From Stained to Splendor

It’s wedding season, and God is calling you His bride; confident, radiant, and deeply desired. He isn’t ashamed of you. In fact, He takes delight in the way you’ve responded to His invitation to come close. Even the messy, hidden parts of your life – the thoughts, habits, and shame no one else sees – He has gently cleansed.

Just like Esther went through a process of preparation before standing before the king, you’ve been walking through your own season of becoming. You’ve been purified. You’ve been transformed. But maybe you still look in the mirror and see someone unworthy.

The Lord says, “That’s not how I see you. When you speak badly about yourself, I hear it as if you’re criticizing someone I deeply love. I want to show you a different mirror, one that reflects Jesus. This doesn’t erase who you are; it reveals the real you that I made new.

You’re not a clone. You’re not a disappointment. You’re a masterpiece with a new spirit… My Spirit. Put on confidence like a wedding dress. Walk like someone who is fully loved, fully known, and fully accepted. I am waiting for you to believe what I already see. 

Application:

Stand in front of a mirror and say out loud, “I am radiant because God cleansed me. I am loved because God demonstrated his love for me. I am new because God put His Spirit in me.” Do this as many times as needed until you can feel yourself accepting this truth.

Moving forward, when the voices of shame rise up, ask God to help you see yourself the way He does. Speak words of life over yourself, especially when your thoughts want to tear you down. Let those truths reshape how you live, walk, and speak.

Ephesians 5:26-27 (ESV) 

…that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV)

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.