You are more beautiful than you think you are.  True Fact.  Some of you may have seen the beauty campaign that Dove put on, the commercials or youtube videos on True Beauty Sketches.  If you haven't seen them, then check this video out real quick:

In all reality, only four percent of women think they are actually beautiful.  As you may have noticed in the video, the things that the women described don't even cross the stranger's mind as he or she describes the same woman.  One woman complained about her weight, but the stranger's description didn't say anything about her face being round.  

Art students have commented on this video and describe this happening in a self-portrait class.  Each self-portrait was degrading to the artist because they drew themselves and they saw themselves - which was not in a good light.  But when the picture was drawn as they pretend to see themselves from the outside, the real semblance came out.  

We are too hard on ourselves.  We spend time thinking how pretty someone else is, how great that person dresses and how ugly we are.  This can be seen as young as grade school and continues all the way up the age brackets.  And those who we see as so amazingly beautiful may be struggling with their own self confidence, too.

Where is the root of the problem?  It is in the fact of comparison.  We can't look at ourselves and see the beauty of being created as a child of God.  All we can look and see is what we don't have, not what we've been blessed with.

One group who is trying to help women with seeing their own beauty, both inside and out, is Verily Magazine.

Their mission is to help you be an authentic young woman in the 21st century.  They shine in the midst of magazines like Cosmo and Glamour, who try to convince women that 

they are not skinny, pretty, or tall enough.  The first issue of
Verily comes out this June.  They also have an awesome website: www.verilymag.com.

Check them out - and know that you are more beautiful than you could ever imagine.

God bless,

Chloe M.