Smashing my Beauty Idol

Lord, wrap your strong hands around mine as I wield the sword of the Spirit to destroy this idol I have been been trying to throw away and keep taking back just enough to make myself miserable. Crush it way beyond repair, My King. I ask in Your Name!

Are there any verses in the Bible that tell us we are supposed to try to be beautiful?

Prov 11:22 A woman who is beautiful but lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig's snout.

(This one seems to say discretion is more important.)

Prov 31:30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

(This one seems to say beauty doesn't last.)

1 Pet 3:3-4 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it 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.

(I shouldn't worry about my outward beauty?)

These are all the verses that I found that could apply to eating and exercise, in my opinion:

1 Tim 4:8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

Go ahead, Child, run if you love to run, but remember there is something much more important to live for.

Ez 16:49 Sodom's sins were pride, laziness, and gluttony, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door.

Don't you dare eat more than you need while your neighbors are crying themselves to sleep because of hunger.

Prov 23:20-21 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat,for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

If all you care about is eating and drinking, you will waste your life and dishonor your King.

Math 6:25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

Are you alive or not? Truly alive? Dancing and singing in the Spirit, flooded with freedom and joy?

Luke 12:29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it.

DO NOT WORRY ABOUT IT!!!! (Yes I am sorta cheating because these were both in the same context, but I like them so much!)

Romans 14 has a whole lot to say about food and eating and you can read it yourself. But bottom line it says life is not about food, it is about living before God with a clear conscience and loving your brother more than yourself.

What does God's word say about us being healthy?

Ps 73:26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

Is 38:16 Lord, your discipline is good, for it leads to life and health. You have restored my health and have allowed me to live!

I could not find one verse that says we give God more glory if we are healthy and beautiful. He grants us health and beauty if He sees fit. Some people are beautiful, some are not. Some people are healthy, some are not. By His will and for His purposes. I didn't find one verse that says we are supposed to try and make ourselves healthy by diet and exercise. I didn't find one verse that said we are godlier if we never eat sugar. If anything, the Bible says NOT to worry about those things.

Thank you, Lord!!

My Conclusion:

If you can find some verses that disagree with my conclusion, please feel free to share them with me. We will have a very loving debate but don't bother bringing up the old law, if your ears are pierced. :)

Do not gorge yourself on meat. I am guessing probably not any other food either. Live for God's kingdom. Don't worship anything but Him. Don't flaunt your freedom. Live according to your convictions but don't judge others. (Rom 14)

Live for Him alone. Not health. Not beauty.

Mat 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

HIS righteousness, not our own. Beauty does not equal righteousness. That is where I was getting hung up. I wanted beauty to equal righteousness. Then I would be guaranteed to have some beauty someday. Guess I just have to trust my God to give whatever beauty He sees fit in His own time. We can not make ourselves righteous. Only He can. And He already did. Beaten and bruised. He wasn't pretty then! Lord, teach me Your truth. I know beauty has been WAY too important to me. May my heart have your priorities. You became ugly for me. May I be willing for anything for you.

Live free. Trust in Him. We have something a zillion times more valuable than earthly beauty.

We are the daughters of God.

Quote for the Day

"Being faithful to God is not behaving perfectly. It is trusting Him to our last breath."


His goodness, His power and His plan.


Because, ahem, we are losers without Him. In all sorts of ways.

Running With Him

I bawled my head off on the way to work today. I was begging God to make me completely His. To use me for His kingdom. To do whatever He wants with me, as long as it is pleasing to Him. I do NOT want to live for the things of this life. The things that won't last. I don't want to care about how my car looks, or my body looks or my house looks. I don't want to care about what people think about me or even what I think about me. I want Him to cut the ties of all of that earthly stuff so I can run freely in the path of His commands. I want to serve Him and serve Him well. I want to run with Him and do His will and give Him pleasure. I want to truly live for Him and not myself. I do not know how to live like this. I will have to trust that He will answer my prayers and purify my heart and lead me to this place of joy and freedom. I don't want to go there alone. I want to go there with His people.

Thank you to the people who are already with me. I cherish you.

I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free. Psalms 119:32

Home......

My heart and mind is so full right now, I don't even know where to start. God absolutely amazed me to death this weekend. The training was good, Living Proof Live was good, the healing and uniting that God did with our team was shockingly good. But mostly it was seeing His hand in everything that was so wonderful. He orchestrated our time on every level I can think of. Physically, spiritually, emotionally, individually, corporately. I love it when God performs extraordinary miracles with ordinary means. :)

Absent This Week

Just wanted to let you know I won't be blogging this week. I will be in TX for a training conference, followed up by a Living Proof Live seminar. Yay.

