Beauty: Trends in Beauty, By Livy J.

Beauty

Trends in Beauty

By Livy J.

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past fifteen years of your life, or dwell on an Amish farm out in the hilly countryside, you've probably noticed the way in which the media has a special gift for making girls feel ugly and inadequate. We've all suffered through those nauseating T.V. advertisements in which an underwear model poses, pursing her pouty lips, as her hair blows wildly from a fan. After watching such ads I roll my eyes and try not to laugh. I mean, how lame do the marketers think that I am?! (It's like those drug advertisements that list the deadly side effects, such as hearing loss or your nose falling off, while they show happy old couples flying kites, and walking puppy dogs.)

I'm sure you've picked up on the trend in many teen magazines. The words on the glossy cover shout, “Boost Your Self-Confidence! Six Tips To Loving Yourself!” Yet by the time you flip to page ten, you've already seen a dozen perfect faces and bodies posing for makeup advertisements, which drained away all confidence you were hoping to get from their pep-talk article.

Every girl has noticed what's going on. We're not immune to it. But have we ever recognized what's going on around us as a targeted attack on our beauty as females?

The sickening plot has been dreamt up, and skillfully executed by the enemy of our souls, Satan. He has always hated girls. Ever since the Garden of Eden, he has been attacking Eve and his daughters with lies that spew like fire out of his dragon mouth.

The purpose of this disgusting scheme is to convince God's chosen daughters that they are worthless. The familiar scenery of the hour we live in, the set on this stage, and the cast of characters in this story remind me of what unfolded in Esther's day. Esther’s story is a dramatic tale that all of us love. An ordinary, average, orphan girl was called to play a magnificent role in the Kingdom, and God used her to release her entire generation from destruction. Just like Esther you were called into the kingdom for such a time as this.

Girl, your adrenaline-pumping, high-action, story of greatness is unfolding. You living in the midst of this BEAUTY-saturated generation for a purpose, and that purpose is not to remain silent and be destroyed. There is no need for fear because we know how this story ends. The victory is not in jeopardy, it already belongs to Christ. He is calling you to walk with Him into this adventure.

Will you join your Christian sisters and discover what's going on behind-the-scenes in the modeling industry, Hollywood, the media, and cosmetic companies? Many of these avenues have added insult to injury , as thousands of young girls just don't feel like they measure up. Discover the unique role that we have as young women in combating this attack on our generation! You have been given a powerful influence and are called to play a meaningful role. Be both challenged and encouraged in this powerful new recourse for Christian girls, an online magazine, Crown of Beauty Magazine. Crown of Beauty has released their first FULL downloadable issue! This issue includes articles and interviews with some wonderful young women! Including, Jenny Simmons of Addison Road, Sarah Ross from Everlife, Rachel Lee Carter author of Modeling Christ, and Kylie Busitti, a former Victoria's Secret Model, who walked away from her glamorous career to obey God's call and be an example for girls everywhere!

Recommended for teen girls ages 13+.

If you decide to order The Beauty Issue for yourself, or another young women in your life, be sure to use the promotion code: godlygirlsforgod

It will give you$1.00 off & you’ll be supporting Godly Girls For God because we’ll get 50% commission from your purchase! (This coupon code also works on the COB E-book: When Life Feels Like a Taylor Swift Song: A Girl’s Guide to Boys.)

For more info about The Beauty Issue, or to order go to:

http://www.crownofbeautymagazine.com/TheBeautyIssue.html

It will first give you an introduction of the magazine, then down below, you put your info and how you found out about the magazine. Once you enter submit, it will lead you to another page: click Add to Cart. The next page will show you what you have in the cart and underneath you will put the promotion code: godlygirlsforgod

Make sure you UPDATE your cart before you continue. It’s all easy sailing from there. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail crownofbeautymagazine@yahoo.com

Beauty: Perceptions of Beauty, By Kiara W.

Beauty

Perceptions of Beauty

By Kiara W.

One of the biggest problems in today's society is image; if you look at magazines and billboards you're met with the image of perfect, size 0, flawless skinned models. 

What a lot of girls don't know is those 'perfect' models are more often than not photo shopped. Here's a link to watch one of the photo shopping processes if you're interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hibyAJOSW8U

I remember watching that video in a Bible study and I was shocked; I had always wondered how they had managed to look perfect, and would often wish to be like them. And I was probably not the worst of them out there, due to my up-bringing I'm not as exposed to the magazines and stuff. 

