What Guys Like About Girls

Becoming Beautiful | Becoming Girls Conferences
Intern Bailey asked some Christian guys what they think about girls and beauty. What exactly do they look for? What makes us beautiful to them? How do we impress them? Check out what they said!
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Now what do YOU think?

Beautifully and Wonderfully Made

I praise you God because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. - Psalm 139:14

Photography by JMorlet

You Are Beautiful Enough

Original Photo

Dear Beautiful Girl,

Today there are thousands of voices telling you, you don't meet their standard of perfection.

Your eyes aren't blue enough. Your hair is too curly. You hair is too straight. Your waist is a bigger than hers. Your voice isn't as good as hers. Your ____________ is not _______________.

They are telling you simply this: You are not beautiful enough.

But we are telling you, that is just not true. You ARE good enough. You are beautiful enough. You are valued and loved and perfectly fashioned.

There is a God who designed every fiber and hair curl and drew your eyes with His very hand. 

You are a child of God. 

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12

You are beautifully created.

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 

You are a part of something bigger.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 1 Corinthians 12:27

You are forgiven of all your sins.

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:13-14

You can talk to God because of Jesus.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. Hebrews 4:14-16 

You are safe.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7

Be strong sweet girl, and know you are loved.

Mirror, Mirror | Barlow Girl

We thought this song would fit perfect with Cara's post on Monday. Do you define yourself by what you see in the mirror or what other people tell you you are? This song by Barlow Girl reminds us that we are treasures, valuable, and beautiful. 

The Mirror of Nakedness | What do you see?

I am beginning to wonder if my choice of coffee shop wasn’t the best choice for today.

This place is lined with mirrors. Along the wall of my booth is a mirror so close if I turned my head slightly to the left, I could see to the bottom of my pores. If I turn my head to the right, I gaze out across the coffee shop, which in some sense is very cute and cozy but when I look closely, I can see three of four of myself depending on my angle. I’ve been here plenty of times, but for some reason, today, it’s just become a different experience and I think I know why.  

In the middle school session at the Becoming conference we took a trip back into the Garden of Eden and revisited the events and conversations that took place there.  When Adam and Eve realized that they were naked after partaking from the tree they were instructed not to, they hid, due to fear and shame. They heard God’s voice calling for them in the garden and they were afraid.  When God pursued them in conversation, He asked them one of the most profound questions of all time:

"[Adam, Eve]…..Who told you that you were naked?"

I have spent my whole life listening to all of the voices who find it entertaining to lie to me and to try to tell me who I am.  Sometimes the voices are actually voices of people that I know- and other times the voices come in disguises like thoughts, things I see on TV, or things I read in a magazine...you get the idea.

So this morning, when I woke up- the very first thought that popped in my head was, 

“I feel gross.” 

Which led to, 

“this is not going to be a good hair day.”

Which led to a trip to the bathroom and straight toward the mirror accompanied by the thought,  

“ OMG- not a pimple too!!!”

And after 3 attempts to get my hair looking cute, I threw it in a pony, left the house frustrated and thinking horribly about myself.  Sound familiar?

Now, isn’t it funny that today I chose THIS coffee shop, of all the coffee shops in my area, to come to??

I didn’t think about those darn mirrors while I was on my way here.  However, now as I sit here quietly, annoyed as crap with all of these mirrors, I hear a different voice.  Ever so gently (which is one of the ways that I know God is talking to me because He is always loving, and always gentle when He corrects) I hear Him say, 

“Cara, who told you that you weren’t beautiful today?  How did this start?” 

And I am reminded of how my loving Father said to my brother Adam and my sister Eve, “Who told you that you were naked?  Who told you that you should be ashamed of how you were made? Who told you that you are not okay, and absolutely WONDERFUL, just as you are?”   

I wouldn’t be surprised if he spoke to Eve specifically about her beauty, for God knows that at the heart of every woman is a desire to be stunning, and to be told that she is so.  

