Oh restless soul,
finally home!
Not a mirage,
not an oasis,
but the permanent waters
of self-acceptance.
Comfortable in
your own skin,
feel His embrace
as you see
your true reflection.
Those old muddy waters
were always tainted;
the truth now clear,
free from manipulation.
You have always been
beautiful.
Laura Denise 
Lovely photos and musings Laura. Kudos again on being in this place of love and acceptance.
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Thank you again (and again), Brad!
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🙂
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Beautiful images in your words as well as in your photos, Laura. “Comfortable in your own skin”–that is such an elusive goal so much of the time for so many of us. Society or parents or so-called friends tell us we need to change and become something that we are not, thus creating barriers to our own self-acceptance. Your swan shots bring to mind the fairy tale The Ugly Duckling in which others convinced the beautiful swan it was nothing but an ugly duckling. As your last line makes so clear, it had been beautiful all of the time and finally came to that realization.
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I’m glad you picked up on what I was hoping to portray with my images, Mike. I wish I could take full credit for my self-love and self-acceptance; as much as I have always held on in the face of verbal abuse to the belief that I was beautiful (inside and out) to my Maker, it did take the right human to truly make me believe it (though I do feel he is God-sent and they work together).
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It has always struck as a little peculiar, but God often chooses to act using people like us to accomplish His will, knowing full well that we are imperfect and feel we are inadequate. Thinking about this brought to mind the song “Do Something” by Matthew West. (Check it out here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_RjndG0IX8) if you are not familiar with it.)
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