Forever Beloved

Faith, Love & Truth

Judging Others

This is a subject God has been laying on my heart for quite a while now. And I kept saying “Awwwww God, are you sure? This is a hard topic!”. I seriously doubted I could do it and i made a million excuses as to why I couldn’t. Honestly, I’ve been putting it off. It’s a risky subject to talk about. It’s a subject that every. single. person. in the world like to weigh in on. As I keep putting it off, God keeps nudging me and has met me at my doubts. He even put a book in my path that was filled with this topic. Finally, today, I’m trusting Him with it.

The topic…judging others.

First of all, let me get it out there: I am a recovering judge. Not the good kind, who approaches sinners in love and addresses sin in a biblical manner. But the bad kind, who casts judgment with a condescending glance {y’all, I have this look down pat}, a whispered tsk-tsk and an eye roll. When I was first married, my husband would say “You think you’re so much better than them” and I would promptly respond with “No, I know I’m better than them”. I know, I know…not my most shining moment as a Christian.  I’m telling y’all, I bet working on this girls heart wore God out some days!
How many times have we all heard ‘Don’t Judge Me’, ‘Judge not’, ‘Stop Judging and Love’, ‘Who am I to judge?’ or other similar ones these days.  And I’m sure we’ve all saw the quote below.  I see it just about daily either on a friends Facebook wall or pinned on their Pinterest.  While I agree, we all do sin differently, I was curious about this subject from a Biblical perspective.

As Christians, we are often accused of being judgmental. Goodness, poor Phil Robertson created two media crazystorms being accused of being judgmental. As soon as you start talking about judging, the first verse pulled out is Matthew 7:1, Judge not, that ye be not judged.

I do agree with this…tearing others down, judging harshly, judging their hearts, making rash and unkind judgments is all wrong.  Totally wrong.  It’s absolutely not our place to judge others hearts.  There is only one person that can do that, God.

But if we were all honest, don’t we all judge every day?  Don’t we all make calls every day based on wisdom and discernment?  Y’all, that’s judging!  As a Mama, don’t you judge television shows to see if your kids can watch them?  As a wife, don’t you judge what actions you should and shouldn’t do?  Don’t we make daily calls on what is wise to spend our money on?  And hello, have you ever sat on a jury?  Yep, that was all you judging someone.  So can we really actually say we should all just stop judging?

Did Jesus judge others?  I mean, surely He came into contact with tons of sinners.  How did He handle it?  When Jesus encountered people who were caught in sin, first He showed them love, (the woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery), then He told them to go and sin no more. He never insisted they stop sinning first.

Wow.  So before He judged them, He loved on them.  He didn’t scoff at them, roll His eyes and treat them poorly.  HE LOVED THEM! Is it easier to hear criticism from someone if they loved on you first? If they said it with kindness and you knew their heart was in the right place? You betcha! It’s all about love people. Gods greatest commandment was love one another {John 13:34}.

If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.
Matthew 18:15

Now let’s get to the hard part, the actual judging.  The Bible tells us that we are our brothers keeper and we are to care about each other.  If we see someone in the church that is struggling, it’s our place to go to them in love and talk to them.  In essence, judge.  Honestly, what our “judging” should look like is being filled to the top and over flowing with love, caring and helpfulness.  We all stumble and fall and we all need someone to help pick us up.

Is there a pregnant teen in your church?  Take her to lunch, see what she needs, throw her a shower…SHOW her God’s love.  Is there someone in your church having an affair?  Go meet privately with them, tell them you know what’s going on and ask how you can help, direct them to a marriage counselor…SHOW them God’s love.  Is there a new member of your church that is homosexual?  Take them to lunch, get to know them, reach out to them…SHOW them God’s love.  That, my sweet friends, is what our judging should look like.

Let me end this by saying I’m far from perfect myself and sure need lots of reminding from the Lord as to how my walk should be going. But thankfully His grace is new every morning. I just hope to maybe give a little honesty and hopefully open your heart to God’s direction.

Slowing Down

A few weeks ago my family went on vacation. I have been looking forward to this vacation for 8 months. I just wanted to hit the pause button and have a big, relaxing, family-focused vacation.

Any time we all head on a road trip, it resembles a traveling circus. A bunch of crazy, lots and lots of laughing, movie watching, snack eating and naps.