Girls, the Enemy will take every opportunity to tell us a lie.  Remember my sweet sisters—no mirror, no man, no media or voice other than God’s alone can tell you who you are- for “you are fearfully and crazy wonderfully made!” 

Love,

Cara

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Cara is a girl who is embracing each season and capturing key moments through writing, music, coloring, and community. She enjoys doing all of these things much better when she has a cup of tea in hand and her slippers on. You can find her at caraemaat.blogspot.com

Samantha (Intern) and Her Prom Adventures

PROM! P is for Prom.

I went to Prom and had so much fun! I had a really awesome night, mostly thanks to my amazing man. I didn't know what to expect cause I'm not a very big dance person and neither is he but we rocked it. We were the best looking couple there ;) Well that's what i think anyways!

Here's how the day went:

11 a.m.-I showered, wanted to be all nice and squeaky clean

1: 30 p.m.- Makeup done by the amazing Crystal-Lee

3:30 p.m.- We had no idea what to do with my hair so we googled!

4:30 p.m.- Andrew and his momma arrived for pictures but I wasn't ready yet!!!! So they waited, and waited.

4:45 p.m- Dress was zipped, make up was flawless, hair was perfectly hairsprayed and curled.

4:50 p.m.- I opened the door, and this was what i saw!

Handsome... is he not?!

5 p.m.-Then came all the pictures. We took pictures for about an hour! Scroll down to see some of them =)

6 p.m.- We headed to Olive Garden to meet up with 3 other couples for dinner... it was so tasty!

8 p.m.- To Wilson Creek Winery where we danced the night away

It was such a sweet night full of friends, love, and good clean fun. Did any of you go to prom this year? 

Beauty Is Light Shining Brightly

I couldn't sleep and it was almost midnight. I don't know what it was, exactly. Maybe it was the fact I was just plain stressed out. Whatever it was, I spent a whole night last week going straight to my bible to find one specific verse. But it wasn't that verse that tripped me out. It was what happened after I found what I was looking for.


After looking up that one verse, I switched to another verse. Then, to another, and another, and another. There, I found myself reading pretty much all of Luke, and then, I finally landed on this verse: 

Luke 8: 16

"No one lights a lamp hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open."

Now, normally I'm not a Bible-freak. I find myself in a habit of only reading it when I need it and I'm desperate, but this verse  totally changed that. It's caught my eye before, but something about it stuck to me so strongly than ever before. 


Then a few pages later I found Luke repeating the same thing. Out of the whole chapter, this is something he repeats; something he wanted to stick out to the world.

Luke 11:33

"No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lightened, as when the light of a lamp shines on you."

No matter what, that first line always comes striking back. And that brings me to the trippy part. After being hit with that verse twice, I flip through Matthew to find a different verse. But this time, it's like the verse is thrown at my face. This one, I'm sure, everyone knows.

Matthew 5: 14

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

It literally says the same exact thing. When you think about it, sure, it may talk about showing light to other people and not hiding it. Sure, it may talk about His light shining in the darkness, but there could be another thing to it, too . . .


We shouldn't hide our light. 
Our spark and our passion and our drive is the thing that shows God more than how much we read, pray, worship, anything. The things we do can show our faith so evidentally that it makes the angels praise and sing. This, my friends, is truth.


So this is my challenge to you.
How can we shine brighter and more visibly this week? 
Is there someone that needs you to smile at them? 
Or share a lunch table with? 
Is there a girl who needs to hear she's beautiful? 
Or a friend that needs you just to pray with them? 


It's time to shine girls!


Love, Madi <3

Oh Clothes!

i love looking through pictures like this and pretending like i have a virtual closet... clothes, clothes, clothes!

{i love this look so much! the hair and the glasses and the HAT!!}

{very NY i think}

{absolute favorite!! so adorable, i want it all... including the coffee ;)}

be brave with your wardrobe girlies, branch out and try new things!!

