Many months ago, God led me to write about the lies I often tell myself. A couple months later, I wrote a post I never once imagined writing, much less publishing. And then a couple months later, I tapped away at a computer screen a little post about how it really is true: you already are enough.

But notice how I skipped right over that middle post, the one I never wanted to write? A few months ago, God reminded me of those words – the ones about wearing a two-piece bathing suit in public for the very first time (at 21-years-old). The ones about my fears and anxieties. The words about how yeah, I definitely don’t have that thing called a ‘thigh gap.’

I hit publish on a post that made me feel nothing but vulnerable — and then I watched as emails began to come in from friends and strangers alike, saying how they, too, had thighs that touched. I was simply calling beautiful what God had already made beautiful, but the story I was telling was quite different from the magazines that line the checkout counters.

A few months ago, God brought that post to mind. I wanted to swat it away like a fly in the summer heat, but He kept pressing. “Share it again. Take the old words and publish them in a new post. Someone new needs to hear them.”

If we’re being honest, I didn’t want to open up that vulnerable place again. But it kept coming to mind and so I copied and pasted the words I never imaged writing, and I put them out there. Again.

Within 10 minutes I had a new text on my phone from a friend, thanking me for the words I had just published. She cried reading the post and when I asked why, her answer clearly showed me what God had been up to. The words were for her. And maybe, today, they’re also for you.

I’ve been thinking about inner beauty lately — what does it actually mean? There are several verses I could share with you, but I’d like to paint a different picture for you today, one that I hope you’ll begin to look for and paint in your own life.

Inner beauty looks like eyes that shine with inside jokes and kept promises.

Inner beauty sits next to you and watches your favorite movie for the umpteenth time, simply because it will make you happy.

Inner beauty will drive an hour simply to sit with you on a bad day.

Inner beauty sings along to the radio, smiles at strangers, and picks up the straw wrapper that fell onto the concrete.

To continue reading, click here to visit my guest post on More To Be.