Ashley Reitz - You Are Beautiful: A Model Makeover from Insecure to Confident in Christ

You are beautifuldo you believe it?

I spent most of my twenty-eight years believing the oppositethat I was too chubby, boring, unseen and overlooked, not special, not enough. But then I underwent an emotional and spiritual transformation in my life, a model makeover from insecure to confident in Christ. In these pages, my hearts desire is to help you discover that you, too, are loved and oh so beautiful.

I want to walk with you, as a friend and big sis, to show you the path to true wholeness, peace, and body acceptance. Are you ready?

This book is for you if you sometimes feel like you are not thin/pretty/good enough. Youll hear my story in its rawest, most vulnerable form, in the hope that you wont feel so alone anymore. Because, despite being a good girl and even a pastors daughter, I took some destructive detours in unhealthy dieting and beauty and body obsession before discovering that I was already special and good enoughbecause Jesus had made me so.

Here are my stories of growing up feeling overweight and unnoticed, woven with behind-the-scenes snapshots of the good, the bad, and the ugly of the modeling industry. Here are lessons for you on how to find true confidence as you discover your identity in Christ, not the empty substitutes of this world.

For me, the pursuit of empty substitutes began early in life. When I was just twelve years old, I begged my mom to let me and my sisters try out to be runway models at an upcoming mall spring fashion show. The moment I found out not only that I had been overlooked but that both my sisters had been chosen was defining for meI realized I would have to try much harder to be thin, pretty, lovableand wanted.

I struggled on and off for years, into young adulthood, with an unrealistic body image and disordered eating that left me unhealthy and miserable. Like so many of you, I often wondered why my personal faith and Gods love failed to fill the gaping chasm in my soul. Why do some of my ugliest, most anxious, and most vulnerable moments take place in church? Have you ever questioned the same thing?

Even after I grew up and plunged into my beloved beauty school and a successful international modeling career, it took personal tragedy, including a terrifying assault, to provide me with the needed clarity and strength to confront my profound insecurities. I realized I had to surrender daily, actively seeking my acceptance and finding my worth in Jesus alone.

As together we explore topics of confidence, beauty, positive body image, and the maddeningand futilepursuit of perfection, I pray this book speaks truth and healing into your life! Together, we will go to some dark places, because sometimes you have to go back to go forward. Places where we are feelingunseen.

Have you ever felt like if you disappeared, no one would even notice you were gone? I can identify. I grew up with a lot of love and support in my family, but as a middle child between perfect, tiny sisters and a rowdy brother who drew attention like a heat-seeking missile, I often felt unseen. It didnt help that I was the plump, big boned one or that I felt I had to share my parents not only with my three siblings but with my dads church members.

It all added up to a sense of being unnoticed, or at least unseen for my gifts and qualities. I cant tell you where this feeling came from, but I felt it. I think we all do, am I right? We long to be singled out as special. We crave the interest of those we love and admire, their awareness and consideration of us is so vital. Yet its so easy to feel lost in the middle of a busy family, school, church, or workplace.

We cant talk about feeling unseen without discussing a related but distinct emotion: rejection, feeling un-chosen, uninvited, and unwanted. Its one thing to feel invisible sometimes and another to have that impression verified by the rejections of this world. Because when we get the cold shoulder instead of a warm hug, it hurts!

Been there, done that, have the T-shirt! For years and years, I bought into the lie that somehow I wasnt enough, that there was something about me that was essentially overlookable. Can you relate?