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 This is the story that created You are Beautiful and the 21 Day Makeover programs. It all started with the process of a life changing transformation in a young woman. The story started about 25 years ago, in Jeffrey & Zina Paul's basement where they held a youth study. Over 80 to100 kids would come and listen to Learning to Hear the Voice of God, they learned to journal and to put the Word of God into their lives.
One night a group of girls came in a little late and they were carrying almost one of the members of their party. She was a very frail little girl, looked about 87 pounds, her hair was very thin, and she had a bracelet on from the hospital so with my history I knew that she probably had cancer. So I made a way that she could sit right in front and I asked her how she was doing. She said, “I am not doing well, I am going home to die”. When she said that the entire room, of course, became silent I said to her, “do you want to die”? And of course there was an awe, how could Jeffrey say that, how could Jeffrey Paul be so cruel to even ask something like that? But being led by the Holy Spirit I knew that these questions were going to take the moment and utilize a great lesson for all of us that were in that room. So she looked with me with tears and she said, “No, but I don’t know how to live.” Well I turned her around and asked, “Why do you think you are going to die?” “The doctors said I would not be able to live long from now.” She said, “I don’t have cancer, I have been anorexic and my body has now shut down and will not take nourishment, it will not take food.” Well everybody was in tears. You can picture 100 young people between the ages of 18 – 20 just moved by such an experience. I turned her back around and I said, “I want you to tell these young people” I faced her right to the crowd; all 87 pounds of her with her thin hair, she was loosing energy she could barely bring her voice up; “I said tell them what you see in the mirror when you look into that mirror?” She said as much as she could get the energy to say, “I see a fat, ugly pig.” I wanted to be sure that she could say it loud enough for everyone in the back row to hear because I wanted every child there to hear what her eyes were truly seeing when she looked into the mirror.I said, “Say it one more time honey, please, just one more time so they can hear you.” So I turned her around and asked her, “Do you want to live?” She said, “Yes I do, but I just don’t know how.” “If I give you two things to do, just two things to do, would you do them if I promise you that you will live?” She nodded and she had a little glimmer in her eye for the first time. I said, “First of all you have to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.” She did with all sincerity; her little prayer was so sincere, so beautiful. Then I took a 4 x 5 card out and I wrote 5 affirmations, 5 promises from the Word of God and I put them into the “I am” format and said I want you to go in front of a mirror naked, I want you to read these to yourself, no matter what you think you are seeing in the mirror, I want you to look at yourself and confess this. Because the eyes are the window of the heart and the heart is where your belief system is and from the fullness of the heart, the mouth shall speak, and faith comes in from hearing the words spoken in God’s voice. All you need to do every hour that you have left, if possible, is to get in front of a mirror and speak these words of God because the Scripture says it will not be your voice speaking out of Matthew 10:20- it will be God’s voice speaking through you. It will be like 2 Timothy 3:16 that says all scripture is God’s voice. I said, “Can you do that?” She nodded, but at this point she was completely exhausted. I would love to tell you that she came back the next week bouncing and energized, healed, and giving glory to god, but that did not happen.Two and a half years later, at the same Bible Study, five girls walked in. One of the girls walked up and said, "Do you remember me?" Of course I couldn't- I did not recognize her face, and I usually am pretty good with faces. She said, "I am the girl that came here and was going to die. I did what you told me and now I am in a full-time Ministry helping others that have anorexia and other diseases. I help them to see themselves as beautiful as the way God sees them.
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