This weekend FTGI had the pleasure of being part of the S.O.S. Conference sponsored by Dayspring Academy. S.O.S stands for Shaping our Students and on Friday night Cynda and I were invited to speak to an amazing group of middle school girls.
We talk to so many women that struggle with self-image issues (including us!) that we thought...what if we could say something to these girls that would help them to start identifying themselves not by what they look like but by who they are? What if at this transitional age we could give them some tools to hopefully prevent them from falling prey to the false messages that the media sends us about how we should look?
So we prepared a session that included some magazine ads. We showed the girls the ads and asked what kind of message the images portrayed were sending. For the most part the advertisements contained super skinny girls and women, with perfect skin, perfect hair and perfect teeth. We wanted to help the girls recognize that they are the target of a business world that thrives on them buying their products to achieve the "look" they are selling. We all laughed as we saw haircolor products that would help us get the perfect hair, ads for makeup that would make our skin look perfect and a perfume company that claims to have bottled happiness :)
Then we talked about what really defines them...their spirit, their personalities, their quirks, their goals, their dreams, their history... Cynda made the girls turn to each other and say "I am beautiful" and it broke my heart to see that at that young age some girls are already struggling to be able to say that about themselves.
I think we "big" girls need to be reminded of this every so often as well. It is such a battle ladies, to maintain a healthy self image and such a challenge to not look around and compare ourselves with others to see if we measure up. Measure up to what?
Let's remind each other to chase after what God sees as beautiful which is a heart that is fully devoted to Him. Coming from one that is particularly fond of fashion and cosmetics I need reminding more than the average girl...so feel free to slap me around if you see me getting too caught up in it all!!
Proverbs 31:30
Charm and grace are deceptive, and beauty is vain [because it is not lasting], but a woman who reverently and worshipfully fears the Lord, she shall be praised! (Amplified version)
Thanks to Jackie and Jessica from More2Life and Danita who also helped make it a great night for the girls!
Lots of Love,
Tracey and Cynda
Join us on Friday April 17th from 7pm - 1pm for our 1st For the Girls Night Out! 
