You Are Beautiful

I think we as a society have a very distorted image of beauty. We'll look at houses or old brick buildings and say, "What a beautiful building!" But what about the beautiful trees and grass they destroyed to create that building? Was their beauty not adequate? Or we'll look at someone who might be overweight and insecure about themselves, and so they start working out and eating healthy. That's a great thing! But we only acknowledge their beauty once they start to lose weight, instead of making sure that they know they're beautiful no matter what their size. Let's look at this contrast: a girl walks into a restaurant wearing jeans that flatter her body, new heels, a fancy shirt, jewelry, hair curled and makeup done perfectly vs. a girl who walks into the same restaurant wearing sweats and a t-shirt. Which one do we automatically think is beautiful? The girl who is all done up, "perfect". Or what about girls who wear low cut shirts, showing off their cleavage constantly vs. girls like me who wear tops that do not show my cleavage or big, baggy t-shirts? Which girl are the guys going to look at and think is attractive? The one wearing close to nothing or the one who is trying to be modest? Chances are, they would pick the girl with cleavage over me. And I'm fine with that, because I believe that you get who you dress for. If you dress like a slut, you're gonna get a guy who wants a slut. Let's weigh the options of makeup. I don't wear a lot of makeup, mascara is it, but one day I decided to wear eyeshadow and eyeliner as well. And you know what happened? I got so many compliments on how pretty I looked that day. And it made me upset! What happened to natural beauty?? When did our view of beauty stray so far from what actual beauty is?
I wish that we lived in a society where everyone thought they were beautiful. No, where everyone knows that they are beautiful!! Do you know how much the rates of anorexia or other eating disorders, teen pregnancy, cutting, suicide, depression, anxiety and heartache would go down? Maybe that girl who everyone sees as "plain" because she's a normal body type so no one tells her how beautiful she is won't stop eating because she thinks that being skinnier will make her more beautiful. Maybe that girl whose boyfriend only ever tells her how hot or how sexy she is but never calls her beautiful will stop trying to please him by having sex with him to keep him interested in her because she thinks that she's not good enough. Maybe that girl that suffers from constant depression and anxiety from the words that people say, or don't say, will stop cutting her wrist to turn the emotional pain into something she can physically feel and see. Maybe that girl who has a different boyfriend every week would gain confidence in herself and who she is to the point of waiting for the boy who will love her forever, and not just until he sees another girl walk by. Maybe if we all regularly heard the words "You are beautiful" on a regular basis, all of these things could happen. Maybe if we saw beauty for what it really is, and not for the fake mask we've put on the word "beauty", all of these things could happen.
So please, I beg you, tell someone they're beautiful today. And always remember, that you are beautiful, always.

God bless you, beauties.
Ariel

Done?

I'm just gonna come right out and say it. I am considering shutting down the blog. I have been very discouraged about it lately. I feel as though I am not reaching anyone anymore. The amount of people that like the blog on facebook and the amount of people who actually read it is very different. There is no feedback. I don't want to keep this blog going for selfish reasons. If I am not reaching people or helping people, why do I still blog? It's been something that I've struggled with for a while, I strive off of feedback, and I haven't been getting all that much. I'm not sure at this point what I will do, but I would appreciate your guys' feedback.
Love you all.
Ariel

Bless YOU!

Alright, I have been wanting to do a give away for quite some time now, I just never knew what to give away! I'm calling this give away Bless You, first of all because I think sneezes are funny, and second, because I do want to bless YOU for blessing me!
The blog has been at a pretty steady number for facebook page likes for a while now, and that number is 119. Wow!!! When I started this blog, I was excited when 10 people liked it! You guys are awesome!! (To like Masquerade on Facebook go to http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Masquerade/163939533629678) The blog itself has 20 followers right now. You guys, as well, are awesome!! It brings a smile to my face every time I have a new follower :) The total page views for my blog since it has started is 3,465. WOW!!! Blown away. I feel so much love for you guys, really. On twitter, I currently have 27 followers. Again, did not expect to get that many! Love it. (You can follow me on twitter at @arielmasquerade) On Instagram (arielmasquerade) has 27 followers also. I have fallen in love with Instagram!
So why did I tell you all this stuff? Well, here's where I get you involved. I want you to share this page with your friends. I have gotten many emails, facebook messages, and comments telling me how I inspire people, or that one of my posts helped them, or how they agree with me, or that they're praying for me, or someone asking for prayer, or even just encouraging me! I love, love, love these emails! With all my heart. Please, don't stop sending them! I love hearing how my words helped your day, because I truly believe that God uses me and my words (really, his words) through this blog. I want to gain a bigger audience, not for my own personal gain, but because I share Jesus on this blog, and because I share encouragement on this blog, and because God is using this blog. I want to further God's kingdom! This is one way that he has chosen to allow me to do that, but giving me the gift of writing.
So, here's how the contest works. When I hit 170 page likes on facebook (that's 51 more than I have now) I will give away this 5 pack of stickers from To Write Love On Her Arms. I will select someone who has liked the facebook page randomly.

