Beauty Beyond the Physical; Encouragement to Beautify Your Soul

Confession: I had diet coke and brownies for breakfast, so today is a good day to focus on something besides physical fitness ;)

I want to encourage others to live a "beautiful life", to set goals, succeed, overcome. So far I have put a lot of emphasis on the physical. Health and fitness are so important  to me that I have a strong desire to see others thrive in this area, however, the most important part of who we are has nothing to do with our physical bodies, but our souls. While I've said I'll keep this blog free of religious or political rants, I would be missing the point of having a beautiful life if I didn't put emphasis on the spiritual aspect of who we are.

 I want to share with YOU things that positively change and encourage me!

With that said, I'm asking you to check out the link below (I posted the link on Facebook a few weeks ago as well). If you share my Christian faith it will inspire you to live out God's love in a bigger way. If you don't share my faith, I think it will give you a better look at the true heart of God (not the judgment and hypocrisy Christian church folks sometimes portray). While it's addressed to women, I think the heart of the message would be pertinent to men as well. 

I copied my personal comment on the post so you could get a good idea of how it spoke to me. Now go check it out! 

http://pearlsandgrace.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-new-church-lady.html

"This post confirmed what God was already stirring in my heart. Thank you for writing it! I can relate having been the other church lady for so many years, one who judged the single mothers. My perfect little Christian family only had room for other perfect people... only one day I realized I was not so perfect. Now I am the momma with a baby on her hip, praising God in the pews without a ring on my finger or a husband at my side. While I am not a "single" mother, I do appear to be at first glance (and I've made for some interesting gossip in our community, lol). Trust me, even in todays churches I still get judgment. If I was not already grounded in my own relationship with Christ, I would have walked away. It is out of obedience that I continue to stand in the pews. As I praise God at church he whispers in my soul "daughter, now that you are broken, I can finally use you." Unfortunately pride in my perfection was in the way of ministering to others before.
In your brokenness, God used you! This post is beautiful beyond words and resinates God's true desire for Christian women. Judgment and false perfection is SO ineffective. Thank you for your transparency and heart. You have put kindling on a movement that's ready to set fire, change lives, and grow the kingdom of God!" ~Karlie

Karlie Hodgen
www.omnitrition.com/beautifullife
karliejeanh@gmail.com