I don't know about the women who read this blog (if there are any people reading it), but I know that I love a good romance novel. Especially the ones where there is a relationship in trouble. I love it when there is a man a woman who have met and fallen in love, only to have it all fall apart. Why?
Because then they can fix it and fall in love all over again. I love that! I love The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, and The Wedding, also by Nicholas Sparks. The Wedding is one of my all-time favorites though ... I love the way the main character Wilson realizes that he is losing his wife. After nearly thirty years, she is losing her desire to even remain with him after being neglected over the years by her husband. So he resolves to win her heart again, to show her how much he loves her and how much she means to him. He loses a few pounds, he learns how to cook and then cooks a weekly meal for them to share. He plans the ultimate surprise for her, and pulls it all off perfectly. In the end, his wife is more in love with him than ever, and the story is a legend in my girly little heart. But again ... why?
Because of the whole concept of "Do You Think I'm Beautiful". It's all tied in together, the need for a woman to feel beautiful, to be cherished and desired ... and special. To be meaningful and worthy to someone. Angela quotes from yet another author, John Eldredge (from his book "Wild At Heart"), who said, " Not every woman wants a battle to fight, but every woman yearns to be fought for ... She wants more than to be noticed - she wants to be wanted. She wants to be pursued."
That quote and the few others listed in this section of "Do You Think I'm Beautiful" are resounding enough for me to want to go out and by "Wild At Heart" so that I can read it for myself, though it is meant for men. I think I just need the sensation of truly being understood by a man, which probably led to my fascination with James Dobson's book, "What Wives Wish Their Husbands Knew About Women" a while back. That one struck chords in my heart during a very hard time in my life, and I will never forget the message that I received from that book.
I agree with Angela when she says that the desire to be seen as beautiful is not completely about the woman's need to be physically attractive, but it goes on to include the need to simply be accepted. To be worthy. She writes, "God, do You see me flawed and sinful and still call me beautiful? Do You see the loneliness? Do You see me struggle? Do You see the unmet desires of my heart? ... Do You see me yearn for the things I can't have? Do You see me cry for time that is lost and the life I will not know? God, do You see me in all this mess and still think I'm beautiful?"
And she goes on, "God, will You fight for me? Will You come for me? Will You say I'm beautiful?"
But there is hope offered in the pages of this book for women who have sought out this confirmation all their lives and been unable to find it. There is hope for women who have never felt worth fighting for ... Angela's words on this subject ring strong and so incredibly true as God speaks through her to encourage His daughters.
"The God who slung the stars across the heavens ... the same One who shaped the mountains and valleys with the palm of His hand ... the God whose very breath gives life ... that God, the King, has always been taken with you. You have been noticed, He thinks you're beautiful, the glass slipper fits, the music is playing, and He's asking you to dance." (Angela Thomas, "Do You Think I'm Beautiful?")
And we all as women need to remember the One who came to give His life, because He thought we were worth it. He found us beautiful enough to die for, worthy of the effort it took to carry the cross up on Calvary only to die a humiliating death on that same cross. He finds us lovely enough for an almighty, omnipotent God to take human form ... just to get to know us.
Right now ... I feel beautiful in the eyes of a God who loves me in spite of myself, who is willing to go to any effort to win my heart, and who would die rather than see me lost. Don't you?
