Forever Beloved

Faith, Love & Truth

a proverbs 31 woman

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!

out for now

~kisses

a proverbs 31 woman

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

a proverbs 31 woman

She watches over the affairs of her household 
and does not eat the bread of idleness. 
Proverbs 31:27

this noble lady truly is the heart of her home.  as women, wives and mothers we need to know what is going on in our home. we need to know what is going on with our husbands and children, how were their days, what are they struggling with. we really need to make an effort to find those things out. not just to be nosy either, but to know what they need help with, what they need prayer for and what we can do to help. where is the best place to catch up? over the dinner table. this world of ours is soooooooooo fast. many times we are just off and running in different directions. we truly need this time with our family to reconnect and slow down.

i also think we are to watch over the affairs of our household in another way. as wives, we are to manage our household. we are to love on everyone in our household, keep it clean and organized, have food bought and prepared, have clothing for our family and so much more. we are to watch over all these other tasks and make sure the household is running smoothly.  delegate responsibilities and chores as needed.  being a homemaker is a great and privileged responsibility.

So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander.
I Timothy 5:14
i don’t think this noble lady never allowed herself any downtime but i do believe that her downtime was productive.  as women, if we let our mind become idle (inactive) it becomes easier to take our eyes off glorifying God and off our own family’s needs and end up looking at what others are doing. normally this ends in us becoming jealous or discontent. i’m not sure about you, but i have no desire to spend my free-time making myself miserable. we need to really be mindful that even our free-time is productive. i looooove to read and have found some simply amazing, inspiring Christian books. spend time chatting with your husband or call a friend. i actually spend some of my free-time blogging 🙂 or spend some time creating something.
as a homemaker, i can tell you first-hand how easy it is to let time get away from you.  becoming idle is soooo easy!  there isn’t anyone here to tell me what i need to do, it’s up to me to see that for myself.  it’s easy to just hop on your laptop and think “oh, i’ll just be 5 minutes”.  and before you know it, you’ve been nosing around facebook for an hour.  what i try to do is only allow myself computer or tv time while i’m eating my lunch.  once i’m done, it gets shut off and i get back to work.
this week, look over your life and make sure you take that time out with your husband and children this week. don’t allow your eyes to wander, keep them firmly placed on God. and make time in His word a priority.
out for now
~kisses