"Our True Identity"

I had Hadley 3 years and 6 months ago. After having my second child I felt like my body was not good enough for myself or my husband. Darren had no part in me feeling the way I did. But after flexuating in my weight and size I decided to get plastic surgery. I went to the doctor with a mind set that all I wanted was a lift. Well, my docotor advised that it would not be a good choice for me because of the scaring it will cause and that I should get an augmentation (implants). Agreeing with him I went through with the surgery.

As soon as I woke up from surgery my Doctor said to me and my friend that picked me up, "Elizabeth, you had more skin then we thought and had to put more in then we talked about." At the time I wasn't really worried because I had thought well I know that the Dr. knows what he is talking about. BUT BOY WAS I WRONG!!! I have now dealt with my choice for over three years and it has been a very hard journey.

The reason I am writing about my experience with plastic surgery is because it seems that so many people are going through with this as if it is normal. Not only did it give me less self-esteem but it also made me look at other parts of my body with shame.

I listend to a Mormon Message today that Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the 12 Apostles gave about "Our True Identity", and he made a statement that truly struck a cord with me. I think a lot of the reason we do things to ourselves and to others that we are unhappy with is because we simply don't understand who we are. He continues to tell the story about the "ugly duckling". At the end of the story the duckling looks in the water and sees a reflection of a beautiful swan and realizes it is the ugly duckling.

All of Gods children are beautiful swans. Some of us just havent realized it yet. Plastic surgery is not going to fix your confidence and the way others see you. The only thing that will fix that is realizes who we are as indivuals and thanking our Heavenly Father for the gift he has given us.

Elder Uchtdorf asks us to think of where we came from? "We are sons and daughters of an amazing universe. He has an infinite love for all of us".

Of course we are going to have times of doubt where we have voices of our own telling us we are not good enough. Or others telling us the flaws they see. But we need to remember where we come from and pray to our Heavenly Father with appreciation. We are all beautiful and in our journey to find "Our True Identity" we will have more confidence in knowing that it is true. Liz