Sunday, October 12, 2008

Beauty

I truly believe that a woman's heart was designed to be beautiful. To be a reflection of His beauty.

John & Stasi Eldredge say about it, Beauty speaks. Beauty invites. Beauty nourishes. Beauty comforts. Beauty inspires. Beauty draws us to God.... the beauty of the world is almost the only way by which we can allow God to penetrate us. Beauty captivates the senses in order to obtain permission to pass straight through to the soul. The soul's inclination to love beauty is the tactic God most frequently uses in order to win it.

Beauty is so powerful. God created this earth with so much beauty. He didn't hold back. He was lavish in all Creation. I want my love for Him and His people to be so extravagent that it demands attention like nature does.

My mom sent me pictures of Lake Shawnee, where I grew up... to me today. I miss fall up there so much. These pictures took my breathe away. You just can't pass by this without noticing it...



I know that the devil hates beauty. He will do whatever he can to distort our beauty. To try to distract from it. He will do whatever he can to convince us we are not beautiful. He will try to get us to focus on external beauty and not true beauty.

He tries to convince us we are defined by our ugly sin. That our ugliness is really who we are... the devil will try to keep us down at our lowest points and 'kick us when we're down by making us feel guilt & shame when we sin....

Every time I fail by being short with my husband. By losing my patience with my son. By being selfish in my interactions with others....... the devil loves for me to wallow in my ugliness. He loves to try to convince me I'm not beautiful.....

But there's a secret I learned that the devil keeps forgetting about!!!! I learned the power of Jesus and that when I make mistakes, it's okay! I have a heart of faith, a heart that trusts God will take my mistakes, my daily sin and turn it into something beautiful when I invite Him to. Each time I make a mistake I know He will gently lead me to repentance and to turn away from my ugliness.

He is faithful to renew me and remind me whose I am and that I am beautiful and not defined at all by my ugliness.

I am not beautiful by any effort or striving on my part at all...... but instead in His peace. The beauty I exude comes from Him who is in me, that tells me I'm enough. A heart at rest is beautiful. A heart at rest allows others around it to be at rest. It's an example of the refuge God is. The comforting, merciful and tender refuge He is in a world of turmoil and ugliness.

When a woman knows she is beautiful....knows she's valuable and is in love with Beauty Himself.... she glows from the inside out.

God.... may the beauty and peace you give me shine so others can feel that love & peace & rest you alone give. Please continue to daily change my ugliness to beauty. I hate my ugliness but even in my ugliness, I know there is beauty because you're there. Continue to cover the ugliness up please God. THANK YOU so much for Jesus and what He did when He became sin so that I could be with you. So that I could have beauty.

Thanks for always reminding me that I am beautiful and valuable.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow! That beautiful lake view is breath-taking!!

babyfordawn1983 said...

Those pictures are awesome! I would love to go see those in real life. And aren't so right about beauty and ugliness! Some people see beauty just on what is on the outside when really it is what is on the inside that really matters.

Toia said...

Those pics look so surreal. They are beautiful. I love what you said about beauty in contrast to ugliness. The devil(Lucifer) use to be beautiful until he got cocky and God had to take him down a notch or two (down to hell).

Part of his punishment was to become ugly. No longer to behold the beauty that God had so graciously bestowed upon him. So, the devil knows what feeling and looking beautiful does to a person. Now that he is ugly as dirt, the devil doesn't want anyone else to be and feel beautiful. Misery loves company. And I am not about to keep him company. Great post.

Much Love,
Toia

Rebekah said...

This is such a wonderful post! I love it! And the pictures are beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Humm...Probably putting my foot into it here but it's a problem I have with Cativating/Wild At Heart. Beauty is not, should not, be for women only. Turning these issues in to gender differences is not God's intent. God (even though we refer to Him with male pronouns) is actually gender neutral. The language of beauty may appeal more to women because of how ingrained the desire for outer beauty has become in our society but if you really think about it as you discribed true beauty God desires for men to posess those qualities every bit as much as He desires women to.

Randi Jo :) said...

no way Minnow - you are always welcome to contribute even when we disagree.... I see what you're saying. I will look up some passages and think on this more.... ultimately it seems to be a peripheral issue ---

it really just comes down to knowing He does make me beautiful and cover my ugliness.... and I know it's His beauty and not my own.... :) but i'll look more about gender and some passages on that! :)

love to each of u!

Randi Jo :) said...

okay I'm back! :)

Minnow --- I totally agree/think that God is neutral. Even though we call Him Father --- it's not because He's male. I don't think so at least. I don't picture Him as male/female. Like you said - He's both/neutral.

I DO believe that He created men and women to reflect DIFFERENT qualities in Him. I DO believe that He created men and women differently. Physically AND 'inside'. I don't agree with those that say the ONLY thing that makes me a woman is my physical form.... I believe there are attributes that make me a woman that are not physical.

He made us different didn't He? it's not about one to cook, one to eat. one to work, one to stay home............... but qualities we can't always describe.

maybe eldredge defintiltely oversimplifies it.... it's not a simple answer --- but very simply I do believe that men and women were created uniquely and differnet from each other beyond physical.

do I believe these qualities/attributes are part of our soul and we will be different in eternity/heaven too? I have no clue about that.....

but I do believe there are attributes here on earth as humans that are different between men & women. it's not personalities. it's not talents. it's not positions.... it's something more.... it's like... attributes. how else can i describe it and what exactly are the attribues? I don't know...... hahaha

I don't know any verse where God describe a man as being beautiful though...

actualky I just looked up 'beautiful' and every verse that came up was about a woman.

I looked up 'beauty' and same thing..

it's either about woman or God...

not about men.....

watcha think!? :)

keep the perspectives/thoughts coming! :)

Anonymous said...

Wow, that was beautiful, beautifully put, and beautifully represented. Yes, the devil tries to take beautiful things and make them ugly, or turn it into something that has no value. I especially see this with young men and women. So many beautiful people, so little confidence.

Anonymous said...

Randi--I absolutely think men and women are different and not just physically. At the same time, the attributes that makeup our inner beauty--a heart at rest, trust and confidence in our Creator, mercy and grace toward others are attributes both men and women should share. They may be expressed differently--My husband takes weight from a weaker hiker's pack. I throw in a bag of marshmellows to "dress-up" our hot cocoa in the morning--but the core of what they are (kindness or consideration in the example), are the same. We tend to label what is different about the expression (strength or leadership vs tenderness or service, again in the example) rather than what is the same about their root or core. So yes, if you look up beauty it will probably only reference women. Yet, as powerful as Michelangelo's The David is, it is also stunning beauty.

Melanie said...

LOVE the pics...wow!

Randi Jo :) said...

very interesting as always minnow :)

I know what you're saying that men and women should share those attributes..... those inside attributes.... but I can't wrap my mind around it fully.

I would argue that The David was beautiful because it was a piece of art....but the man was not beautiful himself.... but then we're talking about physical beauty again ---

and the beauty I was speaking of wasn't physical.

I just to my core believe men and women were designed to be different.... and not only just physically. What then would happen with these poor people born with physical 'issues' that can't be determined if they are male or female.... there are more than physical attributes that make us male or female.

can I explain them? no... do I know what they are for a fact? no....

interesting stuff :)

Anonymous said...

Those are beautiful pictures. I love the Fall.