Daily Stuff

I really feel like blogging today, but I don't have anything to say. I read some cool stuff in Ephesians this morning about us being united with Christ and read in Ezekiel about God comparing Israel to His wife. (Not a very good wife either...more like a very bad wife) That was interesting and shows the intensity of His love for His people. Wow, those two thoughts go well together, I didn't think about that until I just wrote it down. If we are believers, we are united with Christ, whether we act like it or not. Hmm.....

Gotta get groceries. Bring someone dinner, which if you know me very well, is a small miracle. If I don't bring them Papa Murphy's Pizza it will be a little bit bigger miracle. Go to Costco with Jason, try not to find a book I "need". I am starting to get that Autumn cleaning feeling. I hope it grows and doesn't go away before I can do anything with it.

Link Group tonight which I am actually looking forward to. We are finally done talking about science in The Truth Project and talking about God stuff. It is all God stuff, I know, but I like studying God Himself better. Last week we talked about Social Order and that was very interesting. How God set the family up compared to the Trinity. Really liked it. The thought was Father and Son, with the Spirit proceeding from them and Husband and Wife with children proceeding from them, all still one. But then Del (Is that his name?) talked about the church being Christ and the leaders in the Church with the flock proceeding from them. I would like to believe that but it seems too simplified to me. Because the Father and the Spirit are also a huge part of the Church. And I am not sure the "leaders" have a closeness above the flock. (He drew a circle with the top two word across from each other and the third word underneath) In the Old Testament maybe, but we all share the same Spirit under the new covenant. If anyone has any clarity on that and wants to share it with me, that would be fun. :)

Off to the grocery store......

***Update***
I love those little star thingies. Anywho, while I was driving around town, I made a discovery. I am not Suzy Homemaker. (Shocking I know.) And as much as I would like to become her someday, I need to come up with a plan B. Like make enough money to get a housekeeper. Or quit buying cookbooks that I just read, instead of cooking from, so I can afford better simple food. :) I should probably work with who I am instead of trying to be everything I admire in someone else. This is a whole different track to explore. I will keep you posted, of course. :)

Adventure

I love adventure.

We just spent a lovely weekend at the Ocean.

We got to Brookings and our Bronco started making a weird noise and our tire was being held on with ONE lug nut instead of FIVE. I had prayed before we left. I have never done that before. (Not out loud with the family as we were driving out of town anyway.) I thought it was very interesting that we broke down 15 minutes before closing time, right by a tire store. The manager had them stay an hour late and fixed it for us.

Since the alternative was having an accident while we were driving down the mountain, I was very happy with my God.

My adventure longing is satisfied.

For the moment.

It got me thinking though. What is the real adventure of Life? What sorts of adventure should I be seeking? What are the adventures that really mean something?

As humans we have so many choices in how we spend our time and thoughts.

I know we are called to follow Christ. I know we are called to love those around us everyday and that isn't easy. Is there more? What am I missing?

I am so glad God isn't boring.....

Quote for the Day

Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. NLT

Rejoice. Be restored, be encouraged, be of the same mind. HCSB

~ Paul in his letter to the Corinthians

I love that this shows that growing to maturity may be the same thing as being restored......

Singing Hearts

At the beginning of the Simulcast, we sang that song that says, "And I'm gonna praise you for the rest of my days". I realized I have not been rejoicing in God the way I was. I have gotten used to being a little bit happier and healthier, emotionally, and become ungrateful for all God has done in my life. I haven't been dreadfully anxious, but I have been letting my concerns steal some of my joy. I need to remember to trust Him completely so I can praise and rejoice in my heart. I also know that even if He never does one more thing for me, the rest of my time on earth, He has done enough to deserved my praise for the rest of my days.

This is from Ephesians 5 and how I want to learn to live: Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Teach our hearts to sing for You, my Lord!

Relaxing.....

Whew, the Simulcast is over. It was very, very good. I don't think my part in it was so great, I embarrassed myself to death, like always. But thankfully, I only had a very small part in it. The teaching was wonderful and the ladies were wonderful and God is wonderful.

I forgot to thank all the people who came early to help. I think all of you read my blog, so thank you!!!!!