Saturday, June 06, 2009

Beauty From the Heart Conference (my recap for girls)


(Note: This post is written for girls.)

Encouraging. That's the number 1 word I would use to describe my experience at the Beauty from the Heart Conference. Even though we drove four hours to get there, it was completely worth it for me, and I'm so glad I went. To give you a taste, I'm going to share my notes from the first session given by Hannah Farver because it kind of set the tone for approaching the topic of Beauty from the Heart.

Session 1: Physical Beauty

  • Ideas of what's beautiful change over time and culture.
Hannah showed pictures of "celebrities" from decades ago. Man, they look very different from today's celebrities, but at the time they were acclaimed by society as "beautiful". Today, our culture says tanned and thin are in, but Asian girls use whitening lotion and, at one time, African girls were force fed by their families because being fat was considered "beautiful". This led to heart diseases and other health problems. I think that's very interesting considering the current eating disorders in America that are the opposite of that but also lead to health problems.

  • Beauty doesn't satisfy anyone.
She read quotes from 3 top actresses and models who were all unhappy with the way they looked. Even though the world acclaimed them as some of the most "beautiful" people in the world, they were still insecure and unsatisfied.

  • Beauty doesn't last.
Four pictures were displayed: one of Elizabeth Taylor from when she was a top star in her youth alongside a picture of how she looks now and another set of Audrey Hepburn as a young woman and Hepburn years later. The difference over time is startling. When they aged, they look similar to many of the older women I know today.

  • God chose your genes.
God made you the way He did for a purpose. You look the way you do because it pleased Him. After Hannah read from Ps. 139:14-16 where the Bible says that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made", she said that she had heard this verse all her life but she wondered why she still had problems with acting like she believed it. She ended her session by asking,

"Why do we still have doubts that we are wonderfully made?
Why do we put so much weight on the world's beauty checklist?
Why do we compare ourselves with models and actresses?
(And this one was the most convicting:) Why don't we care about what the God of the Universe thinks of us?"

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As you can tell, it was a very good talk. The following session was my favorite, and it answered those last questions Hannah asked. It was the cornerstone for the entire conference. Really, it was about the cornerstone for all of life.

It was about the Gospel.

Check out: www.beautyfromtheheart.org, and stay tuned...

7 comments:

  1. That's sort of a convicting post. Thanks for sharing what you learned!

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  2. That's a wonderful post! I wish I'd been able to go... you'll have to tell me more about it tomorrow!

    Love you dearly,
    ~Grace

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  3. Sounds awesome! I'm so glad you got to go...and wish I had been able to make it too. Can't wait to hear more about it!
    Love you!
    Toni

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  4. Maddie really enjoyed the conference yesterday, too. She told me all about it today and how much the messages impacted her. Thanks for sharing your notes-and BTW,Christina, you have been a godly example for her this year-your encouragement has meant so much to her! I appreciate your willingness to pray with her at tournaments and just to be a sweet friend!
    See you in SC!----Madelaine Clay's Mom

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  5. Wow Christina! I did not expect that you would post every day!

    I wish we could have gone to the conference with you. It sounds very encouraging and helpful. Thanks for sharing your notes with us.

    I missed you a lot on Sunday, and I'll miss you today too. Will we see you before Nationals? If not, I know you'll do wonderfully and I'll be praying for you and everyone else.

    Love you,
    Emily

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  6. I mailed the *letter* today.
    Ooo, and send me the conference pics! I want to see you and Caroline acting silly. :-P

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  7. Christina, thank you so much for sharing. I was not able to attend and it's wonderful to hear your thoughts.

    (I'm so glad you enabled your comments! I've always enjoyed coming here to read what you have to say!)

    Adrienne Huntsman

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