The second way to win is to follow my blog! Once I get 25 followers on the blog itself, (that's 5 more than I have now) I will give away this Fears vs. Dreams sticker pack from TWLOHA. The winner will be selected at random from my followers on the blog.

The third way to win is by reading the blog! Which is something that you're doing right now, so it shouldn't be too hard ;) Once I get up to 4000 total page views on the blog, (535 more than I have right now) I will give away this pack of seven buttons from TWLOHA. To win this one, I will post a blog once the blog has reached 4000 views. I will give you an opportunity to send me a story of how one of my posts has impacted your life, through facebook message, commenting, or emailing me. After about a week or so, I will take all of the stories and select which story impacted me the most from hearing it. The stories may be shared on the blog, with your permission, of course.

The fourth way to win is once I get 50 followers on twitter, (that's 23 more than I have right now) I will tweet a cue for you to tweet about my blog. Simply tweeting for people to check it out or follow it, hash tagging it #masquerade and including me in the tweet (@arielmasquerade) will enter you to win. The winner will be chosen at random. The prize will be these dog tags from TWLOHA.

The final way to win involves a bit of creativity...:) Once I hit 50 followers on Instagram, I will cue through the blog and through a picture on Instagram from you guys to enter. What I want you to do is take a picture of one thing that when you look at it, you know without a doubt that God is 100% real. This could be a person, this could be nature, this could be a quote. Anything that comes to mind. I look forward to seeing them all! Don't forget to hash tag #masquerade and mention me @arielmasquerade. The winner will get a TWLOHA bracelet (choice of blue, pink, white or black).

To be completely honest, I would love to just get all of these items for myself. But I would love for you guys to have them even more!! I'll let you know when you can enter by facebook, twitter, the blog, and Instagram. I'll get ahold of you by email or facebook when you win. I'm really excited for this!!
I will be writing another blog later on why I chose To Write Love On Her Arms, but for now, I'll let you get on your Facebook, Tweet, Blog, Instagram, Email, Snail Mail, Note, Call, Text, Tell, Whisper, Yell, Billboard, Poster, or anything else away to invite people to check out Masquerade.
God bless you guys! Love you all.
Ariel

Say What?!

