The World's Ugliest Girl?

So I was watching Youtube videos and I came across a girl name Lizzie Velasquez's channel. I am ashamed and disgusted to admit that when I first saw her I thought "omg ew". After I watched her video, however, I immediately became disgusted with myself.

Lizzie has a disease that causes her not to gain weight; she is also blind in one eye. At the age of 15 evil people posted a photo of her on the internet and titled her "the most ugly girl in the world."

Today, not only does Lizzie continue to smile and praise God everyday she also is a motivational speaker, an author, and a Youtuber! She's inspired millions, even Tori Kelly who wrote a song about her. CLICK HERE

Lizzie is everything that I can only hope to be in life. Faithful to God, faithful to giving back, and faithful to happiness.

After watching Lizzie's videos on Youtube I forced myself to watch more videos about diseased and mentally ill people. I did this because I want to change my mindset.

I don't know about you, but growing up I feel like I was trained to be afraid and or disgusted by diseased and mentally ill people. In public school the "special needs" student were separated from the rest of us in class, in the lunch room, and even in the hallways (we didn't walk through the halls at the same time). We were never given any speeches about how they are people too and how we needed to respect them. Therefore, they were often made fun of.

Once I switched to private school I finally had a discussion about it. My school brought in a man in a wheel chair to discuss his daily struggles and how we should treat people with special needs. My school, however, didn't accept special needs students into the institution.

So as I looked at Lizzie for the first time I carried that mindset with me. I used societies idea of what is beautiful and what is normal to judge her.

 I guess I forgot who my father is.

In God's eyes we are all equal and he loves us the same. He is not limited to the worlds definition of love and beauty; his definitions are so much deeper.

1 Peter 3:3-4 states:

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight 

Another scripture Proverbs 31:30 states

Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised 

PHYSICAL BEAUTY FADES and we know this! So why do we continue to judge someones worth based on the physical? Why are we so afraid of not being "beautiful" according to society's standards? Why aren't we more concerned about being beautiful according to God's standards?

God made everything on this earth and I can assure you he didn't make one mistake. NOT ONE!

So I'm writing this today to challenge you!

First I want you to stop fighting to fit the world's definition of beautiful (or handsome for my guys). The dictionary states that beauty is "possessing qualities that are pleasing to see". But as I stated earlier the bible says beauty comes from who you are inside. So who are you going to believe the dictionary made by man or the bible inspired by God?

Second, I want you to cleanse your mind of the fear of people who are different and realize that we are equal. No you don't have to force yourself to watch sad documentaries but I do want you to get out of your comfort zone and defeat those ugly concepts that aren't Christ like!

A way you can do this is by volunteering.

In case no one told you, THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND YOU.  Life isn't about what you can get it's about what you can give! It's about how many lives you can impact. It's about how many people you can help and spread the good news to!

So once again in the new year I challenge you to volunteer in three new places. And yes NEW places. Get out of your comfort zone! My comfort zone in volunteering is definitely with children. I'm great with kids but if I want to get rid of that "ew" mindset I need to start volunteering at hospitals (maybe even a children's hospital), soup kitchens etc.

Maybe you work well with special needs and diseased individuals. Maybe you truly believe that everyone is beautiful. Well don't worry because this message is still for you. None of us are perfect so I want you to really reflect and find something (a habit, mindset etc) that isn't Christ like and I want you to make it your goal to remove it from your life in 2015!

I love you guys and  I can't wait for us to grow together this next year!

Don't forget to volunteer. And Lizzie if you read this I want you to know you are one of God's greatest creations and you are beautiful. Thank you for opening my eyes.


*Kisses*


Admiria

Some videos to inspire:

Lizzie's Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myLphSZY0FE
Servant Leadership: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlTzLd6oXC0

And finally when you pray please mention "Deon Stewart" he is a young man that is very sick and has been through a ton of surgeries one in which he had to remove his hand! Please keep him in your prayers!

What Going On?

The new year is so close! I thought I'd shared a bit about life since my journey in hopes to inspire you and humble myself.

So most of you all know I "Kissed Dating Goodbye" back in October. I'll be honest with you guys. I failed. Miserably. I won't go into detail but I'll just quote Joshua Harris and say "a pricked heart means nothing without a change in direction."

I knew I needed to make a change, however, I didn't provide myself with the tools to do that successfully. I didn't define what dating was and wasn't and I didn't define friendship. Therefore, I allowed others to come in and define it for me.

You know, I've honestly struggled with that for a while; allowing others to define the world around me. My freshman year, I went into college as a girl who had had never really took the time to know God for herself. I'd been going to church my entire life but I never really sought a personal relationship with God. I was just supposed to blindly follow this man in the sky who told me what to do right? Well this false definition of God led me to allow others to turn me away from him. That year was probably the most confusing time in my life.

Thankfully, God showed me the way back. He showed me who he was. He showed me that he was love and he told me through his word and his blessings that he loves me and that Jesus loves me.

It's so funny, I've been singing "Jesus loves me" since I could sing. I also listened every Sunday to the story of how he died on the cross for my sins and yet I still didn't fully believe.

Early November, I made the life changing decision to be re-baptized. I believe that baptism is essentially to salvation, however, I also believe that in order for your salvation to be valid you must also believe. I think that at the time of my first baptism I understood what I was doing and that I had good intentions but the fact that my faith was so easily swayed proved to me that I didn't truly believe.

I'm writing this today because I believe; I believe that God gave me a gift that allows me to reach people, especially my girls.

So many people have approached me about my journey and have told me how I've inspired them and compare me to some type of angel. I'm so thankful to God for giving a life story that inspires but trust me I am no angel. I make mistakes and I want you all to know that.

Don't worry though I haven't given up on my test. I made mistakes but that doesn't mean God can't keep using me. I was reading the book I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris and there is a part in the book that states when you make a mistake you can only do two things: continue foolishly on your course hoping your problems will disappear or swallow your pride and start over and remove the things in your life that don't need to be there.

This is me swallowing my pride and starting over. On my Birthday January 8th, 2015 I will be starting my dating journey over. (By the way I hate the word journey do you have any other suggestions?)

I will use this site as my outlet to share my progress in hopes to inspire you. Even if you don't go on a one year fast I believe that now more than ever it is important for all of us to understand what love is and is not. I also think it's important for us to learn how to have successful relationships in general! With our parents, friends, and romantic interests. We need to learn how to treat one another and how to love one another. And the best way to learn how to love is to go to love himself, God.

I hope this wasn't too long lol. But I really wanted to get that out. I will leave you guys with this powerful poem by Joe entitled Shadow of A Doubt it brings me to tears but it definitely puts God's love and faith in perspective. CLICK HERE

I love you guys!

 *Kisses* (P.S. Can I still end off with kisses if I kissed dating goodbye? Questions that must be answered lol)

Admiria