On Kortni Jeane Swimmers & Being a #KJGIRL

For the past 3 months, I have been apart of Kortni Jeane’s #KJGIRL program. If you are not familiar with Kortni Jeane, she is an incredible woman who owns and operates her own swimsuit company out of Utah. I highly recommend you check her out on Instagram and browse her ADORABLE swimsuits here.

Over the past year, I have seen a huge shift in the fashion industry, away from glorifying stereotypical body types, and more towards an embracing of “all body types.” As a Christian, I have struggled with this topic, finding the balance between selfless self-encouragement (does that make sense?) and growing content in the midst of a culture with so much pressure to look and feel a certain way.

Insecurities have a tendency to nag at the corners of our daily lives; and I find myself guilty of undermining their destructive ability to pervert God’s design – a design meant to glorify Christ rather than self, to lift up rather than tear down, and to promote holiness over social acceptance. It’s a choice we encounter daily and a fight we have to choose always. For we will never be satisfied until we find rest in the one who has molded us perfectly in His image. We are undeserved human beings, made worthy by His sacrifice. And my daily prayer lately has been that this truth would resonate in my heart, spilling into my every motive.

So when this KJGIRL program opportunity came up, I quickly found myself overwhelmed by all that I learned through it. I remember the day the program started, I was nervous. Nervous about stepping out of my comfort zone, about posting pictures of myself that would expose a bit of my vulnerability, about exposing my insecurities in a way I myself hadn’t even faced. I was scared. But this is what the KJ community is all about – teaching girls that they are enough despite culture’s efforts to tear us down. And 3 months later, I can truly say I have gained a level of confidence I never thought I would know. I owe that to the community of girls I connected with, but most importantly to the greater truth revealed to me through fervent prayer to our heavenly Father to open my eyes and radically change my perspective on beauty.

Growing up, my parents always told me, “remember who you are.” I feel like my understanding of the weight of this statement has changed so much over the years. And friends, if there is one thing I can encourage you with most, it’s to “remember who you are.” You are not defined by social standards and the rampant pressures to fit in. “Confidence,” when rooted in an eternal holy worthiness, rather than a temporal “feeling good,” has such a greater reward.

I am a #KJGIRL. I am shorter than I’d hoped to be, curvy in places I sometimes wish I wasn’t, and I have skin that has never been categorized as “sun-kissed.” I have insecurities. And they nag at the corners of my mind every single day because I am broken, bruised by this world’s impossible expectations. I often times fear man in spite of my greater identity – “made in God’s image.”

I am not defined by social standards. I am not defined by the approval of others. I am not defined by man.

I am a #KJGIRL. Daughter of the King. Proud to be different.