October 27, 2012 Greetings My Friend, I am loving being able to hear my favorite radio preachers etc. I am moving and doing and frankly it feels wonderful. I do stop and sit and hopefully I can soon do a day without the constant stopping but if it keeps up I am ok with that. One of the thoughts I ponder from time to time is what I wear to church. I have changed through the years and at this point I believe it is not what I am wearing but where my heart is. For me I believe when God had the priests put on underwear that said volumes. They were to put on underwear so they would not inadvertently expose themselves. That was the biggest lesson I learned in the OT. Oh and being clean. God was often telling them to wash up before a get together time. I see the washing up in a couple of ways. God wants us to clean our bodies and I believe if God wants a clean body then it is for our health that we need to clean them. The other part of the washing I also associate with the heart. God wants us clean from the inside to the outside. He wants my thoughts to not focus on filth or anger etc. God wants me to consistently clean my heart. In the NT I find the teaching for women to not focus on our looks that much. I find God wants us to be more focused on what He considers important. For me I can get into make-up a bit too much. I miss the days where I had eye shadow on each and every day. I felt like a girl with it on. I can’t wear it anymore due to allergies. I started doing some make-up routines in recent years and I am finding that I don’t have the need anymore. Junior loves me with or without make-up. He finds me attractive in almost any situation. He has thought I was cute with a few pounds on me. He thinks I’m cute at a better weight too. For the first time in my life I have discovered that men like their women the inside part more than the outside part. Junior loves me because I care for him and am not ashamed to be seen with him. It isn’t all about my looks. He does enjoy looking on occasion but I am his beauty, he will tell you so. My girl behavior at present seems focused on my hair. I’ve grown it out some and it gets in my way sometimes. My nose will itch and I want to pull it back so I am toying with hair clips and bands and frankly I am having fun. The little bit of color is fun. For some reason it fills the girl need in me and I enjoy it so that is where I turn my attention to these days. As I have learned to go without make-up I find myself giving “me” to the world even more so. I am not hiding behind make-up anymore. I also find that I am loved and wanted and it is not all about my looks. I like learning that lesson a ton. So I reflect again on what I have learned reading my Bible. God seemed to get that women want to look “just right” for their men. I remember as a teenager thinking I had to wear hip huggers or a bikini so I could get a boy to check me out. I wanted a boy’s attention and I was willing to do these things. In my high school years the dresses were real short too. I wore mine short. I was tiny and relished that I was cute in short skirts. One day you find that you are not that tiny little person any more. These days’ people tell me I am small and I think “really” I am heavier than I have ever been. I weigh more than when I gave birth to my children. I struggle seeing me this way. I had put on weight and needed to lose some so I asked my Doctor what a good weight was for me. I needed to be a good ten pounds heavier than I was in high school. That hurt. At this stage in my life I find my looks aren’t that important. It is more what is in my heart that people truly like. I find the more I give God all of me, that person deep inside is when I feel content. It isn’t about what clothes I wear. Junior has been a thrift store shopper for years. Since I’ve been with him I have come to enjoy thrift stores and to be honest a good portion of my clothes come from there these days. Through the years I have learned that no one sees me with designers label’s on. They see if I have a constant attitude. They see if I have a heart for those in need. They see how I relate to my husband. It isn’t what I have on but how I present myself. That is what people see. So again I learn to be neat, be clean and give my heart where I can. Junior often goes to church in jeans and a tee shirt. For a long time we have heard of people not going to church because they don’t have the right clothes. Our thought is if someone comes in and sees us in less dressy clothes then maybe they will continue to come. Now there are the ones who say they don’t have anything to wear but they also never truly wanted to go. This is their excuse and frankly there isn’t much I can do to change their mind. Then again there is the person who truly has little or nothing and they come and find Jesus well I’m grateful at that point. What is beneath your looks? May God bless you and keep you, make His face to shine upon you. Love Janet