Ten Question Quiz

Over the past few days we’ve been talking about what true beauty really is. Today I want to know, which beauty have you been going for? Carolyn Mahaney has provided a ten-question quiz to help you determine the truth. Please spend some time with your mom or a close friend to go over them.

1. Do I spend more time in the day caring for my personal appearance than I do in Bible study, prayer, and worship?
2. Do I spend excessive money on clothes, hair, and makeup, or is it an amount that is God-honoring?
3. Do I want to lose weight to “feel better about myself,” or do I desire to be self-disciplined for the glory of God?
4. Am I on a quest for thinness to impress others, or do I seek to cultivate eating habits that honor God?
5. Do I exercise to try and maintain a good figure, or do I desire to strengthen my body for God’s service?
6. Is there anything about my appearance that I wish I could change, or am I grateful to God for the way He made me?
7. Am I jealous of the appearance of other girls, or am I truly glad when I observe girls who are physically more attractive than I?
8. Do I covet the wardrobe of others, or do I genuinely rejoice when other girls are able to afford and purchase new clothing?
9. When I attend an activity, do I sinfully compare myself with others, or do I ask God to show me whom to love and how to do it?
10. Do I ever dress immodestly or with the intent of drawing attention to myself, or do I always dress in a matter that pleases God? (We’ll talk about modesty next week)

If most of your answers were “yes” to more than half of the above questions than it is most likely that you’ve been sinfully craving physical beauty to get attention. Why not spend your time and energy on a beauty that will never fade? Cultivate a trust in God that will draw attention to the beauty of the gospel! God is always eager and willing to help us change! In the pursuit of true beauty, we need to each acknowledge God’s providence and receive with gratefulness the body and appearance He has given us! Are you trusting and thanking God for the body He has given to you (as a gift) for your good and His glory? We have been bought with a price…so let us glorify God through our bodies! (1 Cor. 6:20)

Unfading Beauty

“But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” (1 Peter 3:4)

“With God at the center- like the ‘sun,’ satisfying a woman’s longing for beauty and greatness and truth and love- all the ‘planets’ of food and dress and exercise and cosmetics and posture and countenance will stay in their proper orbit.” –John Piper

“A gentle and quiet spirit is an inner disposition of humble contentment and quiet tranquility rooted in an unwavering trust in God and His purpose.” –Jeff Purswell

Carolyn Mahaney has summed up a gentle and quiet spirit as “a steadfast peace because of a steadfast trust in God.” Now don’t despair. She goes on to say, “A 'gentle and quiet spirit' is not referring to a person with a quiet personality. In fact, it is possible to have a quiet personality and not have a gentle and quiet spirit. And it is just a feeble for a girl with an effervescent personality to have a gentle and quiet spirit. This spirit is not a personality type! A girl who processes a gentle and quiet spirit humbly responds to whatever God chooses for her life, regardless of the cost. Mary, the mother of Jesus is an excellent example: “Behold, I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word,” she said, when the angel informed her she would give birth to the Son of God. She humbly accepted God’s will, despite what it cost her. She displayed a steadfast peace because of her steadfast trust in God.”

When we trust God we are making ourselves beautiful! And not only in God’s eyes; this beauty is apparent to others as well. This beauty also grows more and more beautiful as we grow older! The beauty our culture esteems might turn some heads, but the beauty God calls us to cultivate will make a lasting impact. A girl who cultivates inner beauty, who cultivates a steadfast trust in God—her beauty will have a lasting impact on the lives she touches.

We have only ONE person to please: The Lord should be the ONLY object of our pursuit for beauty. (1 Cor. 7:34) All our thoughts, motives, and actions related to beauty should be for the eyes of ONE and ONE only. Of course this will change once married, then we will have two to please: God and our husbands.

“Pure devotion to God will produce an appropriate concern for physical appearance. A godly woman will seek to present an outward appearance that honors God and attracts others to her character. The woman who trusts God with her looks, makes her “look” more beautiful”

For futher study:
"Putting On a Gentle and Quiet Spirit" by Elizabeth George

True Beauty

Our culture puts forth a false standard of beauty and a false message about beauty. But ultimately it’s the sin of our hearts that motivates us to believe them. These lies appeal to all the things our hearts desire. In Jeremiah 17:9 we read that “our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately sick!” We desperately want success, recognition, significance, importance, and approval.

