Finding Beauty
What are you gazing at today?
It’s a simple question—but one that has the power to shape everything.
In a recent Freedom Challenge conversation, Ruth Willett (Prayer Coordinator) shared a deeply personal journey of wrestling with God around an unexpected theme: beauty. Not just the beauty of creation or even the beauty of God—but the beauty of herself as someone made in His image.
At first, it didn’t make sense.
Why would God focus on something that felt… less urgent? Less important than freedom, justice, or rescue?
But what unfolded was a beautiful, transformative realization:
understanding beauty is not superficial—it’s foundational to freedom.
We Become What We Behold
Ruth shared a truth that stopped us in our tracks:
“We become like what we behold.”
So often, we fix our gaze on our “not enoughness.”
Not strong enough
Not spiritual enough
Not capable enough
Or on the flip side:
Too much
Too needy
Too broken
And when our focus remains there, it begins to shape our identity. We start becoming the very things we’re staring at.
But what if we shifted our gaze?
What if, instead of focusing on our lack, we learned to gaze on the beauty, goodness, and love of God?
The Subtle Strategy of the Enemy
Why does this even matter?
Because distortion is one of the enemy’s primary strategies.
If he can’t turn us away from God, he will try to distort how we see Him—and how we see ourselves.
He tells us beauty is superficial
He convinces us joy is naïve
He traps us in survival mode instead of abundance
And in doing so, he quietly redirects our attention.
Instead of gazing on God, we end up consumed by:
our failures
our wounds
the brokenness of the world
But Ruth shared a powerful insight:
Darkness demands our full attention—but it’s a lie.
We were never meant to fix our gaze there.
Beauty Changes the Way We See God
One of the most profound moments in the conversation came through this realization:
It’s possible to focus on God’s holiness…
and still misinterpret His heart.
We can read Scripture through a lens of judgment instead of invitation.
We can hear His voice in tones He was never speaking.
But something shifts when we begin to see His beauty.
Because when we truly behold the beauty of God—His kindness, His presence, His tenderness—we begin to recognize:
His correction is love
His presence is healing
His invitation is restoration
Beauty protects us from misreading God.
From Ashes to Beauty: The Process of Transformation
Isaiah 61 paints a picture we know and love:
“To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes…”
But Ruth pointed out something we often miss:
God’s process is not rushed.
We love the idea of transformation—
but we usually want it fast.
God, however, moves differently.
He brings good news
He binds up the brokenhearted
He walks us through mourning
And then… He brings beauty
It’s not a quick exchange.
It’s a deep one.
God doesn’t slap on a bandage—He carefully restores what was broken.
And in that process, something remarkable happens:
we begin to trust Him.
A Practical Exchange
Ruth shared a personal moment that beautifully illustrates this transformation.
She realized how harsh her internal thoughts had been—filled with self-criticism and self-hatred. But in a gentle, patient way, God invited her to compare:
Her thoughts vs. His thoughts
While hers were full of limitation and criticism, His were full of:
creativity
color
beauty
joy
life
Creation itself became evidence.
And then came the invitation:
Would it be so hard to lay down your thoughts and pick up mine?
That’s the exchange.
Not forced.
Not rushed.
But deeply transformational.
Why This Matters for Freedom
At Freedom Challenge, we are not unfamiliar with brokenness.
We step into the reality of human trafficking, injustice, and suffering every day. We see ashes.
But we are not called to fix our gaze on the ashes.
We are called to:
believe in beauty
speak good news
walk with others through healing
and trust God’s process of restoration
Because when we truly behold God’s beauty:
hope becomes real again
lies lose their power
and we begin to live from abundance—not survival
An Invitation for You
If there’s one takeaway from this conversation, it’s this:
Pay attention to what God is highlighting in your life—especially the things you’re tempted to dismiss.
Sometimes the very thing we think is “not important”…
is the key to our freedom.
So today, pause and ask:
Where has my gaze been fixed?
What have I believed about myself that may not be true?
What might God be inviting me to see differently?
And then, gently…
shift your gaze.
A Final Encouragement
The world desperately needs beauty right now.
And not just the kind we see—
but the kind we become when we know who God is.
Because when we understand:
how beautiful our Creator is
and how beautifully we’ve been made
…everything begins to change.
The lies grow quieter.
Truth becomes clearer.
And freedom moves from something we fight for…
to something we live from.