Stasi Eldredge - Beautiful Now: 90 Days of Experiencing Gods Dreams for You

BEAUTIFUL NOW

Published by David C Cook

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David C Cook Distribution Canada

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David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved; NLT are taken from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved; KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. (Public Domain.); MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group; RSV are taken from The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version. Copyright 1946, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

LCCN 2015944623

ISBN 978-0-7814-1407-4

eISBN 978-0-7814-1431-9

2016 Stasi Eldredge

Published in association with Yates & Yates, www.yates2.com

The Team: Alice Crider, Elisa Stanford, Amy Konyndyk, Helen Macdonald, Susan Murdock

Cover Design: Nick Lee

First Edition 2016

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a few final words from stasi

Dear one, you are beautiful, and your beauty is increasing. Its growing! You are becoming more and more the lovely, courageous woman of God he created you to be.

The more we know Jesus as he really is, the more we love him. The more we love him, the more our lives are transformed. God is the One who gives us the confidence to become. Who gives us the vision to see ourselves as he sees us. Who gives us the courage and wisdom to believe that what he says about us is true.

My sister, you will not be able to do it perfectly. But Jesus has and will. Because of Jesus, you can fight well. Pray well. Listen well. Live well. Serve well. Love well. Become well. One day, Christ will tell you your story, and you will be amazed at the glory, the beauty, the redemption, and the presence of Jesus throughout your life in ways you cant even now imagine. Because you are beautiful. Now.

To Susie, Em, and Olivia:
You are beautiful gifts to my heart and life.

contents

introduction

Did you know you are beautiful? Right at this moment? Regardless of your body shape, your teeth whiteness, your skin tone, or the wrongs youve done in your lifemaybe the wrongs youve done just this morning.

When God looks at you, he does not view you through the veil of your sin, the shroud of your failures, or the canopy of your past. When God looks at you, he sees you through the blood of Jesus. When God looks at you, he sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ. You are a spotless, pure, stunning bride. Oh, how we need to see ourselves as he does!

Though we dont always acknowledge our own beauty and we often dream of becoming beautiful, God sees us as beautiful now . Its not a someday thing for him. He sees you as beautifultoday and every dayand he wants you to see what he sees.

If you read my book Becoming Myself , hopefully you began to embrace Gods dream of you. Join me now in experiencing Gods dream for youthe dream in which you and your life are beautiful now. Each day in this three-month devotional includes a Scripture verse or passage, a word of encouragement from me, and then a prayer, question, or a declaration for you to use as a starting point for your own intimate time with God.

Come, my sister, lets press on to the goal set before usto be fully transformed, fully alive, fully ourselves, fully his. You are in the palm of his hand, and nothing can take you out. As you lean on Jesus more and more, calling on him to live through your life, you are transformed into the image of God. You discover the brilliant truth that the more of his you become, the more yourself you become.

There are no qualifications in Gods eyes of love. He does not look at you and say, Youre beautiful when if but He looks at you and says, You are beautiful. Now.

the unveiling

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lordwho is the Spiritmakes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT

God is in the business of setting us free. Making us into the women he always wanted us to be. The women we always wanted to be. Sometimes he makes changes with the flip of a switch. But not most of the time (as you well know). Most of the time God invites us into a process of changea process through which by grace we can rise to the occasion of our lives.

It is a beautiful paradox that the more of Gods we become, the more ourselves we becomethe self he had in mind when he thought of you before the creation of the world. Shes in there; she might be badly bruised and covered with all sorts of muck, but shes in there. And Jesus comes to call her out.

God is unveiling who we truly are. All those veils of shame and sin and the false self, all those veils others have put upon us, thinking they know who we ought to beGod takes them all away so that with unveiled faces we might reflect his glory.

The process often feels slow, interminable even. But lasting change takes time. Anyone can muscle through a day; New Years resolutions may even last a few months. But God is a God of process, and he has his eye on eternity. His plans for us arent for a quick fix but an eternal transformation. Slowly. Carefully. Intentionally. The unveiling is taking place.

Jesus, give me a glimpse of who you are calling me to be today. Help me see the unveiling happening in my life even now. I want to see myself as you see me.

what God has promised

For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.