Christians-Today Ministry

Have you ever wondered just exactly who and what your inner spirit is? Have you ever heard anyone speak about a near-death or out-of-body experience, of how they were in a situation where they were dying or pronounced dead, and that they’d left their bodies and literally rose above the situation? How they found themselves looking down and watching as someone was working on them, attempting to save their lives?

I know that this scenario has played out in movies such as City of Angels and Ghost, but still, doesn’t that make you stop and wonder about what your inner spirit is actually capable of doing? Can the spirit leave your body and return? Is it a separate entity from your body? I myself had often wondered about this for many years. It was just recently that I had a revelation about the human spirit in correlation with God.

One day I was astounded by the abomination that I saw when I was cutting the back of my own hair. As I turned around to see the back of my head in the bathroom mirror, I was appalled by what I saw in the reflection of the small hand mirror that I held. You see I wasn’t wearing anything on the upper part of my body because I didn’t want the hair clippings to get on my clothes. When I looked at the reflection, what I saw were huge dangling rolls of fat that I obviously knew were there, but hadn’t really looked at in a long time.

Having been a hairdresser many years back, I have been giving myself haircuts for the past 20 years, because I just happen to like the way I cut my own hair. Ordinarily I cut my hair fully clothed, but this time I was cutting most of my hair off into a short bob and didn’t want to deal with the hair clippings getting embedded in my clothes. So there I was looking at the reflection of my backside and all I wanted to do is throw myself down on the floor and cry.

I had been trying to lose weight for months, but hadn’t really gotten very far, and what I saw in the mirror that day proved it. Instead of throwing myself down on the floor and crying, I did something worse; I started to mentally punish myself for looking so disgusting and letting myself go like that. I didn’t stop there. I began telling myself just how ugly I really am and that I could not believe anyone would ever say I was pretty and actually be telling me the truth, especially the way I looked now.

Only a few moments passed after beating myself up mentally, when I had a very clear revelation. I began to realize that it isn’t what is on the outside that needs to be beautiful, but it is actually what is on the inside that God truly looks at. I thought that if I could separate my spirit from my body and take a good look at it, I wondered what type of reflection I would see. When I was finished analyzing and looking my spirit over top to bottom, I was simply amazed! I then said out loud, “Now THAT’S BEAUTIFUL”!

Within moments the ugliness that I felt disappeared and I was able to focus on what is beautiful about me. I began looking at myself the same way that God looks at me, and realized that even though my spirit is in this body, my body is only a shell that houses the “Beautiful” spirit that God created for His Glory, not for Man’s glory. I realized right there and then that God does not see us in our flesh, but lovingly looks at our spirits to find our true selves. My spirit is kind, generous and loves the Lord more than life itself.

Don’t get me wrong, my spirit does have its ugly days, but even when it does, God still loves me and promises to never leave me. Even now, as I pass a mirror and am tempted to look at what is wrong with what I see, I don’t give in to that temptation any more and look beyond what the human eye can see. I see a “Beautiful Spirit reflecting back at me”, even on my worst days.

After telling this story to my dear friend Donna, and seeing how much it blessed her, I decided to write this article and share it with others, hoping it will be a blessing to them as well.