Makeup is a powerful tool, just as any other material object
of the 21st century is. It has the power to make a woman feel confident and
comforted, and it has the power to make a woman become dependent upon it, in
order to feel beautiful, and often attractive. There is nothing wrong with
putting makeup on here and there to accentuate the beauty that is already
there, or to just have some fun, but it becomes a problem when a woman cannot
leave the house without having it on, because she fears what the rest of the
world will think, or even more so, say. It becomes a problem when makeup
becomes a woman's sense of security. I say this, because I am a woman, and I
had this fear, and just 22 days ago at that.
For the first time in my entire life, I have not put a single stroke of makeup on my face for 22 days straight (minus the annual 80's skate night event at SAU... gotta go all out for that, haha). As crazy as it may sound, I have taken my security blanket off, and I have discovered what it is like to really put on the confidence of Christ. In just 22 days, the Lord has taught me and is continuing to teach me who I am on the outside. There are so many posts on my blog about what God is teaching me about who I am on the inside, but this month, the Lord has transformed what I see on the outside as well.
On November 1, I woke up, went about my daily routine of getting ready in the morning, and before I knew it, I was reaching into my makeup bag... and then I remembered... the time had come... to put the mascara down. As I looked in the mirror, I could not fathom leaving my room without doing something! I stood in front of the mirror and criticized how short my eyelashes looked without mascara, how the lines under my eyes clearly displayed that I did not get enough sleep that night, and how pale my face looked without something on it. I was so harsh... but as I looked up, I saw the words that I had written on my mirror at the beginning of the school year, which say, "You are the BELOVED of Christ." In the matter of seconds I internalized that message in my heart, and I prayed. I prayed for confidence, and I prayed for peace in my mind, so that I would not be focusing on what people might be thinking or saying about my appearance.
For the sake of a cool story, I wish I could say that this month has been this dramatic revelation of what beauty is, and how the Lord dramatically captivated my attention, but in all honesty, this is a boring story, because it was a slow, daily process, but I am okay with that. Each morning as I woke up, not putting makeup on got a little bit easier, especially as I looked up at those words... "You are the BELOVED of christ."
I am His creation. I am His work of art. I am His masterpiece. I was created in His image. There is no flaw in me, and that includes what my face looks like. I was created intentionally, and God does not make mistakes. My face is exactly as it is, because that is how He planned it to be! Each morning that I have woken up and looked in the mirror, the Lord has allowed me to fall in love with this truth more and more. The truth that He makes no mistakes, and that I truly am His beloved. Only He can tell me who I am, and there is absolutely no reason why I need to feel like I should hide who He has made me to be, especially behind makeup.
This month, the Lord has taught me that there is something absolutely incredible about a natural face, and a natural smile. He has taught me that my beauty is more than just what my face looks like, but it looks like the natural glow that a woman gets when she knows who she is in Christ, and when she is filled with the love and power of the Holy Spirit. He has allowed me to genuinely like what I see when I look in the mirror, because I finally realize that I am HIS wonderful creation that He took so much time and detail to create, and I now can praise Him for it!
There truly is something incredibly beautiful, and contagious about a woman who is secure in all of her uniqueness, her uniqueness that was so intentional and planned by the Lord. This month, the Lord has allowed me take off my security blanket, and put on a different one, and that is the security of His love and perfection. I am who I am because He made me that way... and that is absolutely perfect! That is never to say that there is no room for growth, because there definitely always is, but each day, the Lord is allowing me to discover more and more of that Godly confidence that I know He is just yearning for me to uncover and implement in my life, and for that, I am so, so grateful.
"You are altogether beautiful, my darling! There is no flaw in you!" Song of Songs 4:7
For the first time in my entire life, I have not put a single stroke of makeup on my face for 22 days straight (minus the annual 80's skate night event at SAU... gotta go all out for that, haha). As crazy as it may sound, I have taken my security blanket off, and I have discovered what it is like to really put on the confidence of Christ. In just 22 days, the Lord has taught me and is continuing to teach me who I am on the outside. There are so many posts on my blog about what God is teaching me about who I am on the inside, but this month, the Lord has transformed what I see on the outside as well.
On November 1, I woke up, went about my daily routine of getting ready in the morning, and before I knew it, I was reaching into my makeup bag... and then I remembered... the time had come... to put the mascara down. As I looked in the mirror, I could not fathom leaving my room without doing something! I stood in front of the mirror and criticized how short my eyelashes looked without mascara, how the lines under my eyes clearly displayed that I did not get enough sleep that night, and how pale my face looked without something on it. I was so harsh... but as I looked up, I saw the words that I had written on my mirror at the beginning of the school year, which say, "You are the BELOVED of Christ." In the matter of seconds I internalized that message in my heart, and I prayed. I prayed for confidence, and I prayed for peace in my mind, so that I would not be focusing on what people might be thinking or saying about my appearance.
For the sake of a cool story, I wish I could say that this month has been this dramatic revelation of what beauty is, and how the Lord dramatically captivated my attention, but in all honesty, this is a boring story, because it was a slow, daily process, but I am okay with that. Each morning as I woke up, not putting makeup on got a little bit easier, especially as I looked up at those words... "You are the BELOVED of christ."
I am His creation. I am His work of art. I am His masterpiece. I was created in His image. There is no flaw in me, and that includes what my face looks like. I was created intentionally, and God does not make mistakes. My face is exactly as it is, because that is how He planned it to be! Each morning that I have woken up and looked in the mirror, the Lord has allowed me to fall in love with this truth more and more. The truth that He makes no mistakes, and that I truly am His beloved. Only He can tell me who I am, and there is absolutely no reason why I need to feel like I should hide who He has made me to be, especially behind makeup.
This month, the Lord has taught me that there is something absolutely incredible about a natural face, and a natural smile. He has taught me that my beauty is more than just what my face looks like, but it looks like the natural glow that a woman gets when she knows who she is in Christ, and when she is filled with the love and power of the Holy Spirit. He has allowed me to genuinely like what I see when I look in the mirror, because I finally realize that I am HIS wonderful creation that He took so much time and detail to create, and I now can praise Him for it!
There truly is something incredibly beautiful, and contagious about a woman who is secure in all of her uniqueness, her uniqueness that was so intentional and planned by the Lord. This month, the Lord has allowed me take off my security blanket, and put on a different one, and that is the security of His love and perfection. I am who I am because He made me that way... and that is absolutely perfect! That is never to say that there is no room for growth, because there definitely always is, but each day, the Lord is allowing me to discover more and more of that Godly confidence that I know He is just yearning for me to uncover and implement in my life, and for that, I am so, so grateful.
"You are altogether beautiful, my darling! There is no flaw in you!" Song of Songs 4:7
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