The first morning there, I was up at 5:30 I was so excited. I just could NOT wait to do my morning devotions on the deck of the porch while watching the sun rise. It was absolutely breath taking!

I read the most amazing book while I was there, I did a review of it here. It was such a great time, just sitting by the pool, reading my book, drinking my coconut DD coffee (can you say LIFESAVER) and watching my loves swim.

We had lots and lots of beach time this week. Sitting on the beach, sand castles, wave jumping, the occasional wave knocking you down and rolling you around a bit (normally accompanied by a swimsuit malfunction) and seashell searching. It was so super relaxing!

We always look forward to the sand sculptures this man makes.  What a mission he has!  This is right in front of our hotel, so we got to sit and watch him sculpt the one below.  It took him an entire day (8 am – 9 pm) to make this.  And to think of HOW many people are exposed to daily just blows my mind.  What talent and heart!

Aahhh yes, this is what happens when Jade takes your camera.  Actually, this face is what happens every time my camera comes out, as you can see above too.

One thing that my family loves is seagulls. We kinda sorta like them. And we name them. And we may or may not talk like we are them.  And we laugh hard.  Although they are super sketchy, I’m very thankful none of them pooped on me (Joe can’t say the same). And yes, we bought bread and got up early just to feed them. Which kinda sorta incited a bird riot.  This brave and thankful bird ate right out of Miss Jade’s hand.  Not just once but a few times.

And this picture makes me laugh, hard.  Just Joe, Jade and bunch of bird heads.

I will admit, I was ready to come home by the end of the week.  I was ready to sleep in my own bed and not live out of a suitcase.  It’s nice going away, but it sure is nice coming home!

Younique 3D Fiber Lash Mascara {My New Adventure}

I am a mascara freak.  Seriously.  Let me explain why.  I somehow inherited hooded lids.  So when I don’t wear mascara, as you can see below, my lashes are barely visible.  Goodness, I wish I was one of those girls lucky enough to have amazing lashes.  I cannot tell you how many $8 tubes of “fabulous” mascara I bought, always with the same crummy results.  I know, right?  Super frustrating!
And then the most aaaaaamazing thing happened!
I kept seeing this “3d Fiber Lash Mascara” popping up on my newsfeed on FB.  After seeing it so many times, I was super intrigued.  I finally made the plunge and bought it.  As soon as I received it and put it on my lashes, I was in love.  I instantly booked a party!  And before my party was even over, I signed on to become a Presenter.
This is a picture of my own personal lashes, before and after the 3d Mascara.  Is that the craziest thing you’ve ever saw?  I know!!!  

Presentation is everything to me and when I saw the case (YES, CASE!!!) that this arrived in I was even more excited. I mean, this mascara is housed in a case that is nicer than the ones that hold my sunglasses! It is THE cutest case, for reals. This mascara is a two step process so inside the case are two tubes of product. One is the Transplanting Gel and the other is the Natural Fibers. When you pull out the fiber wand, it looks like a little puff ball. It is a hair-like substance that instantly adheres to your lashes.  You can see the case and the tubes in the picture below.

The mascara comes with instructions, so I was super stoked about that as well.  The instructions were simple.  You apply it gel, fibers, gel.  You apply one coat of the Transplanting Gel and before it dries apply the Natural Fibers. Seal those fibers into place with another coat of the Transplanting Gel. The nice thing is you can just keep applying layers until your lashes are as long as you’d like them.  You can either apply it over your normal mascara or just on your naked lashes.  I personally prefer just on naked lashes, but that’s me. 

 
The final picture above gives a really good look at the actual fibers. You can see that they sort of piled up onto themselves and actually created something that is almost identical to a natural lash look, but LONG.

You probably don’t need me to tell you this but it is AMAZING. Just look at the photos if you want the proof. Now for how to remove them…this is the awesome part…just your normal face wash and water. Or, as I use mostly, a makeup remover wipe. 

Here is a video I made of just how easy they are to apply.  In this video I applied it over my normal mascara.  I’ve since figured out that I like it much better on naked lashes.

Intrigued and want to try it?  Seriously, you will NOT regret it.  Just visit my site at www.moodstruck3d.com and place your order.  The shipping is super fast and within days you’ll have long, fab lashes!