Operation Beautiful: Girls Night
It's been well over a year since God placed an idea in my heart. He gave me this vision to have an outreach night for girls that would focus on self image. What gave me this idea what something called Operation Beautiful, which is something I've been a part of for a few years now. The movement was started by Caitlyn Boyle. She had struggled with self image and one day she posted a note in a girls bathroom that simply said "You're beautiful."
The rest is history. Since that first note she has created a whole mission to change the way girls see themselves...by leaving anonymous encouraging post it notes in various public places. I heard about this and loved it immediately since my favorite things in life are what I call "the little things." Things such as, finding a random post it note that says "You're beautiful!" I love those things. (They can make me smile for weeks on end!)
Then I felt like God wanted me to gather a bunch of girls and go to the mall to do it together and cover the whole mall in encouraging notes! Well, it took sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much hard work and loads of planning but finally...it came.
TODAY!
Yes! We had invited 43 girls to the event. By last night 21 people said they were coming but by this morning 2 girls had canceled but we ended up with like, 17 people! So overall it was a good turnout. No one had really expected that many. (I find their lack of faith disturbing...) Of course today was crazy hectic and pretty much everything went wrong at one point. Like, me forgetting to make handouts, then the printer not working, everyone was late, so many people canceled last minute, I left the food in the wrong car, there was miscommunications with drivers, no one had keys to the office so I couldn't make copies of previously mentioned handouts and we also had issues working the soundboard.
Yet somehow the day went great.
Yes, this morning my mom sent me to my bedroom to cry it out with God and yeah some other leaders were frazzled and upset and yeah I questioned my ability to lead at points but really...it was a good day. I loved seeing the enthusiasm from the Jr. High girls and by the end of the night they were all complimenting each other and building each other up. We could really learn a lot from those girls. From what I heard one team completely cover Forever 21 in post its to the point where you couldn't look anywhere without seeing a note saying "You look great today!" I also got to step out of my comfort zone and talk in front of them all. There were a lot of points in my speech things where it seemed totally scripted and maybe it didn't flow right but I felt more confident in front of a crowd then I have ever felt. And my voice didn't waver and I was bold and not quiet. God really blessed me today. I loved being on stage and seeing all the reactions from the girls who listened so intently. I also had them write down lies that they had been told (since the theme was 'Don't Believe The Lie.') and then rip them up and throw them away. It was very powerful to see them throw away those things and to be able to say that those things didn't control them. Also, my friend Diana had a killer speech and really rocked that out.
We had discussion time at the end and I loved hearing from all these girls who had a lot to share and honestly, they were more talkative than I thought they would be which was really good. I pray so much that they heard the message clear and they wouldn't forget who they are in Christ and that they would never forget that they are beautiful no matter what anyone else says.
So now after that outreach night is over I guess I'll be planning my next big thing to do. So I'll be ready the next time God calls.
The rest is history. Since that first note she has created a whole mission to change the way girls see themselves...by leaving anonymous encouraging post it notes in various public places. I heard about this and loved it immediately since my favorite things in life are what I call "the little things." Things such as, finding a random post it note that says "You're beautiful!" I love those things. (They can make me smile for weeks on end!)
Then I felt like God wanted me to gather a bunch of girls and go to the mall to do it together and cover the whole mall in encouraging notes! Well, it took sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much hard work and loads of planning but finally...it came.
TODAY!
Yes! We had invited 43 girls to the event. By last night 21 people said they were coming but by this morning 2 girls had canceled but we ended up with like, 17 people! So overall it was a good turnout. No one had really expected that many. (I find their lack of faith disturbing...) Of course today was crazy hectic and pretty much everything went wrong at one point. Like, me forgetting to make handouts, then the printer not working, everyone was late, so many people canceled last minute, I left the food in the wrong car, there was miscommunications with drivers, no one had keys to the office so I couldn't make copies of previously mentioned handouts and we also had issues working the soundboard.
Yet somehow the day went great.
Yes, this morning my mom sent me to my bedroom to cry it out with God and yeah some other leaders were frazzled and upset and yeah I questioned my ability to lead at points but really...it was a good day. I loved seeing the enthusiasm from the Jr. High girls and by the end of the night they were all complimenting each other and building each other up. We could really learn a lot from those girls. From what I heard one team completely cover Forever 21 in post its to the point where you couldn't look anywhere without seeing a note saying "You look great today!" I also got to step out of my comfort zone and talk in front of them all. There were a lot of points in my speech things where it seemed totally scripted and maybe it didn't flow right but I felt more confident in front of a crowd then I have ever felt. And my voice didn't waver and I was bold and not quiet. God really blessed me today. I loved being on stage and seeing all the reactions from the girls who listened so intently. I also had them write down lies that they had been told (since the theme was 'Don't Believe The Lie.') and then rip them up and throw them away. It was very powerful to see them throw away those things and to be able to say that those things didn't control them. Also, my friend Diana had a killer speech and really rocked that out.
We had discussion time at the end and I loved hearing from all these girls who had a lot to share and honestly, they were more talkative than I thought they would be which was really good. I pray so much that they heard the message clear and they wouldn't forget who they are in Christ and that they would never forget that they are beautiful no matter what anyone else says.
So now after that outreach night is over I guess I'll be planning my next big thing to do. So I'll be ready the next time God calls.
Sounds like a really cool idea! It is sad how our generation, especially the females, have such a low self-image of themselves that the media only makes worse, and no one is telling them they're beautiful and worth something. My sister does a similar thing of leaving inspirational post-it notes in public places, though she's still practicing and doing it less conspicuously, LOL. Operation Beautiful sounds awesome!
ReplyDeleteI am very proud of you. I knew you could do it. I also am sure that the next event will be even better because of how much you learned this time around.
ReplyDeleteIT WAS SO MUCH FUN! :3
ReplyDeletehttp://beccalathorn.blogspot.com/2013/03/love-on-post-it.html