Beauty Is?

I love it when you think you have something down. You know, when you're sure you couldn't learn anything more about it. Well, I don't love that I think I have it down, but love when I find out there was even more.

I think that beauty is one of those subjects that I'm going to keep learning about (And being reminded of) all my life. True beauty. It seems all the time I'm stumbling over another beautiful truth.

One of my stumblings was this amazing card my beautiful friend, Megan, made me for Christmas. It says this:

Beauty Is...

Not rich silky hair or baby blue eyes

Not a perfect tan and a small waist size

Not straight teeth or no acne on your face

Not cute clothes or good fashion taste

Not starvation and not eating for days

Not throwing up all your food when it's making you gain weight

Not based on men and their twisted view of captivation

Not based on models and their fake image of perfection

Not based on boyfriends, on dates, on kisses, on sex

Not based on how many guys you can and can not get

Not based on a mirror and the fleshly image I see

Not based on the outward appearance of me

My heart, my soul

My God who makes me so completely whole

The women who will love the loveless

The women who will shine with God's goodness

A woman is captivating when she looks like the Lord

A woman is endearing when she knows whom she stands for

Too fat, too ugly, too skinny, too tall, not pretty...

These are complaints that all girls' minds project.

But if you're mad in God's image-

How are you any less than perfect?

God made you captivating, He wanted you this way,

To Him you have the beauty that will never go away.

So whenever you look in the mirror smile to yourself and say

"God made me BEAUTIFUL and I don't want to be any other way!"

...YOU!!!

I think one of the most important things I've learned about this is that a thousand people may tell you are insanely beautiful. They may compliment you, or insult you every day of your life. But in the end: It's you that has to decide whether or not you're going to accept what The One Who Made The World made. (You!) You've got to decide whether or not you're going to use the body your Father has provided you with to share the truth of Jesus Christ, to love, to share, and to serve!

I've accepted myself, and I want to spend my whole life being the best Nicole I can be. I want to spread the love my Father has blessed me with. And I don't want to lose sight of what I'm doing because I've become too obsessed with trying to "fix" what my Almighty, Heavenly, Lord, God has given me.

(The card)

Hip-Hip-Hurray!

I got the best call from my friend, Rachel, (Look Above) Friday night. She said that she wanted to do the Makeup Breakup shin-dig when I did it, but was too nervous. (Hey, a lot of people were. I was for a while too.) But she said that she's going to do it now! Hip-hip-hurray! I love how when you do one thing, it can cause other people to do other things and you don't even know it.

PS- Can't you just hear us saying "We want YOU to do the Makeup Breakup challenge!" Hehe:)

It's a God-cidence.

This past week has blown me away! God has done so many amazing things I can't help but share them!

The first thing was one of the biggest. I barely ever check my AOL emails, but I did a couple days ago and now I'm really glad I did! Do you remember when I blogged earlier about how I was giving up makeup? Well- to give you a quick catchup- I met my goal: six weeks, and it's changed my life! All in all, I feel like I don't have to rely on makeup anymore to feel beautiful. Anyway, at the end of the article (Where I got the inspiration to do this) it challenged the readers to write about your experience and send it to Susie. (The creater of the magazine where I got the idea!) So I did.
And I got two emails replying! The first one was from the writer of the article: Ashley. Too many coincidences went on here! I had no idea that the girl that wrote the article was the same girl whose blog I've been following! I've really admired her- her love for Jesus, her blog, all of it. And now she was emailing me! She asked if she could put what I wrote on her blog and I of course said it was fine. What an excitement! But the coincidences don't stop there. She had written an earlier blog post about true beauty, and said that part of the reason she wrote that post, was because she thought she could see some of that genuine beauty in me! That made me cry, because when I first read that post, I remember praying that God would help others see me that way. What a huge God-cidence.
The other email was from Susie! She said that she wanted to take my letter and a picture of me and put it on the Susie website! I was practically jumping up and down by that point. (I read these emails right after one another). And they're sending me a Susie t-shirt! (As soon as it arrives, I'll take a picture and put it on here.)
This whole thing was really overwhelming, especially because I received tons upon tons of teasing for doing this. No one really understood why I was- even when I tried to explain. It hurt, even though the reward for doing it was huge. So to have all this happen was amazing.

But my week doesn't stop there!
Some of my friends and I wanted to see Sherlcok Holmes Saturday, but I spent all my money on Christmas presents. Lol, since then, I've been doing "free" stuff Friday nights. Lol. So I had to do some work to earn the money to go. Well, two and a half hours later, I had money in my pocket and I was sitting down watching the news when a segment about the earthquake that just hit Haiti came on. And all of a sudden I felt God was really convicting me to give the money I just earned to Haiti. So I texted my friend, McKenna, and told her I couldn't come because I didn't have enough money. And she texted me back and told me that she had a free coupon she would give me to go! And I just thought it was a pretty cool coincidence, until my dad said "Amazing how when you give to God, sometimes He gives back." And then it became a God-cidence!

But that's not it! Haha.
McKenna's new year resolution was to not drink soda the whole year. While we were out the movies, she mentioned how it was getting harder and harder not to drink it. Afterwards, I felt called (In the same way with the Haiti money) to stop drinking it too. So I texted her, and know what her reply was! She said that she was about to quit because doing it alone was just too hard. What another God-cidence!

All of this has just made me realize that the little things you do, whether you're just doing them, or feel as if God has asked you to, can play a huge part in someone else's life and you might not even know it. And I think that's such a God-cidence.

Nicole and Mckenna's Guide to Studying For Finals

DAY ONE

1. Find All the Junk Food You Can And Devour It Like There's No Tomorrow.

2. Watch Your Favorite Movie.

3. Give Yourself A Makeover.

4. Keep Your Dog From Eating Your Dark Chocolate.

5. Talk To Your Best Friends With Your Best Friend.

6. Play Dress Up Like A Little Girl.
(Before)

(After)

7. Play Wii: Boxing.

8. And Then Hug Your Opponent Because You Accidentally Hit Them For Real.

9. Mow Your Lawn And Use A Leaf Blower Away All Your Leaves.

10. Sit Down And Be Exhausted.


11. Finally, Just Relax And Take Random Pictures.

(You deserve it)

(Look at the bottom right)

DAY TWO

And when you get your test scores back and figure out those methods didn't exactly work, just sit yourself down and study the old fashioned way.