Wear the Lipstick!

Lately, I’ve been experimenting with my style – I guess it has something to do with going from girlfriend status to fiancé’ status to wife status. My most recent experiment has been with lipstick – red to be exact. Now to some this may be totally normal, but to me this was like a HUGE milestone that had me self-consciously checking my compact mirror every few minutes – is it on my teeth? Is it smeared somewhere other than my lips? Oh goodness, is it even still there?? True story.

The point is – being a woman is FUN, but sometimes I think we allow insecurities to rob us of the joy of experimenting with all things girly. We get so nervous to try something new because we fear what others might say. Honestly, sometimes I think if we had the opportunity to wear the wallpaper and “blend in” – we probably would.

We can be so silly!

The most inspiring women to me, are the women who have such a godly confidence about them, that it doesn’t matter whether they wear spiked heels, blue lipstick or a dress with a giant bow – they rock it! I desire to be that kind of woman one day – a woman so full of Jesus that He literally oozes out of her, a woman who can wear something totally cool and totally out of the ordinary a feel GREAT – not sit worrying constantly about whether it is “too much”, “too little” or if you are giving everyone else something to talk about.

A godly woman is a confident woman.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do I know who I am in Christ? This is the most important point. He created you, knows you and loves you – He was there in the beginning and will be there forevermore (Read & meditate on Psalm 139 today).
2. Am I surrounded by godly, confident friends? Do your friends compliment you and make you feel better about yourself? Or do they tear you down because of their own insecurities? [Side note: Just because a friend is insecure doesn’t mean we discard of them – I know what its like to be torn down by a friend but it is by the grace of God that we can love them through it and help them on their journey of gaining godly confidence.] Maybe you are that insecure friend? Don’t beat yourself up, our best move is to extend the grace that we would want to be extended towards us.
3. What am I longing to do but haven’t had the courage to try?  Do yourself a favor and other woman around you – DO IT! God has made you unique – own it. If you don’t get anything out of it, at the end of the day I am sure you will at least get a few good laughs, and that my friends is like medicine to the soul 🙂 (Its Biblical – Proverbs 17:22)

A confident woman knows who she is in Christ – she knows that the clothes don’t make her, but she makes the clothes. She knows that her security is found in the love & acceptance of Jesus Christ her Savior. She knows that no human can ever make her feel less than what she allows them to.

So, I challenge myself & I challenge you this week – do something different! Life is a fun adventure…wear the lipstick! 

I want what She’s got!

But you are not her and she is not you.

Women are awesome. As I get older – I realize more and more how truly incredible females are: they are beautiful in appearance, tender in nature and strong in character.

Yet, this is still not enough.

We live in a day and an age where another woman is the competition. If she’s pretty, she’s wearing too much make-up, if she’s sweet, she’s probably fake and if she has a good-looking man on her arm, well then quite frankly she must be sleeping with him. WHAT IS WRONG WITH US?! Well the answer is actually a lot simpler than I am sure we would like to acknowledge:

Comparison has become the thief of our joy.

 When we are not comfortable in our own skin – we take this very common insecurity out on other people. It has been said commonly – “the eyes that you view yourself with, are the same eyes that you will view others with.” This might not be true in your life, but it sure has been in mine. There have been countless times I have woken up, looked in the mirror and not liked what I saw, so to cure this I would spend the rest of the day finding reasons others may look worse – just to make myself feel better.

Many times, we look at the lives others lead and our own inadequacy flashes in our faces to a point where we find ourselves wanting what they have. We are quick to forget that things are not always as sunny as they may seem and every woman has struggles to work through and obstacles to overcome.

The point is – she is not you, and you are not her.

God has given you unlimited potential to do GREAT things – things that He has created YOU to do. There are gifts, talents and abilities that are on the inside of you and are unique to you. Whether you choose to acknowledge it or not, there is a generation crying out for what you’ve got (seems unthinkable right?) – crying out for what God has put on the inside of you to serve to the world. Are you going to rob the world of what you have because you are so stuck comparing yourself with others instead of taking what God has put on the inside of you and working on changing a generation?

(Side note: I want you to know as you read this that I am being very careful about writing this – these words are not out of a place of judgment but out of being in the same boat. The struggle really is real and nobody is alone in it.)

Maybe its time we stop seeing other women as the competition and instead see them as the joint force they are – a mighty sisterhood that has the ability to advance the Kingdom of God here on earth with their unique and wonderful talents. May we become women who praise others instead of tearing them down, be hospitable instead of cold and supportive instead of threatened.

To deny your own magnificence is to deny that the Creator of your very breath did a “good enough” job.

It is much easier said than done – but we can be so much more effective in life if we just choose to focus on the job God has given us to do instead of criticizing and gossiping about the job He’s given someone else. Actually, I have learned that you don’t want the job He has given someone else because He has given them the grace to do it and not me. I would then just be a hindrance to something wonderful. We can go through life constantly comparing ourselves to others – but when we one day stand before the Lord, He is not going to ask us about what someone else did, but about what we did.

“Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.” (Galatians 6:4 NLT).

I praise God for His mercy on my life and His Word that leads me. I am not perfect and I think this is an area that will always be tough for us as women. But I pray that we will become women who make our Father proud by living our lives to bring Him glory in who He has made US to be. You are unique, you are wonderful, you are beautiful, you are fearless and you are exactly who God has made you to be.