Magazine Article Numero One.

‘Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.’ Do you remember that quaint little tune? Maybe you told it to someone, maybe you received it but either way, did it ever feel as if, just maybe, it wasn’t true? We would like to think we’re strong, that we can let words just fall off and not penetrate like a poisoned arrow into the very depths of our hearts, but then we find one harsh insult dissolving a hundred compliments. We find that if we were honest, even to ourselves, it hurt. Not physically like a punch, but you know when something hurts. You know when you’re ignoring it for mental preservation, when you’re ignoring it to prove stronger than the opposition. Let me propose something: have you ever seen a physical fight not first initiated by words. Is the person kicking ever silent. Which hurt more, the slap, or the word accompanying it?


Words hurt, injure, assault, damage, torment and utterly crush, but none so much as the ones you say to yourself. Let me pause now to clarify. The devil’s greatest dagger is the one you think is yours. The words he whispers in your ear and you listen, and as you listen, you agree, and as you agree, you consent. Now he has you. He has you thinking his voice is yours, and your voice is not saying very nice things. His first of many ploys recorded in scripture was to deceive Eve, the first woman. “Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:13) How it must have seemed like a good idea though! How connivingly convincing he must have been!

Now, I know you don’t get in many fights, but let’s say, for argument’s sake, that you’ve just had a row. Hurtful things have been said by both parties and now you’ve gone separate ways to lick your wounds and recover. You replay the fight in your mind, allowing yourself to mull over the insults and then the voice that sounds like yours says, ‘You know, he was right. You don’t care about other people. You’re actually quite selfish.’ You think, ‘Oh. Am I selfish?’ The voice that sounds like yours says, ‘Yes, yes, and no one really likes hanging out with you either. You’re the person no one likes.’ You think, ‘It’s true, no one really talks to me.’ Now you’ve got yourself a pity party, and no one’s invited except the people who take the time to talk to you, but remember, that voice: your voice, says no one really talks to you.


Beauty is defined by human standards, by who we idolize, by who the world idolizes. As girls we stand in the mirror, an image of perfection in our head but what our eyes see doesn’t match and so we fail to see beauty. Did you know that fewer than ten percent of the female population would consider themselves beautiful? That means ninety percent is looking in the mirror and there is this voice that sounds like theirs that hisses, ‘Faaaaat.’ The voice critiques your haircut, the space between your eyes, your body proportions. It compares everything and you never seem to measure up. Hence there is costly plastic surgery, doomed diets, avoidable eating disorders and all in all, low self-worth/esteem. When you’ve failed your diet, acknowledged your eating disorder or realized that even with surgery you need more, acceptance can set in. You affirm the voice and decide that for a fact that you are not beautiful, past, present and future. Finding our worth in our looks is so absolutely not God’s plan for us! 1 Peter 3:3&4 says, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” Unfading beauty. Beauty that does not disintegrate with age, with wrinkles and white hair and stooped shoulders as this world’s beauty does. You know how someone carries themselves; personalities are prominent and what they think of themselves can influence your opinion of them, of their beauty. God sees inside. We are made in his image, and to him we are precious and beautiful. Princesses even, for lovers of pink and frills.


When the devil deceives, his paramount accomplishment is convincing you that you’re broken, permanently. That you cannot change. That you are worthless, that you are unloved, that you are ugly. That who you are is all you’ll ever be and if you believe him, if you listen to the voice that slanders who you are, then that is all you’ll ever be. Break these chains! “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31) As daughters of the living Lord we are worth more! “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) He loves us, and so we are never unloved! “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) He created us in his image and so we are always beautiful!

What do you find your worth in? What you can do? How you look? Who you know or how you can help? In Ephesians Paul says, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” What a calling. We are called to more in Christ. Don’t listen to the voice that degrades your self-worth. Don’t listen to the voice that sounds like yours but hurts, more than sticks and stones ever could. You are a daughter, a treasured daughter and are worth so much that God sent his son to save you! Ninon de L'Enclos said, “That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful.”