Scripture reveals the fallacy and the hollowness of the quest for physical beauty. “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain” (Proverbs 31:30). Carolyn Mahaney says, “Nowhere in the Bible are women instructed to wish for, ask for, or strive for physical beauty. Neither does the Bible portray physical beauty as a blessing for those who have it”

This is why, in 1 Peter 3:3, we are exhorted: “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing.” After reading that verse, we know God is not saying that women shouldn’t style their hair of wear jewelry, for then He would also be excluding clothing—and we know for sure that is not the case!

However, what we do find this verse forbidding, says Matthew Henry, is the “inordinate love and excessive use (that is, the abuse) of them.” He goes on to say, “we must not set our hearts upon them, nor value ourselves by them, nor think the better of ourselves for them, nor pride ourselves in them, as if they added any real excellence to us.”

God’s definition of beauty stands out much greater than how our culture defines beauty. Our culture defines beauty by how we look on the outside. God defines beauty by how we look on the inside. God’s agenda for beauty is one that we can all attain if we respond to His work on the cross for us and then notice His grace in our lives. This beauty is one of great worth! God encourages women to cultivate a beauty that will NEVER fade and will only grow more attractive with the passing of time, a beauty that is only attractive in His eyes. A woman, who cultivates inner beauty; who fears God and lives to serve others makes a difference in people’s lives. Her inner beauty makes a lasting impact on the lives she touches. Godly, inner beauty makes an indelible mark on the lives of others and glorifies God. The way we think about and attend to our personal appearance is really a mirror of our hearts. By reflecting either godly motivations or selfish motivations, we reveal whether our priority is to cultivate inner beauty or outer beauty.” –Carolyn Mahaney

God is not opposed to us making ourselves beautiful; rather He unveils how women are to make themselves beautiful. Tomorrow we’ll unfold exactly how to do this!

Trusting God for Who You Are

Psalm 139:14, 15-16- “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made… My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth….Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them.”

Psalm 139:13-16 teaches us that we are who we are, because God Himself created us the way we are. God was a master weaver at work when we were in our mother’s wombs creating us as directly as He created Adam out of the dust of the earth.

Rev. James Hufstetler said it well when he said, “You are the result of the attentive, careful, thoughtful, intimate, detailed, creative work of God. Your personality, your sex, your height, your features, are what they are because God made them precisely that way. He made you the way he did because that is the way he wants you to be… If God wanted you to be basically and creatively different he would have made you differently. Your genes and chromosomes are creatively distinctive--even the shape of your nose and ears-- are what they are by God’s design”

David praised God because God made him. The eternal God who is infinite in His wisdom and perfect in His love personally made me and you. He gave us the body, the mental abilities, and the basic personalities we have because that is the way He wanted us to be. “He wanted you to be just that way so He would love you and glorify Himself through you.” – Jerry Bridges

George MacDonald said, “I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born in God’s thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest, and most precious thing in all thinking.”

God who created us the way we are is the God who is wise enough to know what is best for us and loving enough to bring it about. Certainly we will sometimes struggle with who we are. So we must learn to trust God continually in this area. To do this, we must learn to say with David, “I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Giving Thanks Always!

1 Thessalonians 5:18- “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Because God is sovereign, wise, and good, we can trust Him. If we desire to honor Him in our times of adversity, we must trust Him. In our trusting God, there is more at stake than experiencing peace in the midst of difficulties or even deliverance from them. The honor of God should be our chief concern!

We are to be thankful in the easy and difficult times of life. Adversities as well as for blessings! All circumstances whether favorable or unfavorable to our desires are to be occasions for thanksgiving. I know my tendency would be to quickly ask God for help but forgetful to give Him thanks. Jerry Bridges says, “Our problem is far deeper than mere forgetfulness. We are imbued with a spirit of ingratitude because of our sinful natures. We must cultivate a new spirit of gratitude, which the Holy Spirit implanted within us at our salvation.”

God’s sovereignty, wisdom, and love, are there for us to bear upon in all the unexpected and sudden shifts and turns in our lives. We must believe that God is at work in all things- all our circumstances- for our good, and be willing to accept this truth from God’s Word and rely upon it without needing to know just how He is working for our good.

“Oh Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 118:1)

I pray all the posts thus far have been an encouragement to you! I’ve already received a few testimonies, but would love to hear some more. Also, please don’t hesitate to ask questions or make suggestions!

Next week we’ll begin talking about what the bible has to say on beauty.

Trusting God for His Plan

As we’ve been learning over the past couple days, God promises that everything we go through is for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28). In His sovereignty, God has planned out every step we will take for the rest of our lives. What comfort that is to know! I don’t know about you, but there have been many times throughout my life that I’ve failed to trust that God is walking me through situations, especially the one’s that aren’t fun. Have you? I can’t recount one time that God wasn’t faithful to deliver me out of fear. Every time I’ve cried out for His help, I’ve experienced His peace instead of worry. And you know what?! He’ll do the same for you!

