Unrealistic Beauty & True Beauty

Have you heard of this gorgeous woman?

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Her name is Kylie Bisutti and in 2009 she won the Victoria Secret Angle search contest. 
Oddly enough that was the year I competed….*this is a total lie*
But anyway….she competed against 10,000 women and beat them out. And why wouldn't she win? She's stunning.

But that is not what's making headlines today. Kylie chose to leave the modeling industry for her Christian beliefs and has written a book on her decision to do so. 

Now, she is being highly criticized by the fashion industry on her tell-all book. 
Online magazines are even calling her a liar. www.nymag.com said this: 

Until now, Victoria's Secret has ignored Bisutti, who won their Model Search contest back in 2009 but hasn't worked for them since that year. They probably didn't want to fan the flames, as she's gotten much more attention for her supposed "quitting" than she ever did as an actual model.

Victoria's Secret stated that she was never an elite model for them. 
Nice Vicky…really nice. 

What just gets my blood boiling is the expectations that Kylie talks about the modeling industry, and the unrealistic expectations they put on women.

Kylie states that she was 5'10" and weighed 115 lbs. People…that's SKINNY. She had the measurements of 34 (bust)  24 (waist)  34 (hips). Her agent told her that she was a "fat cow" and needed to lose 2 inches off of her hips in order to book more jobs. Kylie went on a starvation diet dropped down to 108 lbs in order to fit the "beauty standards".

She talks about feeling conviction over the fact that she was "selling sex"…which {HELLO} it is Victoria's Secret after all. 

You guys…I have to be totally honest with you here. I'm sick over this. I'm sick over all of the women who are treating their bodies this way in order to be "beautiful" "elite" and "flawless". 
Even those who aren't competing in the modeling world. 
I hate looking at my perfect, beautiful daughter and thinking one day she will look in a mirror and begin to point out her "flaws". 
I hate seeing my gorgeous friends talk about their stretch marks, and love handles, and cellulite. 
God did not create us to criticize our bodies and our beauty. 
The devil wants that. He loves that. He loves that we are starving ourselves, or running ourselves ragged at the gym, or criticizing every inch of who we are. 

So what does God want us to know about our external beauty? 
IT. DOESN'T. MATTER.

He tells us that we are made in his image. And that it is wonderful. 

Psalms 139:14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

But that is not who we are. 

Proverbs 31:30
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

1 Peter 3:3-4
Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

The Bible clearly states that external beauty fades. That it truly is what is inside that matters. But being a woman in our society is so hard. We are so bombarded with images of "perfect" (and photoshopped) women. We are told to strive to be this way. Use this cream, eat this supplement, tone your body, dye your hair, whiten your teeth, darken your skin, remove the hair. It's impossible. 

It's tragic, and it breaks my heart. 

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So dear women, listen to what the Lord says. 
You are beautiful. You were created for a purpose, a glorious purpose.
You were not created to live up to the world's unrealistic expectations of beauty.

Especially to those momma's who are hard on themselves after pregnancy…I just adore what Alyssa Milano said:

“Our bodies are not made to look good in a string bikini! Our bodies are made to nurture and cuddle and all of those amazing things that come along with being a mom.”

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You are beautiful. Truly beautiful.
And I'm proud of women like Kylie who can come out and speak against the false "realities" of beauty.
I'm proud that she is taking a stand for Christ and standing up to teach young women about true beauty.

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