Beauty That Exalts the Mind and Spirit

A beautiful friend and mentor sent me an email of encouragement today.  I opened the email to read:::

 

"I read this devotional and wanted to bless you with it. Hope you're having a sweet day and SCW (if you get to go)!

"Beauty: a quality that pleases the senses or agreeably engages the mind or spirit."

What do you imagine when you hear the word beauty? The colors of a midsummer sunset? the fragrance of a rose? the roar of ocean waves crashing on a cliff? Often we apply the term only in describing physical attractiveness. But there's so much more to genuine beauty than that. Mothers have told daughters for multiple generations, "beauty is only skin deep," and "pretty is as pretty does." Nearly 1,000 years before Jesus was born, Scripture taught all who would listen, "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised" (prov 31:30).

The cosmetic and clothing industries spend billions of dollars each year in the futile attempt to disprove it. Still, those of us whose photograph will never grace the cover of a glamour magazine can find joy in knowing that true beauty doesn't come from a jar. It can't be painted on, powedered up, nipped, or tucked. Mama's wise words to me were, "it's what's on the inside that really counts." Beauty that exalts the mind and spirit comes from God. We are made beautiful by Christ's perfect love for us, love made visible in the beauty of His cross. As we consider that love, the Holy Spirit shapes and transforms our hearts so that, little by little, we become more like Jesus in love and service.

How do you visualize the beauty of Christ? That beauty derives from His infinite love. His tender voice is soft and gentle. His name is above all names. The psalmist prayed, "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple." (psalm 27:4)

Yes, we all have bad-hair days, days we don't feel "pretty." Our mirrors reveal flaws and imperfections. But scars, crow's-feet, cellulite, wrinkles, and warts do not define us. Knowing, trusting, loving, and living for Jesus makes us beautiful. I pray that His loveliness will be reflected in me.

--Diane Graham and Julie Norris

"Your beauty...should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." 1 Peter 3:3-4"

 

 

For His Glory or My Own?

I was reading a blog from the Good Women Project about friendships that really got me thinking and reflecting on my heart towards my friends.  The post starts out talking about how this woman has some really beautiful and amazing friends, but she is constantly desiring more.  Here is a clip of it that blog:

"But as I’ve begun to understand the reason for my desire for more I realize that I’ve been missing out on something special with the friendships I already have.

I’m not supposed to be a collector. I’m not supposed to have a little shelf to place my friends on and display them to the world.

My friendships aren’t about me. They’re not about helping me meet more people, becoming friends with more people, becoming more popular, or building a bigger support system. I’m supposed to live sacrificially for others. I’m supposed to listen to my friends – really listen. Not just nod my head and agree. I should listen – hear them, hear their pain, empathize with their pain, cry with them. I should hear about the things that make them happy, the things they love, and the people they love. I should laugh with them, share their joys and sorrows with them. I should intentionally pursue and repair the friendships that I’ve let fall apart. I don’t need to have solutions for my friends’ problems. I need to just be there, even when – especially when – they haven’t been there for me. The love of Christ should shine through me. If I cannot show love to my friends, how can I show love to my enemies?

I am meant to live sacrificially in all areas of my life."

I think this stuck out so boldly to me is because that is what I desire my friendship to be.  I want to be a woman that my friends can truly trust.  Someone that can empathize with their pain and celebrate their victories.  I want to be a shoulder to cry on.  I want people to know they are important.  I love listening to what is on people's hearts, whether they are rejoicing or struggling. Rarely do I have advice, but I love to listen. I've realized that 

people often just want someone to listen, I pray that God will continue to give me a listening ear.   I believe that everybody wants to known in some way, many people just don't express that and I think that is often driven by fears and insecurities.  I want God to use me in such a way to break through those fears and insecurities to really know and understand people's hearts. 

 I pray right now that the Lord would bless me with compassion towards others.  My desire is for people to know that they are genuinely loved, not just by me but especially  by their Heavenly Father.  I want God to use me as a means to show His love to His children, His beloved ones, the broken, the hurting, the joyful, everybody!   I want to be a good friend, although I often fall short.  Right now, I desire in my heart more than anything, for God to use me to bless those around me and for His love to be revealed through me.  I am supposed to live a life of sacrifice, to put others' needs before my own.  I can really only do that through the Lord's grace, so I ask for Him to lessen me so that He may increase and be known.

On a side note: When I stop to think about the people that the Lord has brought into my life I am beyond  amazed.  I stand in awe of how much He delights in bringing His children together.  To all of my friends that reading this, YOU BLESS ME MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW!  Thank you!

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Lord, let me friendships be to glorify you, not myself.

Invitation for Adventure

"Come away with Me, Come away with Me
It's never too late, it's not too late
It's not too late for you


I have a plan for you
It's gonna be wild
It's gonna be great
It's gonna be full of Me

Open up your heart and let Me in"


These lyrics from Jesus Culture resound in my soul because Jesus often says those exact words to me, "come away with me, let's go on an adventure.  I have something to show you!"  He knows me and He knows how easily I get distracted, He knows that I need him to draw me away sometimes so that I can realize just how much He loves me and romances me. 

