#SorryNotSorry TheSelfieProject: Taking Control of Our Image

The Selfie Project:
Taking Control of Our Image

Recently I read a blog which I will link below about a girl who took all of her hateful comments on her "Selfies" on her tumblr account and retook the pictures the comments were on and pasted the comments on to them. And she said something that really stuck with me, "The act of women taking selfies is inherently feminist, especially in a society that tries so hard to tell women that our bodis are projects to be worked on and a society that profits off of the insecurities that it perpetuates. Selfies are like a "forget you" to all of that, they declare that 'Hey, I look awesome today and I want to share that with everyone.' and that's pretty revolutionary."

What I love about this quote is that it hits the nail on the head of how I feel about selfies. I am a capitol offender of selfies. I probably post 2-3 selfies a week, sometimes more if I am feeling pretty good about myself. I post single selfies, selfies with my girlfriends, selfies with my boyfriend. And not once have I ever felt bad about posting a selfie, and I will never apologize for taking or posting a selfie. In a world where girls are constantly told what they can and cannot do or what they should or shouldn't do with their bodies, I think selfies are one little way for girls to say, I LIKE who I am, I feel GOOD about who I am and what I look like, I am a MASTERPIECE made by God and this is ME, deal with it. And in my opinion, any woman brave enough to take a picture of herself and post it for the cruel society that we live in to see, opening herself open to the negative comments and views, and to say "I DONT CARE, THIS IS ME, THIS IS WHO I AM." deserves an award.

Now- let's talk about something else for a quick second, there is a fine line with selfies. In order for us to accomplish the kind of revolutionary take over of our self image that I briefly touched on above we need to decide WHAT our image needs to look like. I think we can all agree that our society completely objectifies women's bodies. From the time we are old enough to pick out our own clothes we are constantly being told how OUR BODIES affect others. If you grew up in a church environment or went to a school with a dress code then you are taught to cover up our bodies and hide them, but at the same time are told by society that "beauty" is defined by the clothes and makeup you wear, the hairstyle you choose and how much of yourself you are willing to give over for "making over". So right now I want you to put that out of your head. Do away with ALL of that. You are beautiful. God made you beautiful.

So let's take a quick look at what the Bible tells us about our beauty-

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you. Song of Solomon 4:7

These are just two verses, but there are so many more. Basically, in case you didn't catch the drift of it- let me break it down for you-God created you a beautiful creature in His image. He who made us, and who made the oceans, the mountains, and paints the sunsets, He who came before us, and who's love is everlasting, the Great I Am, the Maker, our God, thinks we are beautiful. Isn't that enough for us to believe we are beautiful? I think that when we take selfies, and I mean selfies that speak to who we are- Women of God, not seductive, lustful selfies that show our body, but selfies that are of us showing that we believe we are beautiful creatures of God, I think that is something really, really cool.

Do I think selfies are silly? Yeah.
Do I think we should still take them? Yeah.



I plan to get much more in depth into the ins and outs of everything I have touched on in this post, but for now I leave you with this-
You are beautiful, and if you want to take a seflie, do it. Take back your image. Love yourself and believe that you are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Take that selfie girl.

-K

 

 

If you take a selfie tag #Takebacktheselfie


The article on the blog (DISCLAIMER: I do not adivse any persons under the age of 13 to read her actual blog, it contains graphic images and strong language)- http://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonvingiano/this-tumblr-user-shows-her-horrific-anonymous-messages-in-a

{You're Beautiful}

You know how sometimes there are just those songs that grab you by the heart and are just so awe strikingly beautiful and have lyrics and chords that just seem to put your heartbeats into audible sound waves? Songs that immediately transport you into a dark room, with a worship band leading you into intimate worship, your voice joining in with other Christians, you're all screaming the lyrics at the top of your lungs with tears streaming down your face? (At least for me, this is where I go) 

This song, this is one of those songs for me. Without a doubt. 

