Splendor

Hi Beautiful,

I'm back and so refreshed. Thank you for allowing me to take some time to rest and refocus. I have been working on some new things and I will be sharing them with you very soon.

Before we start today's blog, I just want you to open your heart and forget anything and everything that has already discouraged you this morning.

I'm serious! You will miss the whole message if you are consumed by all of your worries and anxieties.

Let it go!


Over the weekend Beauty of Encouragement had some amazing things take place. I believe that God showed up and He showed out for us. He was taking His beautiful daughters and just doing a mighty work in their hearts and lives. I had people calling me, emailing me, and messaging me about their past and how they had held it in for sooooo long and with ONE blog it just all poured out. They told me how they took all their pain and just dug it so deep into their heart for years, and some even decades, to avoid ever having to face it. Then, as they read my blog, all the pain they had stored up in their hearts, just came rushing at them like a bullet.

I was completely astonished by what was happening. I knew God would show up. That is one thing I didn't doubt at all. It was truly amazing! I believe that God is moving mountains in the lives of those reading Beauty Of Encouragement. I believe that nothing and no one can stop what He is going to do in our lives this year.

So as all of these beautiful things are taking place for Beauty of Encouragement and its readers, I start to personally struggle a bit. At a time when I was so happy, focused on what God was doing through Beauty Of Encouragement and the women reading it, I just started to get attacked by thoughts that were trying to kill, steal and destroy the vision that God has placed in my heart. My mind just starts to get consumed with negativity like, "You're not enough for something this big. Look at this person, she blogs way better than you. You will never reach as many lives as she has. You're not that special that God would use you. You're not as smart. You're going to run out of things to talk about. You're going to stop blogging. You're going to give up like you always do. You're going to fail. You're going to disappoint these women. God is not in this. God is not using you. You're going to fail and the whole world is going to watch and laugh. You're a fool. God doesn't use fools. This is too big for you."

I heard all of these things in my head and slowly they were creeping into my heart. My mind turned into a battlefield. There was a war going on between the truth of God versus the lies of Satan. I knew that if I started to accept these lies, I was going to fail you, fail myself, most fail God.

So immediately, I started to do the only thing I knew how.... 

I had to literally cry my eyes out to God last night and tell Him how overwhelmed I felt by all of this. I had to be honest with my God. If I can't be honest with the God I serve then who can I be honest with? I started reminding myself of the truth that God has promised me through His Word.

So after crying my life away and asking God to bring me peace, I quickly fell asleep. The whole night I dreamt about this blog and the women it would reach. I woke up this morning a bit discouraged still. Then I prayed again and just asked God to give me strength for what He has called me to do. I asked Him to help me trust that He will instill the qualities, knowledge and drive that I need to finish the assignment He has given me. I prayed that He and only He would be the center of Beauty of Encouragement and that NOTHING, not one single thing, would take place without His say-so.

Then, in the afternoon, I was feeling so frustrated and I desperately needed to be reminded of God's promises to me. I needed hope, encouragement and I just needed to spend some time with my Papa. So I picked up my bible and  just let God pour into me. I am sooooo HAPPY that I decided to do that.

God showed me a verse that really changed my point of view. He gave me exactly what I was looking for. He showed me what I meant to Him and why I'm so important to Him.

1 Corinthians 15:41 - The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor."

and if you aren't sure what splendor means, here is the definition.

Splendor - great and impressive beauty

And then a flood of thoughts start coming to my head. Splendor is something that radiates impressive beauty. Something that has you in complete awe.

For instance, in this particular piece of scripture, it talks about the stars.

There are various kinds of stars. Some are close to the sun while others are farther away, which determines how big or little those stars are in size. They're all so different. They have different names and they all shine so brightly. Each star is unique in shape, size, temperature, and age BUT they are ALL made up of the same elements.

I remember when I was younger my uncle would let us look into his telescope and see the stars. The experience was so amazing and different each time I looked into that telescope. All of the stars twinkled so differently, they shined differently, and they caught my eye differently. Although each one of those stars was so different, they were all SO beautiful to me and they all served a purpose in that sky. None of them were too plain or less amazing than the other. When I looked at each star individually they were beautiful, but when I looked at the whole sky full of stars, it was splendid. What a beautiful piece of work God did with the stars.

Well, guess what?

In God's eyes, we are way more splendid than any star. So if He created the stars to be so different from each other, yet, each are so great and impressive in beauty. Then why would he not do the same with us?

Of all the things God created, He could have chosen absolutely any one of them to call His children, but He chose us! So if He spent time on making the stars so unique, bright and beautiful, think of how much more time and dedication He spent doing the same for us.

He took us in the palm of His hands and beautifully made us. He picked our eyes, our hair, our body, our feet, our height, our skin color, the amount of hair follicles we have and the color of our freckles. He  was so detailed and hands on with creating us. He knew us before we were in our mother's womb and He formed us to be EXACTLY what He considers to be perfection.

So next time you compare yourself to your friend with more success, your sister with a better marriage, your co-worker with better pay, the celebrity with the nicer body, the blogger with more talent than you. Just remember one thing, when God made you, you were an original. Your splendor is ONE OF A KIND. You are different from all of the other humans in this world. He took His precious time to make you like no other. He did not make you some cheap generic version of someone else. He made you as authentic as they come.

Everything He placed inside of you was given to ONLY YOU! No one in this world will ever live and be like you. No one in this world will ever exist and be like you. No one in this world will ever walk the Earth and be just like YOU! No one!

Everything from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet was designed for only you to have. Your passions, your dreams, your goals, your life, your existence were made with you in mind.

YOU have a purpose in this world. There are things that you have inside of you that NO ONE else in this world can deliver the way that you can. There is a purpose for your life that NO ONE else in this world was called to do but YOU. These things are exclusive to only you! 

So, stop comparing yourself. Don't accept the lies that the enemy whispers to you. What God starts, He finishes and what God has placed in YOU, He will give you what you need so that it grows and bears good fruit. What you lack HE will provide for you and in you.

So tell the lies to SHUT UP and to return to the hell they came from. You don't have time to waste on the lies, when you are too busy living for the truth.

I encourage you to feed truth to all the lies that try to tear you down!

YOU are extraordinary!
YOU are exceptional!
YOU are one of a kind!
YOU are satisfying!
YOU are unique!
YOU are praiseworthy!

and in case you forgot, YOU are worth dying for. 

YOU are splendid, my Darling. Don't you ever forget it.

Never be like the rest of them, when you're the best of them. 

If today's blog has encouraged you in any way, please leave us a comment below. We look forward to hearing from you.

Jessica Torres
Founder of Beauty of Encouragement