The products that they put out on the shelves make it even worse: whitening strips; breast growth pills (yes, they really have those); pills to get rid of fat...the list goes on and on. It's horrible, the Bible teaches that God made us in his image so wouldn't changing our bodies by pills and surgery insult Him? That's basically saying 'You didn't make me good enough so I'm going to alter myself'! 

And I'm not saying I haven't had my struggles, because believe me, I have. But if society started focusing on the real women of our country, girls would have better role models.

Boys: Saying No, By Haley B.

Boys

Saying No

By Haley B.

Saying no can be extremely hard. I've had to do it many times since I was practically born but more specifically this summer. It has been very hard for me to say no to guys this summer. VERY hard. They all wanted a relationship but wanted to base it on sex instead of really loving me and loving The Lord.

I have found out the best way of saying no is to just be very blunt about it. Saying no means no and for someone to understand that you mean what you say, you must have a firm tone. Sometimes though being blunt doesn't always work.

If it is really a situation in which you do not feel comfortable in and the guy is not listening to you, I would always use some sort of physical force. Don't be afraid to push him off of you or nudge him to stop. I did it many times this summer when guys wouldn't listen to me when I said no. The one thing you must do is be firm with them and let guys know where you stand. If you don't, you will get caught up in the trap that isn't good for anyone.

I wish I knew all the secrets to boys and I would tell every single one of you them so that way you could be prepared for anything... but I don't. I even struggle with figuring out guys at 19 years old. My biggest suggestion though, like I said, be firm, let them know where you stand, and just say no. Being blunt is the best and most honest route to take. If it continues, there's always the option of walking away or using a nudge to let him know to stop. Do not let him fool you into thinking that it's okay because it's not. Some Scripture that I've always held dear to my heart is 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. It says, "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."

Every time I even think of someone asking me to do something I'm not supposed to do, this Scripture comes into my mind. Yes, I know it has almost nothing to do with the specific topic of saying no but it does in a sense. We are temples of the Holy Spirit and we are supposed to honor God with our bodies. That, in an indirect sense, states that we need to say no to the things we should say no to.

In Galatians 3:27, it mentions us putting on Christ. We have accepted Him into our hearts and we are Him and He is us. By saying no, it brings God glory and it is Christ within us that gives us the strength to say no. We cannot do it on our own.

If you have time before the situation occurs, pray about it. Think about if it would REALLY honor God and if not, say no! Say no bluntly and as firm as you can. You will be grateful about it in the long run!

Boys: Walking the Walk and Talking the Talk, By Haley B.

Boys

Walking the Walk and Talking the Talk

By Haley B.

I hate the thought of boys. Honestly. It makes me sick to think about guys anymore period. The reason being is because it’s what I’ve struggled with my entire life. I mean, I have a deep testimony that maybe one day I’ll share but guys are where it comes down to fighting the real battle Satan has in front of us... well for me it is.

Guys want us to look this way and act that way and be the total Christian girl in front of their parents but when they get us alone, it’s a whole different story. It’s so confusing sometimes, not being ourselves and getting caught in the trap that Satan has set. If he doesn’t like me or love me for me, then what’s the point of being with him? There isn’t, and that is what stinks, and is confusing sometimes.

We get to the point of “being in love” with him but yet we don’t even realize who we are anymore. Before he came along, spaghetti was our favorite food. Now, it’s cheeseburgers because he doesn’t like spaghetti. We hated sports before that magical guy came and swept us off our feet. Now, that’s all we watch. We lose track of who GOD has made us to be to fit some “perfect” guy’s standards. And that is NOT how it should be.

And the worst part of it all? After the break up, everything whether it be on TV or in real life, reminds you of him. Scents combining together could be the perfect combination of his cologne. It’s amazing how our brain even remembers that...even a year later.

I was with the perfect guy. He was absolutely amazing and would do anything for me. Even though he wasn’t a Christian, I tried to make him one and save him. It ended up not working because in the end, I hurt him worse than anyone ever could. His father hated me anyways but that never really played a part in the break up. I cheated on him and not the “I kissed another boy” kind of cheat. This was some serious kind of cheating. I felt horrible for telling him (I waited 2 months to tell him; I didn’t know how he’d react and I was scared.) but I knew it was something I had to do.

