A heartsy kind of day...

 A day of celebration. The celebration of love.
May this be a day to dwell on family, friends and most importantly God's love. His grace and mercy toward us. Let us turn our hearts to our Creator, to remember the blood He shed for us. The pain He bore for us. We are white as snow because of our loving Savior.

 Entering this one in Shelley's giveaway.

 Inspiration for decor from here and here.

But I trust in your unfailing love;
   my heart rejoices in your salvation.
 I will sing the LORD’s praise,
   for he has been good to me. 

Psalm 13:5-6

Happy Valentine's Day!...

Beauty

Source: Pinterest

Again I write on appearance. It's something I struggle with. I find myself thinking far too often if only I had so and so's nose or so and so's eyes, then I'd be beautiful. But honestly beauty is not just on the outside. You can't measure it. You can't buy it. There is no definition or equation that makes somebody necessarily beautiful on the outside.

I keep coming to grips with the truth. Beauty is more than skin deep. And most importantly, God creates true beauty. 

 Battling the lies of false beauty

1. God created me and you. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Even my freckles, eyebrows and nose. Beautifully made outside and inside. My heart, my lungs. The breath I just took. Who but God could create something so complex as humans?

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. Psalm 139:14

2. Beauty is more than lipstick and eyeshadow. It's a quiet spirit, a humble spirit. It's inward. It's selfless. Beauty is pure. No matter how hard we try to dress up our appearance, a grimy, neglected heart can't hide.

Only by cultivating our inward spirit, our heart, and our relationship with God can we find real beauty.

Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. 1 Peter 3: 3-4

3. Why do we feel inadequate, not pretty enough, and maybe a little ugly?

Well, it stems from sin. We're selfish---I'm selfish. We want to feel good enough and worthy. We want praise and acceptance... for the wrong reasons. Instead of being sufficient in Christ, we've taken it upon ourselves to try and feel accepted. But without Christ we can't be adequate. We fail. Then we may try and blame it on things that can't be changed, like appearance. (And if you think about it, we're really blaming God for making us the way He did) So instead of trying to stand out by ourselves, we need to lean on Christ, examine our hearts, and take a step backward from our sinful motives.

"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s."
1 Corinthians 6:19-20

As a side note, I do not have anything against makeup or looking pretty. I am merely pointing out that we can get caught up on only the outward. Thanks for reading!

................................................................

What does beauty mean to you? What are your thoughts?

Following Your Heart 2

My sister saw an ad in a magazine for birth control that read "You know in your heart when things are right.When your family is complete, choose Essure."

This statement is one example that tells you that you can make your own decisions just by knowing in your heart when some thing is right. But as scripture says:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it.
Jeremiah 17:9

If we are striving for a life that pleases God than this ad surely contradicts his word. We need to live our whole life up to God. If God gives us 30 children we should praise his name and ask him for guidance.

Psalm 127: 3-5
Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man ; so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

The devil is lurking closely behind us at every turn, we must look for signs of deception.
We must ask God for his wisdom when we make decisions and by also looking at scripture.

Proverbs 16: 9
A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject feel free to share your opinion.

Following Your Heart

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Jeremiah 17:9

In the world, over and over again we are told to follow our hearts. But isn't following your heart just another way of doing what you desire? Does it mean that if you feel like lying that you should? Or maybe stealing something because your heart told you to? Is that the right way of thinking? Should we really be letting our hearts lead us into its own ways? If we our trying to let God lead us then the best way is his way. So instead of following our own wicked hearts, God says that we should follow him. Through him comes all great power, no human can ever replace his favor and approval. In this we must strive for his pleasure and all abiding rule.

As for God, his way is perfect.
2 Samuel 22:31


This is a post I put on the family blog once already. But I wanted to share it again.