LOVABLE OR LUSTABLE?

I have a confession, bathing suit season use to be hard for me. People would often be caught off-guard when I would share this because I have a petite figure, but I always felt like I was hugely lacking in the bust size department. I remember skimming through the pages of Seventeen Magazine and I would see these girls with their "perfect" bodies and feel like mine was so inadequate. Horrible thoughts would go through my mind, like:

"Isn't bust size really important to guys? Will they find me attractive?"

"My body is ugly, maybe I need to get plastic surgery?"

I even had a boyfriend once who did not go as far as actually telling me to get plastic surgery, but was never opposed to the idea, and never affirmed me that I did NOT need it. As you can imagine, this made my doubts and insecurities skyrocket. I wanted and was willing to change myself to be whatever was desirable for men.

As my relationship with God developed more and more, I started to look at things from a different perspective (thank God!). I remember reading the Bible verse, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own" (1 Corinthians 6:19), this really challenged the poor image I had of my body. 

Then while I was attending the Theology of the Body Institute, Christopher West said something that spoke right to my heart and the scales were finally removed. He said, "A woman feels like there is something wrong with her if she is not lustable." As soon as he said these words, it struck me like a ton of bricks. This was the lie I was believing. There was nothing wrong with my bust size, it was about something broken within myself that believed the lie of our culture, that believed my body needed to be more lustable.

As women, we desire to be loved, and the thing we should be striving for is to be lovable, not lustable. Many women buy into this "lustable lie." You can clearly see this in the way certain women dress, talk, post pictures of themselves, and dance just to get male attention. But that is just it; they do indeed get attention, but that is all. Their real desire to be loved is NOT found. 

Once I started to look at my body as a sincere gift to my future spouse, and not as a lustable object to be used to get male attention, I discovered my body was beautiful JUST THE WAY IT WAS. Questioning the beauty of your body, is questioning God's design. He does not make mistakes. 

Beauty is not found in a bust size, a number on the scale, or in plastic surgery. It is found in a woman who knows her true beauty and worth in Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Knowing this truth, creates an inner spark that shines the reflection of Christ from you. 

Seek Him. 

Find your inner spark. 

You are Beautiful.