Friday, October 25, 2013

Beautiful Lies by Jennifer Strickland

Society tells us that our value lays in our outward appearance, how men think of us and that media will determine how others might look and feel towards us, but that isn't true.  Jennifer Strickland in her new book Beautiful Lies covers all these lies and shows us that they are just that, lies.  That our true value comes from our relationship with God and that no one can demean us when we are true to ourselves. 

Strickland was just a teenager when she became a model.  She had the perfect modeling career where all the greatest designers wanted her, she was traveling the world for photo shoots and all the money and luxury that anyone could ever want.  But what she also had was everyone around her determining her value.  Her agent, the men in her life, the designers who would book her, and all the various members of the modeling world.  How valuable she was to them was determined by the number on the scale, her perfect (or sometimes imperfect) completion, and how good clothes looking on her.  If any of these things went outside the “model standard” she was useless to them. 

Over the years, fitting into the industry standards took their toll on her.  She was having eating disorders, her self-esteem was really low and she was starting to wondering if modeling wasn’t for her.  After going to church with some friends while overseas, she finally sees that her worth isn’t determined by anyone other than her heavenly father.  Thus, the journey leading up to this book was started. 

There are five lies that Strickland addresses in this book followed with the five truths that we should be believing instead of buying into the lies we are told.  They five lies that women are being told are:

  • Your worth comes from how you look
  • Your worth comes from what men think of you
  • Your worth comes from media tells you that you should be like
  • That we need to put on a good face for everyone no matter how we are feeling inside.
  • That media is the be all and end all of how you should be. 

But, those are just the lies.  All the truths come out, throughout this book, with the love from our heavenly father pouring off the pages as she shows us how each lie can be defeated by God's word.  Strickland shows us just how much we mean to God.  We are His children and even though we might be imperfect, He still loves us and values us immensely.  Our TRUE value can never be found by material items and the way others look at us, it must come down from heaven. 

This is a book that I think every teen girl and woman should read.  Strickland had to find out the hard way how much she is worth, but following her journey through this book you will see everything she went through and hopefully avoid all the lies, remembering that only God can determine our true worth.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Harvest House for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own.*

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