and out.

So, I began to challenge myself to repeat these seven simple words:  “I am beautiful because God made me.”

For some of you, those seven words sound like crazy talk. You’d rather go looking for a cheese-cake-eating unicorn perched atop a rainbow before you’d say those words AND believe them. All you see in the mirror each morning is your tired eyes and dull skin. (Then, there’s that serious case of bedhead that might lead you to believe that a street fight broke out in your bed overnight. And you lost.)

But, what COULD happen if you repeated the following seven words in the mirror once a day for 30 days? What if God’s truth could flow from your mouth and sink into your heart and mind? Could those words actually make a real and lasting differing in your life?  I believe so.

Try this for the next 30 days. Write those seven words on a notecard or program them into your phone. Let God’s truth push back against the words of criticism and condemnation that you’ve spoken to yourself for far too long. The truth is this: