I've been reading "Captivating" by John & Stasi Eldredge and there are a few points made in it that I liked. I don't have it here in front of me so I'll outline from my memory what appealed to me most.

The point was made that the essence of a man is strength and power and for a woman it is beauty. They said that one of God's purposes for creating women is to display His own beauty. Beauty is what the world longs to experience from a woman and it's a built-in essence. In other words, if you're a woman, there is beauty and a love of beauty blue-printed inside of you whether you acknowledge it or not. If we've convinced ourselves that we're not beautiful, then we've talked ourselves into believing a lie.

Maybe we've bought into the opinion that we don't have the right type of beauty, the worldly type, but true beauty doesn't limit itself to just a few expressions. They are as varied and limitless as God's imagination. There is a beauty that comes from deep in the soul, the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.

Having read this, it is obvious to me everywhere. We all recognise a house that has a feminine touch whenever we walk into it because men just don't worry about bright cushion fabrics, frilly curtains or delicate ornaments. And this resonance with beauty begins at a very early age. I brought some new cushions home earlier this year and Emma hugged them because she thought they were so pretty, while the only interest Logan and Blake ever show in them is for cushion fights. A few days ago I asked the kids to get dressed before their auntie arrived to baby-sit them. Emma said, "I think I'll keep this shirt on and find a beautiful skirt to go with it." Logan's only stipulation in clothes is that they're not "dorky". It's so much a part of our lives, it's easy to miss how natural and organic is a female's affinity for beauty. Somewhere deep inside of us, we all know it to be true.

All this had a positive effect on me. Like many others, I've fallen into the trap of striving for the "right" kind of beauty and regretting the lack of it. I've spent plenty of time working on positive affirmations but one I could never bring to say with any credibility is "I am beautiful." A prayer I've never been able to pray is "Thank you for making me beautiful," when I saw it recommended. It would always sound so bizarre and false, vain and ridiculous.

Now however, on the basis of this book, I just might be able to manage it. Now that I've realised the way God made us, I'm sure He probably would like us to say, "Thank you for making me beautiful" instead of turning a blind eye to it, keeping it under wraps of modesty and thinking we're doing right to denigrade ourselves. I'm sure He'd like us to genuinely appreciate the way He's made us. And when you say, "God made me beautiful" and believe it, you feel more confident. So because it's made such an impact on me, I wanted to encourage every woman who visits my blog to begin to recognise the beauty in herself too.