I’m keenly aware of the temptation (especially as a female :) to worry and try to control the way my life will end up. That plan has NEVER worked! Why? Because God already has a plan for everything that will happen for the rest of our lives, and girls, there aint no changin’ it! Maybe you’re wondering, “How do we find out what this plan is?”

Please read through the following scripture verses slowly (maybe a couple times through) and hopefully they’ll bring clarification….

Jesus has told us, not to be anxious about our lives, what we will eat or what we will drink, nor about our bodies, or what we put on...Instead of worrying, we are to seek firth the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to us. We are not to be anxious about our futures because tomorrow will be anxious for itself. (Matthew 6:25, 33-34) As we learn to trust in the Lord, befriend faithfulness, and delight ourselves in the Lord through all of life’s circumstances, He will grant us the desires of our hearts. (Psalm 37:3-4) For God knows the plans He has for us. They are plans for wholeness and not for evil, one's that give us a hope and a future. We are to call upon the Lord and seek Him with our whole heart! (Jeremiah 29:11-13) (emphasis added)

Proverbs 3:5-6- “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Proverbs 16:9- “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”

Once again, we’re reminded through scripture about the importance of trusting God. The Lord has absolute control over every circumstance you will ever face. You can be content knowing that your loving heavenly Father intends to use each situation for a good purpose

“Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow (your future). The same everlasting Father who cares for you today will care for you tomorrow, and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations”- Frances de Sales

Maybe there are a few more things that have come to mind since yesterdays post that you haven’t fully surrendered into God’s loving hands. Let me encourage you to pray again today. Prayer isn’t a one time thing! In fact, we are told to "pray without ceasing!" (1 Thessalonians 5:17) God loves to help us and wants to hear all our requests!

For Further Study:
-“Trusting God” by Jerry Bridges
-“God’s Guidance” by Elizabeth Elliot
-“Surrender” by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Choosing to Trust God

Psalm 56:3-4- “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?”

First, I would like to ask, what are some things that are holding you back from trusting God? Please right out a list of everything in your life that you find difficult to place in the sovereign hands of our Father in Heaven (A difficult circumstance you’re walking through, the way you look, who you will marry, a problem at school, your friends, etc.) and at the end of this post, I’ll explain what to do with the list you create.

David in his times of distress chose to trust God. In Psalm 56:3-4, David admitted he was afraid. David was not cocky or arrogant. Despite the fact that he was a warrior of great skill and courage, there were times when he was afraid. But despite David’s fear, he said to God, “I will trust in you…I will not be afraid!” Many times in the Psalms we find the determination to trust God- choosing to trust Him despite all our circumstances. To Trust in the Lord we must learn to set Him before us and then recognize His presence and constant help. This is something we must choose to do! If we are to trust God, we must believe in His truth and say, “I will trust you even though I don’t always feel like it.”

God is always with us! He has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5) We must choose whether or not we will believe His promises of constant protection and care. Trusting God is a matter of faith. Only the Holy Spirit can help make His Word come alive in our hearts and create that faith, but we can choose to look to Him to do that, or we can choose to be ruled by our feelings of anxiety, resentment or grief.

“The same David who said in Psalm 56:4, “In God I trust; I will not be afraid” said in Psalm 34:4, “I sought the Lord, and He answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” David recognized it was his responsibility to choose to trust God, but also that he was dependent upon the Lord for the ability to do it. Not only will He never leave you, but He cares for you. He is not just there with you, He cares for you. His care is constant- not occasional or sporadic. His care is sovereign- Nothing can touch you that He does not allow. His care is infinitely wise and good.” –Jerry Bridges

Trusting God is not always easy, but when we do trust Him, it makes life so much easier! It is a battle that we will always fight, but because God is so gracious, He provides us with strength daily to help us walk through our difficulties. Trusting God is a choice that we must make to have a relationship with Him. As we learn to cast all our anxieties on God, trusting Him will become much, much easier!

Now let’s refer back to the list we created in the beginning… Please take a couple minutes to pray for each item that’s on your list. If you don’t know how to pray for these things, pray something like this: “Lord I choose to cast all my anxieties on you, please help me to surrender __________ in Your sovereign hands. I choose to trust you by Your Spirit to enable me to cast all my anxieties on You, not to take it back on myself because I know that You care for me."