We just recently met up for coffee and talked everything out. We had been out of contact for almost a year before we even had closure. How crazy is that? But we did. He moved to another country and I went off to college. It was a crazy ride but I wouldn’t change it because it was just God telling me that I should be equally yoked with someone.

I’ve been in relationships with Christian guys but we always did some not so Christian things. Those relationships were never good ones. They became unhealthy and neither of us was growing in our walk with The Lord.

I have been single for 2 months now for the first time since I was in middle school. (I’m 19 years old now and am in my sophomore year in college.) You can see how this has affected my view on men period but I wouldn’t change it for the world. It has brought me closer to Christ than ever and my walk with The Lord is growing more and more every day. I can honestly say I’m in love with Christ and I wouldn’t have my life turn out any other way.

Beauty: Being Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, By Haley B.

Beauty

Being Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

By Haley B.

My first post on my first Web magazine...how exciting is that! I will start off with saying that I personally struggled with my physical appearance for a long time, but God has brought me out of that, because I know that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Have you ever had a question about what GOD thinks of you instead of the world? Well, the answer lies in Psalm 139, but specifically in verse 14. God has said that we are “…fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works that my soul knoweth well.” God thinks the WORLD of us and He has fearfully and wonderfully made us! His works are marvelous so that makes US marvelous because we are His works! How awesome is it to know that!

Now, I’m not going to put the WHOLE chapter of Psalm 139 on here, but God tells us who we are in that whole chapter. He tells us that He “…formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” God formed us when we were not even babies inside of our mom’s! Only OUR GOD can do that! His thoughts are also humungous for us! In verses 17 & 18, it says, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand…” God’s thoughts are awesome and there is a large sum of them towards us, so shouldn’t we feel that way ourselves?

But we don’t, because we want the other girls in our classes to like us, and to think we’re popular, just like they are. We want the cute boy to maybe ask us for our number so we can try to be boyfriend and girlfriend one day. We shape ourselves to be this person that isn’t us so that the world can like us. That is not who God created us to be! The world is full of lies such as: you should be skinnier, your hair needs to be shinier, your skin needs to be clearer, your nose is too big, your lips are shaped funny, or some other kind of messed up comment about our physical appearance.

God loves you for you and He created you in His image, not of the world's. You are beautiful because God made you that way!

Boys: Mistakes and Boys, by Beatrix C.

 

Boys

Mistakes and Boys

By Beatrix C.

I made the biggest mistake of my life. It all started about six months ago. There's this guy, name is Elijah. He is a nice boy, and he's a Christian. Well, as I said, about six months ago I suppose we were dating, but at that time I felt really close to him. My older brother, he went to the same school we went too. Every chance he got, he embarrassed us. After a while, he... let me off. In the most sweetest way he let me off. Broke my heart. God had to really help me through that. Cried myself to sleep that day.

But that's not the point. The point is what I did to turn to try to get him to realize we belong with each other. It was the biggest mistake I could have ever made.

I tried to get him jealous. And the guy I was supposedly dating was one of my friends cousins. I met him once, and that was at my friend's B-day party. I wasn't listening to God when I should have been. Getting tips from him, instead of myself. I really should have known that he wouldn't get jealous. He's a strong Christian after all. Instead he went looking for new love. The new girls was my friend. We were always called twins because we looked like each other, and acted like each other. He even liked her for the same reasons he did me. :'( Now, it sounds like I'm just spilling my guts right now, and I partly am. But heres what I'm trying to get you to see. Don't do those things girls. Getting another guy, to make the other guy jealous. Don't do it. It's stupid. Almost never works. And it's not the Godly thing to do. I should have just let him fall back in love with me. He thought I didn't like him anymore cause I was using the other guy. I even told him that's why I "dated" the other guy. To get him jealous. He actually wasn't surprised at all. Well, his response implied he wasn't.

Now this is a mistake lots of girls make. You can't make somebody love you. God can't make you love Him. Love can't be forced. It doesn't work that way. Girls take this story as a lesson for yourselves. Don't do it. Seek God. Be quiet, listen for Him with your heart. Seek advice and guidance for situations like this from God. Just trust Him unlike I did. Don't go out there and do what you think needs to be done for something to happen. Do what God says to be done. 'Nuf said. You get the point by now don't you?