Makeovers

This morning when I was at the gym, I glanced up at the TV and noticed women on a talk show showing off their new made over looks. I’ve always loved makeovers, women just seem so excited about getting a fresh new look and their spirits seem to be more settled. I love it.  I think that’s why I loved being a Beauty Consultant for the past 6 1/2 years; makeup and beauty advice are my thing... or was my thing. It is so much fun for me to give a woman a makeover that lifts her spirit!! Watching makeovers on television is so much fun, I just digest the information and give it out again.  I can make a woman who is over 40 look 5 years younger with makeup alone. Its amazing how just a few changes can make such a huge difference!!

1 Samuel 16:7 “God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (NASB).

It seems to me that women were born with a desire to want to feel beautiful and man does look on the outward appearance. We can get a huge dose of confidence from a makeover, and that is great!! If you haven’t ever had one with someone who knows what they’re doing, you should definitely take the time!!  It seems that more and more of us are not taking the time; moreover, ignoring our outward appearance to the line of social acceptance. Sometimes its the season to take less time than it is in another season, like as a stay at home Mom compared to being part of the “work force”, for instance. The heart; however, needs constant attention.

I’ve noticed in my own life over the years I got to the point of ignoring my inward appearance, my heart.  I struggled with depression & suicidal thoughts overwhelmed me; I shut down and buried myself in things that would keep me from thinking at all.  The end of the day when I’d crawl into bed to go to sleep was a very dark time frame in my mind, body, & spirit, because it all came into focus. It was as if I hadn’t bathed in years, & all grooming efforts went out the window.  My mind, body, & soul needed rescue & an emergency makeover!   In January 2012, I was kind of lost and I started praying that God would take me back to the joy of His salvation, as the psalmist did in Psalm 51:12, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”  I had absolutely NO CLUE how in the world I’d’ ever get there, but I figured it was worth a shot to pray since God is God and probably knows what He’s doing even if I don’t know.  It was definitely worth praying!! God please bring me back to the joy of Your salvation. That was it, I’d stop praying after that one sentence.

At the beginning of March, God put me in a position to cross the line, to jump in the suds and come out with a fresh new look. The funny thing about taking a bath in His Love & allowing Him to groom us is that it should to be done daily.  Our natural tendencies can get us ‘stinking to high heaven’ spiritually if we don’t bathe in His Word, allowing Him to transform us, growing fruit of the Spirit in us & giving it out to others again, that they may know the ‘good news’ of God.  In this past month, I’ve had to come to terms with some of my spiritual immaturity. For starters, I’m recognizing past tendencies to get angry with Him if something bad or unexpected happened.  Closeness with God or doing the right things, does not mean everything is going to be ‘peachy’, life on earth is still just that, life.  Life can be painful and messy, but what God does promise is that He’ll be there for us to carry us through it. He can handle our anger, that’s not the issue, the issue is thinking God must owe me something if I live clean OR thinking He must hate me if I fall into sin.  Neither is true. He wants to be in a loving relationship with us, which includes doing things for the other simply because you Love them and it includes things happening that make the other sad or angry & still resting in one another’s love.  God is so much bigger than we could ever imagine. He is perfect, holy, He is Love, mercy & grace, He knows everything & sees everything, He knows what the best thing is for us and wants to get us there & so on; these things are difficult for the human brain to wrap itself around, but that doesn’t make it less true. Its easy to deny that we have problems, or hatful thoughts, or wrong actions, but if we were all more honest we would all know that we are not alone in having these negative traits! No one is perfect; so lets discipline ourselves to allow God to truly make over our  minds, bodies and souls that we would fully Love Him as He Loves us & so that we can truly be transformed.

Thank you, Lord, for carrying me daily.