Finding God as Father

As Christians we’ve been promised that God is sovereign over EVERY detail of our lives. You name it, He’s put it there! He is sovereign over every circumstance we face daily and, even better, He promises that everything He places in our lives is for our good and His glory (Romans 5:28). He is our faithful Shepherd that leads us through everything. (Psalm 23)

As our heavenly father, God loves us, His children, with a very special love, a fatherly love. He calls us His chosen people and with that, loves us dearly. He delights in us as a father delights in his children. Matthew Henry says, “The great God not only loves His saints, but He loves to love them.” God takes great delight in loving us because we are His very own!

“In Psalm 103:11 David speaks of God’s Fatherly love in this way: “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love to those who fear him.” Here we see that God's love for His own is as high as the heavens are above the earth. Just as God’s wisdom, like the height of the heavens, cannot be measured, so God’s love for us cannot be measured. It is not only perfect in its affect; it is infinite in its extent. No calamity that may come upon us, however great it may be, can carry us beyond the pale of God’s fatherly love for us.” –Jerry Bridges

Be encouraged by the following words from Mr. B.J. Hoff…

“There is nowhere we can go that He has not been there before us… We walk always in the shadow of His presence and His care… for the Shepherd doesn’t call His sheep to unfamiliar pasture- He has promised that, where we are, we will also find Him there.”

Tomorrow we’ll look at how we go about trusting God.

One GREAT Love!

I don’t think there is a better place to begin than talking about God’s love for us. He is the one who’s lead us through our failures, He’s given us strength when we’ve been weary, He’s answered many prayers, and best of all, He died on the cross for ALL our sins (past, present, and future) so that we can live in eternity with Him!

If you’re not familiar with the gospel, I’ve summarized it below. As you can see on the side bar, please feel free to e-mail me any time with questions.

Most of us see ourselves as “good” people. However, when God judges our lives at the end of time it will be according to His Law. The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) are a summary of the law that God has created for us to follow. If we are truly honest with ourselves, all of us have broken at least one commandment, if not all of them. The Bible tells us that we have all sinned and that the punishment for our sin is death and hell. We are all in need of salvation!

God is perfect, He has committed no sin. God is also gracious. He provides what we do not deserve and lovingly puts our needs above His own. In order to provide us with forgiveness and a way to escape the punishment we deserve, God sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16). Jesus took out punishment upon Himself. He died on the cross for our sins (1 Peter 3:18). Because our sins have been punished in Him we can be forgiven of everything we’ve ever done. We did not deserve to have Jesus die for us or to be forgiven. It is provided only by the grace of God!

We must believe that God will forgive us because Jesus died for our sins (John 1:12). We must repent. Repentance is a change of heart, mind, and action due to sorrow over our sin (Acts 2:38). When we repent, we’re given the wonderful promise of spending eternal life with God in heaven, which will be without sin, death, or decay! Oh what a glorious day that will be!

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17)

“Let us then turn our attention from our own performance, whether it seems good or bad to us, and look to the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is God’s provision for our sin, not only on the day we trusted Christ for our salvation but every day of our Christian lives.” –Jerry Bridges

Holy God in love became
Perfect man to bear my blame
On the cross he took my sin
By his death I live again
-Sovereign Grace Worship

For Further Study:
-“The Cross Centered Life” by C.J. Mahaney
-“First Steps of Faith” by Steve Shank
-“Don’t Waste Your Life” by John Piper
-And the best book of all…. the B-I-B-L-E!

Join me this week as we learn to fall in love with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Be sure to scroll down to read the welcome message.

Welcome!

Who am I? I am a sinner saved by the grace of God. I am a daughter, sister, and friend with a heart to reach out to young girls with a passion to serve Christ and bring glory to His name! I’ve walked through all the challenges young girls face and I want to share what the Lord showed me through those years and hopefully be a means of grace to you!

On this blog we’ll be looking at what the Bible has to say on subjects such as:

-The Gospel
-Relationships with friends, parents, and guys
-Modesty
-Time management
-Biblical Womanhood (as a daughter and young lady)
-Cultivating a love for the home

That’s just to name a few…Most of the posts will have a “girly” spin, so guys, be forewarned: READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

My prayer is that through this blog you’ll be encouraged as we learn to cultivate the [God ordained] roles that He has given to women of all ages. I pray as God leads me I can be an encouragement to you as you walk through your daily lives and face temptations that the world brings. Please invite your friends to read along! Feel free to ask questions, share prayer requests, make suggestions, and leave lots of comments! I would love to hear your testimony (how you became a Christian and how God has used you since then)…please e-mail it to me at: beautiful.adornment@gmail.com and maybe it'll be posted here!

Thanks for stopping by!