Wow, you guys, there are some exciting things going on that I just have to share with you! God has just captured me. Without him, none of this stuff would make sense!
Over the past week or so, I've been praying about a few key things. One of those things is baptism, and the other is YWAM.
Before just a little while ago, I was completely set on not going to YWAM (Youth With A Mission). I had a bunch of excuses. It's too risky. It's too far away. It's not for me. No one would like me. I won't like it there. I'll be too out of my comfort zone. It's too expensive. And, overall, I really had no desire to go. I've been talking to my amazing sister, Jenny, a lot lately. She's doing a DTS (Discipleship Training School) at the Perth, Australia base. She's currently doing her outreach in London and the Philippines. Now, even at first when she went there and was telling me, "Ariel, you have to do a DTS! It'd be so good for you! You'd love it!" I would say maybe, but in my heart I knew that I didn't want to. I just had no desire at all to go to YWAM. Well, I don't know what happened! I have no idea what God was up to in my heart while I wasn't paying attention to him, but he was working even while I was off doing my own thing. He is crazy. And I love Him! I was praying a couple days ago for God to show me which base to go to, because there are so many to choose from! I looked at the YWAM map and I was instantly overwhelmed. I didn't have the slightest idea of even which continent to go to! So yesterday, instead of finishing my homework in class, I decided to go look at the YWAM map again. I had one of my good friends there, so I knew I could get her input. I had this picture in my mind...somewhere green and sunny and joyful. I could sense the joy in the picture. I decided to look at bases in South America. So I went to that tab on the map. It was a lot of fun saying the names of the places in South America (like Venezuela, Bolivia, Uruguay, you get the idea) but I soon learned that it would be difficult to find a base there, as their main languages are Spanish and Portuguese, and I don't speak either of them. In the same tab I saw "Caribbean", so I clicked on that one. I was scrolling through the different countries and my friend noticed Jamaica. She started talking about Jamaica and how I should go there. At first, I wasn't sold on it. But something happened. God softened my heart. As I started thinking about YWAM Jamaica more, I began to fall in love with it. In looking at the website for Montego Bay, I feel that it's the place I'm being called to. Now, I'm only half way through grade 11, so I have plenty of time to pray and decide. But you guys, I am getting so excited for this! To jump from being completely against going to YWAM to being so super excited about it is amazing. I'm stubborn, I don't jump that easily. This is completely a God thing! I'd like to ask you to join with me in praying over this. I want to be sure that this is where God wants me to go, because as I said before, I'm stubborn, and once I get an idea in my head, I generally don't change my mind that easily. So this is where you come in! I would like you to pray with me. That God would send people into my life and situations into my life that would confirm that this is where he wants me. I am so excited to see the way this plays out! Jesus is taking me on a wild ride, and I love it! This is definitely more than I ever imagined for my life, and I'm not even there yet!
The other thing that has been on my heart lately is getting baptized. For about a year or two I've been thinking about getting baptized. Last year when I had the chance, I just didn't know what it meant for me. I didn't know what it meant at all! Just recently, in the past little while, God has been showing me what it means. He's been painting me pictures, because he knows that's the way I learn. He's been giving me metaphors to teach me. He's shown me that baptism is like a marriage. We are the bride of Christ, and just like a wedding, getting baptized is a public show that you are committing your life to Jesus, that you love him and want to live for and with him. I often think of my purity ring as my wedding ring to Jesus. It's been helping me a lot to think of Jesus as my husband, because it reminds me to talk to him like I would my husband. I wouldn't go days without communicating with my husband, so why would I go days without talking to Jesus? I miss him when I do that! Also, just like marriage is taking that next intimate step in your relationship, getting baptized is taking that next step in your relationship with Jesus, where you become more intimate with him. I've learned too that when you go down into the water, it's like dying to your old, sinful self, and you come up a new person in Jesus Christ. This makes me very excited! Jesus knows my chains, and he knows I need to be made new in him. Last night, I had just been talking to him about YWAM and getting a car and stuff like that. (I have been learning that Jesus cares about the little things too! I had never thought to ask him for help with a car, but I am slowly learning to talk to him about everything.) I hadn't even touched on baptism at all when I opened my bible. I opened it to a random spot, I actually can't even remember where, but it opened to a passage about Elisha talking to these people and at the end he says, "What is stopping these people from being baptized?" And all these people are baptized. I was like, woah! I hadn't even talked to you about being baptized yet! It hadn't even crossed my mind in that moment, and I was not expecting it. That was kind of a confirmation that it is time to take that step in my faith. I've already got my engagement ring, now I just need to be walked down the isle ;) (Yes, I know I'm a cheese ball!)
I am so incredibly grateful for all of the amazing people in my life who have loved Jesus, listened to him, been a part of my life, and have lead me closer to him. My family at camp, wow. I can't thank you guys enough! I love you all so much, you have no idea! In 2010, when I went to YC, the seed was planted. God used LDP and working as summer staff to water and grow that seed into the love that I have for him now. Without you guys as my amazing family in Christ, I would not have come this far. With you guys listening to God's call, you impacted my life in a huge way. I have no doubt in my mind that it was God's plan for each and every one of you to be a part of my life and my story. My incredible sister Jenny, I love you so much!!!! You are a huge blessing in my life and I can't even imagine where I would be without you showing me God's love every single time we're together! You are a huge inspiration to me and I love seeing Jesus through you. There are so many people I could thank and love on, but that's another blog post. Just know, that if you are in my life, you have played a part in God's plan for me, and I am eternally grateful for that! I love you all! Please keep me in your prayers and stay tuned to see where God takes me! I don't know about you, but I am so incredibly excited for where he's taking me!!!!
God bless!
Ariel