<3 always,

Unstoppable Love on Valentines Day

Oh Valentines Day. 

What more can I say? It's a day where some of us feel comforted and loved, but for the other half, it's nothing but a hit to the head.

Flowers, chocolate, cliche love poems, the whole "Lady & The Tramp spaghetti" spiel, the list goes on and on. Now, these things might look great. These things might look like you need it, but honestly, girls, ask  yourself, Do these things define real love?

Compared to Jesus, it's a big fat no. 

Why base your focus on someone, even when God is with you always and will never leave you? 

Why get pulled into a "relationship" that is too hard for you to handle? 

Why waste your days heartbroken and in this vicious cycle? 

Why sit on your love for a temporary person when you can't even find yourself, or have a strong, true relationship with God? 

He's there to shape you into the person you are to become, and it is in him only where that feeling of emptiness is filled. 

There is a love greater than a love on here--an eternal love, and that is with the one and only Jesus Christ. What boyfriend would die for you, and die so that you can know our Father even more?

Mmmmhm. That's what we need to see. So, why do we focus on getting in relationships so early? It's not intended for US. Valentines Day holds a greater purpose: remember the love of God and loving those around you. 

There's a song that truly exemplifies that, and it's called "How He Loves" by John Marck McMillan. Over and over, there is this one line that truly states that He, God, loves you! 


You have Jesus and the most unconditional love from your healer, helper, friend, and creator. Don't you think that's even better than a silly day about a fake love? 

He is love and is the definiton of it; He is the very truth of love itself. 

Remember you girls are beautiful, powerful, and world changing. With God's love by our side, we are unstoppable. 

Love, 

We Wanna Be Free to Be Loved.

If you haven't noticed, Summer is upon us. The air is filled with smells of sunscreen and coconut body splash and the sounds of flip flops and cars racing desperately to the coast.

Summer is my favorite season. Especially in Cali.

I have high school memories of going to the beach every day with friends and family. Laying out and catching rays was my activity of choice. [With sunscreen of course.] Occasionally my brother and I would take the boogie boards out and brave the great waves of Oceanside Harbor.

Summer time was also Camp time. For four years I went to my camp [high school] and was a counselor at a camp [middle school]. A whole week with friends, fun, crazy games, worship and a guest speaker that was usually hysterical.

But there was one part of Summer that I dreaded...

I don't know if you guys go through this with your Moms and Dads, but there was one argument e v e r y s i n g l e S u m m e r.

It was the bathing suit argument.

Anyone hear what I'm saying?

My dear mom would take me shopping and when I found one I thought was absolutely adorable I would hold it up and say, "Hey mom, how about this one?" She would reply, "Sure, if you're gonna stay inside all summer." Then the flip conversation, "Hey honey how about this one?" To which I would reply, "Um...are you kidding me?" And so the trip would go. You have no idea how ecstatic I was when they designed the Tankini.

However, now looking back, I am so grateful for the "strictness" of those days.

I know as Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers you are reading this thinking, "Yea right, she doesn't know what my parents are like. She's just saying that..." I was in your shoes not too long ago. I had the big silver braces with different color bands every month. I had the clothing fetish [and still have the clothing fetish]. I went to the mall to hang out with friends. I had crushes on boys that I knew I could never date. I had the crazy acne that I swore was going to plague me for the rest of my life. I dressed to impress my friends. I did it all girls. Well, all there was to do back in my days of teenage.

So I know the frustrations that you are feeling. I have felt the desires you are desiring. The fears you are fearing. The arguments you are having. Now I admit times have changed and I'm getting up there, but I think there under issue is the same.
We want to be free to be loved.

That is the base of everything we go through in our teenage years. We want people to love us, like us, admire us, desire us. And we don't want anyone to tell us how, when, why, or what to do.

But my dear girls, this standard will set you up for failure. Let me say it again: This standard will set you up for failure.