You're Beauitful by Phil Wickham

I see Your face in every sunrise

The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes

The world awakens in the light of the day

I look up to the sky and say

You're beautiful

I see Your power in the moonlit night

Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright

We are amazed in the light of the stars

It's all proclaiming who You are

You're beautiful

I see You there hanging on a tree

You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me

Now You are sitting on Your heavenly throne

Soon we will be coming home

You're beautiful

When we arrive at eternity's shore

Where death is just a memory and tears are no more

We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring

Your bride will come together and we'll sing

You're beautiful

I see Your face, I see Your face

I see Your face, You're beautiful

You're beautiful

You're beautiful

http://youtu.be/QGlTzH9xkXQ

^^^^ Please listen to it! ^^^^ 

{Update}

Dear Whomever Reads My Blog,

Today is Sunday, December, 1, 2013, and I thought I would give a little update on what has been going on. I fully plan to get back on my blog game as soon as possible but I have had my hands more than a little full with life this past month or two. I currently have 4 jobs, I am in a sorority, and I am full time at school as well. I also moved out of my parents house {EEEEK, scary}, but also exciting. I now live with my cousin Emily, which has turned into such a blessing. Emily and I had never even met each other before September, but Emily is literally my counter part. We are the same person, with a few minor differences. We share the same love in clothes, food, decorations, movies, and most importantly JESUS. Emily has a heart for the Lord and it is such a blessing to live with someone who not only keeps me accountable but also uplifts me and encourages me. It's also pretty cool to live with someone who will go to BDubs with me @ 1 A.M. and watch Breaking Bad. Just sayin'.

So Thanksgiving just passed and I feel like I missed a huge opportunity to brag on my family and friends! So I just said how thankful I am for my roommate, but there is a long list of others that I am SO thankful for!

First, my family! I am thankful for my WHOLE family, every single person. I could not imagine my life turning out the way it has without everyone in my family, my family has helped to shape who I am today. I am also TREMENDOUSLY thankful for my parents. Many of you already know that my mom is my bestfriend. I don't say that lightly. My mom is the weirdest, craziest, most loving, insane, beautiful, coolest, and amazing person I know. She is the person I call when I am in trouble {yes that does happen sometimes, I know, shocker}, the person I call when I am excited, bored, scared, hungry, or anything else! She is the person I call at 2 A.M. to bring me milk so I can make biscuits and gravy {true story}, the person I call when I locked myself outside of the house without pants {also true story}, and the person I call when I've gotten my heart shattered into a million pieces and I cannot possibly ever love anyone ever again {not true story come to find out, but I thought it was true then}. Long story short, my mom is my absolute best friend, partner in crime, crime fighter, and mentor. She has truly shown me what a Godly, southern woman looks like.

Second, I am thankful for my friends! 1 group of friends I am thankful for are all of my sorority sisters! I don't know what I would do without y'all! My lunch buddies, my movie dates, my sisters in Christ, all of my dearest friends. I am especially thankful for my pledge class! I love all of those girls dearly, I have gotten to know them so well these past few months and I couldn't have asked for a better group of girls to have been in the same pledge class with! I am also SO thankful for my Big Sister! My Biggie Smalls is my best friend, my sorority didn't know what they were doing when they put us together but I am so glad they did! We are the perfect push and pull partnership, the best pairing they could have ever made! Don't know what I would do without her, she is always there for me, even at 4:00 A.M.!

Third, I am thankful for my church family! Probably some of the most passionately, constructively critically, supportive group in my life. They never accept anything less than the best of me which is great. They love me, support me, encourage me, and are always checking up on me.

So those are just a FEW groups of people in my life that I am thankful for, I could not possibly name every person in my life that I am thankful for. Actually, if I took about a year of my life I might be able to. But since that list is always growing, it might take eternity.

Well that is just a little update on my life, I plan on updating more later on tonight, but here is just a little bit!

Til Later,
Love and Blessings,
K

This page is dedicated to my sisters, Olivia (8) and Bailey (12, soon to be 13) and their friends. To all the young women of Christ in K-12. I believe that this age group of girls, the 0-18 year olds have the hardest task set before them. These young ladies are given the task of growing up a lady of Christ in a world that tells them to be sexy, that their bodies are their biggest asset, that tells them that they need a boyfriend, that tells them what to be and how to be it. This page will be dedicated to those young ladies, the devotionals will each have an age range on them, but most will apply to K-12. The devotionals and scriptures will be encouragement & testimonies for young ladies of Christ.