 I love how the song prophetically says, "I have a plan for you.  It's going to be wild, it's going to be great, it's going to be full of me."  When I hear this song, I cannot help but think about how He drew me away to Texas just so I would know Him more intimately.  He knew I would get so easily distracted in Chicago.  Jesus knew that there were things there that I love deeply and would likely focus on more than growing in my relationship with Him.  He knew my heart and my desires and said, "Come away with me, I have more for you."  He invited  me to go on this incredible adventure with Him.  An adventure that has been exactly what this song says... wild, great, and full Jesus.  Leaving my father's house and moving close to 1100 miles away from everything I have ever known because Jesus called me to go with Him, may sound crazy, but it has been wild, great and I have come to know Jesus more than I ever thought possible.  From the moment I got in the car with my brother to embark on this journey, I have had to completely, 100% rely on the Lord for EVERYTHING.  It is kind of scary not know how things are going to work out time and time again and not having much of a security net.  But through this my faith has grown ridiculously and He repeatedly tells me, "Hey, remember when I did this (fill in the blank)...... Yeah, you should see what else I have in store for you!"

Ever since I have become completely dependent on Him, I have learned so much about how God loves to lavish His children with His love and good gifts.  It has been sooo incredible and "wild" if you will, to be a witness to some of the things that the power of Jesus Christ has done in my life and the lives of those around me because we accepted His invitation of, "Come away with me."  This adventure has been more wonderful than I could have imagined.  Jesus has revealed Himself to me in ways that I never dreamt of before.  He continues to romance me and draw me deeper and deeper into Himself.  I still ask myself pretty often why am here? why am I so far from home- this isnt easy at all, but deep down I know that this journey greater than anything I would have planned for myself.  He said that this adventure was going to be full of Himself, so I'm not really sure why I'm surprised by how He constantly shares His heart with me.  Adventures with Jesus may seem scary and they are almost never easy, but they are soo much better than anything you could plan on your own.  Next time you feel Jesus gently saying, "Hey why don't you come with me?"  Maybe you should respond, you never where He will take you.

It's crazy to think that this is only the beginning of the journey.  I cannot wait to find out where else He will take me both physically and spiritually.  

Beauty Unfailing

A while ago, probably about April or May of 2011, I set out in search to find the true meaning of beauty.  I wanted to know what true beauty looks like.  This may sound weird to some of you, and that is ok, but hear me out.  I know what the world says is beautiful, but I don’t fit into a lot (if any) of those categories and descriptions.  Does that mean I’m not beautiful?  Of course not, I know that (most of the time).  But if that is what “beauty” is so often thought to be, and I know I am beautiful in a way despite not fitting the descriptions media provides, there has to be more to it. I started questioning: What does God see as beautiful?  What did the creator of all things create beauty to look like?  Well, it’s been almost a year and a half since I started this journey.  I’ve started sounding like a broken record, repeatedly asking God for revelation of true beauty and He has revealed more to me than I expected. 

God clearly opened my eyes to make me realize there is nothing beautiful about me, NOTHING! (again, hear me out).

Ezekiel 16: 4-5 “On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.  No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised.” 

 Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, “Live!” I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew and developed and entered puberty. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, yet you were stark naked

 “‘Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.

“‘I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you.  I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen.  And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

That was hard to come to terms with at first, but He very quickly followed that up with, “apart from me you have nothing, including beauty.  But I make you beautiful, my Spirit in you makes you beautiful.”    And it is true, I am not writing this with the intention of putting myself down in anyway, quite the opposite.  I feel more beautiful now than I ever have in my entire life, and I know that is because the Lord has given me a new heart.  Here it is saying that from birth we are sinful, we have no beauty, but as soon as God takes us in and cleanses our hearts, He not only gives us beauty, but beauty that He sees as perfect!

Over the past five and a half years he has rooted out so much ugliness within me to make room for His Holy Spirit and replace me.   I’ve come realize that the inward beauty of the Holy Spirit can completely, 100%, change a person’s outward appearance.  I know how I am when I have separated myself from the Spirit, and trust me I know it’s not pretty-let alone beautiful…  It’s actually quite ugly because I don’t know how to love apart from God.  During this time of seeking answers, a common prayer of mine has been for the Lord to make me radiant.  I love that word- radiant, meaning, sending out rays of light, shining.  That has become one of my heart’s desire, to be radiant.  To radiate Jesus’ light and love to everyone around me- that is what true beauty is.  That is not anything I can do on my own though, I need the Lord to stir that in me. 

Isaish 53 is telling about the Savior to come and it says in verse 2b “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”  This verse is describing Jesus! Think about that, Jesus had no physical beauty that would draw people to himself, yet He was (and is) one of the most loved men ever to walk this earth.  What does that say about him?  He lived such an amazing and beautiful life of love that drew so many people to him.  Jesus wasn’t known because of his outward appearance, but His LOVE. Let me say that again, Jesus’ ability to love through the Holy Spirit created a true and undeniable beauty within him. 

Psalm 45:10 “The King is enthralled by your beauty!”

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!

YOU ARE LOVED!