Esther was the most beautiful queen in all of Persia. The king chose her to be his wife out of all the girls in the whole region. She was bathed and oiled for 6 months and perfumed and pampered for the other 6. Twelve months of beauty beauty beauty! Can you imagine? Yet it says in Esther 2:15 that when the time came for her to present herself to the king, she took NOTHING except what he servant suggested to her...

She had EVERYTHING. But took NOTHING. No favorite necklace, dress, bathing suit, ring, makeup. Nothing.

Not that these things are bad, but Esther knew that if the king was going to adore her, it was going to be the will of God that had caused him to. Not her persuasive attire or fabulous makeup.

Do not set clothing, makeup, style, as the ruler of your life. Do not let yourself think that the more you show and the skinnier you, the more people will like you. I made the mistake. [I'll talk more about this next blog.] It does not work.

Who are you looking to validate who you are? What are you wearing just to impress?

...to be continued.


~JM
juliannahallworth.com

True Beauty

Who ever coined the phrase "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" was very wise, but sadly whose "eye" has been debated for centuries.

Webster defines beauty/beautiful as the following: generally pleasing, excellent aesthetic pleasure.

Our world defines beauty as something quite different. So I would ask this question....What does the world say beauty is?

Two years I searched for this answer.....You see here is some history about myself. I am 24 years old and have never had a boyfriend or been kissed for that matter. I have always been overweight and up until two year ago, hated the person I had become. I felt like the ugliest and least desirable person in the world.

I would ask people "When will I EVER have a boyfriend?" "When will I ever feel desired?" "Why do I not have a boyfriend?" And the constant answer, in some form or another was this...."Well Emily, guys are visual people, and if you lost weight and were pretty, you would have a boyfriend."

For years this plagued my soul. I was lost and sadly felt STUCK in the body I was given. I had no hope. I turned to the world to help me identify beauty. Everywhere I turned was another magazine telling me "how to lose weight," "how to get that guy," "beauty tips," and the list could go on and on. I would walk into the mall and see clothes, purses, makeup, and hairstyles that I could not afford, and leave feeling worse and worse.

I fell into a depressed life striving to meet the standards of the world's beauty.

What I realize now, is that I was looking in the wrong place. I felt like I was looking for clothes in the candy aisle and seeking answers from an infant! Clearly I was in the wrong place! So I decided to look into the place that truly matters, God's Word.

Two years ago, decided to write down every Bible verse that talked about beauty. What did God really mean when He talked about beauty, and where did I fit into this plan?

Sure, it is quite true that the Bible discusses beauty in the form of "outward appearance," but I was more surprised with the verses that discussed beauty in such an opposite way that I had ever thought.

Mark 14:6 is a perfect example. Jesus is anointed with oil from the woman with the alabaster jar. The people in the house are mad at this woman because she has "wasted" this perfume on Jesus, when she should have "sold it for money to give to the church." But I was in awe as to how Jesus responded to her. "Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me." This woman's sacrifice was accounted as beautiful to Jesus! That means that my sacrifices for the Lord are seen as beautiful to Him!!!!

1 Peter 3:3-4 also spoke to me about where our beauty really should come from. "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." The writer is not saying that it is particularly bad to have the outward adornment, but that our true beauty should come from what our inner self, our spirit conveys. This inward beauty is also an unfading beauty. A beauty that never goes away! God finds GREAT WORTH in our gentle spirit, our kindness and our desire to serve Him.

After reading these verses and MANY more, I realized something

I AM BEAUTIFUL!!!

God created me beautiful! Sure, maybe God's way of conveying my beauty is not in the outward appearance, the nice clothes, perfect hair, perfect skin, and a thin body, but God did create me as His child whom He is well pleased. My Father, has created me to glorify Him, honor Him, and praise Him with my whole heart of hearts, and that is what he calls Beautiful.

So sure, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder," but whose eye are you seeing yourself through?

Love,






~Emily Nickerson
The Skinny on Getting Thinny