Give her the reward she has earned, 

and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Proverbs 31:31

throughout all of Proverbs 31, we see this woman who works hard with her hands.  if we want to be a woman that honors God, we see over and over that we must work with our hands.  we must be willing to work with our hands doing those mundane things.  and do them with a joyful heart.  we need to use our hands to serve our husband, serve our littles and serve those outside of our home.  this reminds me of a quote by the Shakers “hands to work, hearts to God”.  i’m going to tell ya’all, this week as i was cleaning the kitchen for the 1,284 time that day, i felt a little sass rising up in my heart.  and at that moment God reminded me of this.  

this lady has worked hard and now she gets rewarded for that.  and what is her reward?  praise!  who is praising her?  her children (vs. 28), her husband (vs. 28-29), the Lord (vs. 30) and the community (vs. 31).  she certainly isn’t going around town singing her own praises with pride and arrogance.  this lady is humble.  in her heart, she worked hard for her family because she knew it honored God.  she didn’t do it for praise.  

Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; an outsider, and not your own lips.

Proverbs 27:2

how is it possible that we are already at the end of our study on the Proverbs 31 woman? thank you so much for joining me weekly! i will absolutely admit, i’m a little sad. i’ve enjoyed every second of diving into His word and finding out as much info as i could about this noble woman. and i loved how it’s impacted my life!  though we might have ended the series, i never want to stop striving to be this noble lady and follow in her footsteps.

out for now

~kisses

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; 

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. 

Proverbs 31:30

of all the weeks we’ve been doing this study, this one has spoken the loudest to my heart. i will absolutely admit, i’ve struggled with a poor self-image most of my life. i’ve never thought i was thin enough, pretty enough or worthy enough. i would be ashamed if ya’all could heart the ugly self-talk that goes on inside my head. it’s not pretty. not at all. it’s something that God has revealed in my heart that i need to tend to.

fast forward to this weeks bible study.

this girl is a slow learner but i’m fairly sure this week God got His point across to me, loud and clear. how many of you just said a little silent hallelujah? i know, me too!

the kind of beauty i’ve stressed and worried about my entire life is external beauty. the one all of us women think about, whether we admit it or not. the kind the media throws in our face daily. the kind we all wish we had more of.

then there is inner beauty. the one no one can see. the one that is there if people would give us time to show it. the one that God see’s and appreciates. inward beauty holds much more value than outward beauty. and the beauty of our heart is so much more important.

so how can we balance outer and inner beauty?

i think modesty is really important.  you can convey beauty and femininity with conveying your sexuality. allow your appearance to reflect your pure and virtuous heart. know your worth and reflect it on the outside. your body is a gift from God, honor it as such.     

be beautiful with your attitude and speech.  your words are a mirror to your heart.  i’m sure you’ve been around an attractive person that instantly became unattractive by the ugly that came out of their mouth.  

still tend to your appearance.  i’m not suggesting that it become necessary to throw away my makeup forever and go through life looking less than presentable. ya’all, that is not going to happen! we do need to take care of our appearance and not let our self go. we need to still celebrate our womanhood and remind our husband what he has.  i’m sure the lovely Proverbs 31 lady certainly doesn’t wear sweats everyday with her hair in a bun.  she took pride in her body, heart and mind!  she truly was Gods kind of beautiful.

but most of all, this woman fears the Lord. a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. i think that fearing the Lord means i live my life for Him, with respect for Him, honoring Him and i want to please Him. it means living every day knowing He is there with you.

we are beautiful on the inside and outside when we acknowledge Christ’s deep and abiding love for us. love that doesn’t change with our accomplishments or appearance.  i keep reminding myself, He was the first one to call me beautiful.  not because of my appearance, but because of my heart.  for who i am.  for my soul.   He loves me in spite of my scars, booty, nose, bags under my eyes, discolored skin and droopy eyelids. His love is always, always, forever there…accepting us exactly for who we are.

let Him love on you, you’re the love of His heart!  you are His precious daughter, His lovely princess. His joy. the apple of His eye. He loves you to the moon and back. and He calls you beautiful!

~kisses

Her children arise and call her blessed; 

her husband also, and he praises her: 

“Many women do noble things, 

but you surpass them all.” 

Proverbs 31:28-29

this beautiful, noble lady poured out her life, her everything, into her family. what does she get in return? true sanctification. she doesn’t ask for praise and she doesn’t do things with the ulterior motive of praise. her hearts desire is to live every day to the glory of God and serve her King.

praise is such a wonderful reward that will never fade like other gifts. wouldn’t you rather have your husband and children’s praise than flowers or chocolate?  some praises might not come until your children are older, looking back and realizing all you’ve done for them. think now, as an adult, to your own mama. don’t we all rise up and call her blessed? all the little things we now realize she sacrificed for us. all the times she disciplined us then went to her room and cried her eyes out because it broke her heart. all the times she put herself second, third or fourth for us. {because i know my mama reads my blog, i want her to know i am definitely calling her blessed}.

in the end of our days, won’t that be worth it all? as a mama, you honored the Lord and your children watched that and soaked it all in. they’ve watched you being gentle, kind, compassionate and generous. they’ve watched you having a servants heart and sacrificing your time for others. they’ve watched you pray, seek and trust while living and walking with God. inside the walls of our own home is where us mama’s will do the most important work of our lives!

remember, He sees all of your hard work, the tears you’ve cried and the tender love you have given His children and He rejoices in you!!! i’m going to tell you, reading this truth warms my heart. i had a little bit of an ouchie mama week, as we all do from time to time. just knowing that He knows my heart motives and that He sees the tears i cry is so so comforting to me.

in my mind, when her husband looks at her he catches his breath. he feels as if he is the luckiest man in the world to have such a noble, loving, caring, kind, compassionate and beautiful wife. i can’t imagine there being any women out there that wouldn’t want their husband to look at them that way. i would much rather have that than flowers!

out for now
~kisses