-K

{My Story}

I first felt my call to ministry in 6^th grade during a Beth Moore bible study. During praise and worship before the bible study began I heard the word “teacher” in a loud and clear voice. For the next few years I tried to understand what kind of teacher God wanted me to be. I went back and forth between a college professor, elementary school teacher, or high school teacher. Then when I was fourteen I was sitting with my mother and she gave me a “Spiritual Gifts” test. Afterwards we were looking at the results and I had tested high in missions, teaching, and several other categories. My mother asked me what I thought this meant, I told her I wasn’t sure. She then asked if I had ever considered being a pastor. I said “who, me? I’m a girl!” My mom looked at me and said “So? Women can be ministers too!” I had grown up going to Baptist and Assemblies of God churches, so the idea of a woman being a pastor completely threw me. I told her I would pray about it.

                Later that month my mom came to me and told me she had talked to our Pastor, Reverend Roger T. at a Sunday school Christmas party. She said he had approached her and told her he had a dream about our family, he thought he was supposed to get closer to our family and that it had something to do with me. He asked her if I had ever thought about going into the ministry. She told him that I had just recently began to think about it but that I hadn’t said anything to her about it since the night of the spiritual gifts test. 

                When my mother told me about this conversation I became overcome with sobs. I couldn’t manage to say anything, only lift up a finger to her to signal her to wait until I could speak. We sat there for almost five minutes before I could speak. I finally calmed down and was able to tell her why I was so emotional. I told her how that night of the spiritual gifts test I had gone into my room and prayed that if the Lord wanted me to be a minister that He would have someone in authority over me recognize that call on my life. This amazing answer to my prayer made it very clear to me that this was what God wanted me to do with my life.

                The next few weeks I became a little skeptical on this plan for my life. I prayed to God again and asked Him that if ordained ministry was the plan for my life, if He wanted me to preach and to be in a church that He would give me an opportunity to live this out. A chance to practice this and make sure this was what I was supposed to do. The next day Pastor Roger called me and asked me to do a dual sermon with him in church, the date of our sermon was to be my parents and grandparents wedding anniversary.

                All of this occurred when I was fourteen years old, four years ago. Since then I have been jumping at any chance to serve, at my local church, in the district, in the conference, in any way possible. God has given me so many opportunities to serve and reaffirm my call. Every time I have been unsure about God’s plan for my life He has reaffirmed it and shown me how wonderful His plan is. I am so excited and feel so blessed to be able to serve Him in this way. 

10 Random Facts about Me!

1) Buffalo Wild Wings is one of my weaknesses, Asian Zing wings and Slat n' Vinegar fries! YUM.

2) I am a proud member of Phi Mu sorority!

3) I love sonic drinks, my favorite is sweet tea but sometimes I mix it up. 

4) I was the 2013 recipient of the Harry Denman Evangelism award!

5) Gilmore Girls is my favorite TV Show

6) I love to cook and bake!

7) My favorite candy is RED sour patch kids. Only the red ones. I will pick through the entire bag for the red, but in a time of dire need I will eat the green. Under no circumstance will I eat yellow or orange. 

8) I CANNOT eat McDonald's french fries without Sweet Chilli or Sweet N Sour sauce.

9) I am really impatient. I HATE waiting!

10) I'm obesessed with instagram. I have an entire folder on my phone dedicated to photo editing apps for instagram.

Gettin' A Lil' Fancy

Just wanted to update y'all on some changes in the blog! I am working on updating the overall design and making the blog a little more user friendly.

The first new thing is you can now SUBSCRIBE to this blog via email! Just look at this ----------->
little section of the blog and enter your email address and you can receive an email when I publish a new post on here!

The second thing is up above ^ you will notice that there is now a tabs section. There are only 2 tabs right now, Home and For the Girls. For the Girls is a new section that I am starting where I will post all kinds of things just for girls, pictures, jokes, tips, devotionals, and everything else!

The next thing is you can now share this blog and follow this blog using Google+. I am just now really getting used to Google+ but I do think that I will like using it!

I hope that you will enjoy all these changes and bare with me as I continue to try to better this blog and make updates to it!

Peace and Blessings,
K