There's no such thing as a pretty Christian

The other day Jose and I were having a nice dinner at one of our favorite places right around closing time. In the corner of the restaurant sitting at the bar was a very loud woman and 2 very loud men who from their very loud conversation I gathered were both trying to pick up the very loud woman. Normally when I'm at a restaurant with Jose I don't notice other people (so if you ever see me at a restaurant and I don't see you don't take offense just know I'm on a hot date ;) However as I mentioned before this group was very, very loud. One of the men told the woman that she is beautiful. She then began to rant about how girls are told from the time they are very young they are beautiful and it doesn't mean anything to women to hear it. (this is false, women who hear it all the time may think it means nothing but if they stopped hearing it for a couple weeks...you better believe they will be doing whatever they can to hear it again.) This conversation and a few others I've had recently have had me thinking about the subject of beauty.


When I was younger I was always told that I was very beautiful. I heard it often enough that it did things to my self esteem that you can't manufacture and in turn I think it made me seem more beautiful because not only was I attractive I behaved with the self confidence of someone who knows they are attractive. (what do you think makes movie stars even the ones that are just so/so seem so beautiful?) As I turned from adolescent to young adult I started getting exposed to religious people who deemed beauty a liability. Twisting scripture such as "man looks on the outside but God looks at the heart" to mean that if you are pretty or attempt to look your best you have the wrong focus. The other one I heard a lot was "charm is deceitful and beauty is vain" (I have an opinion on these verses I will address later in this post) So I started to have an inner conflict. I didn't want to be ugly but when you are told by enough people that you must if you want to be saved (essentially) you start to think (at least I did) that maybe, just maybe you can't be pretty and a Christian. So then comes a subconscious choice. Love God or be beautiful? Honestly for awhile I chose the latter. (sad but true) Then after I came to myself and realized I had lost God somewhere back there I started to let myself go a little and try to hide my beauty. (I know, I know, I told you I have a pretty healthy *maybe even overly healthy* :s self esteem) You must understand I didn't sit there and think "God or beauty? God or beauty? O.k. I pick beauty...Now I pick God" Like I said it was mostly subconscious.

So for awhile now I've been told the things I was told before were not correct. God loves beauty! Look around you. Wherever you are you are surrounded by the wonder and beauty of God's creation. Even if you are sitting inside with no plants you are still surrounded by the beautiful colors God created. If he didn't love beauty then why did he make flowers beautiful? Even fruit and vegetables are absolutely, brilliantly beautiful! (where else can you eat a rainbow naturally?)

Now to address the scriptures I spoke of before 1 Samuel 16:7 "But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" This verse was talking to a man choosing the future king. God was telling him not to judge others based on their appearance. (ironic, no?) Yes we can use it as a reminder that just because Joe Shmoe thinks you are an angel because you look like one that is not exactly a God breathed endorsement of your spiritual health. But *I* believe it is mostly a reminder for us to not follow someone because they *look* like a leader but because God has ordained them to be. Ok next verse

Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. (NLT version) {whoops those people that were preaching to me before kind of left something off}. Ok yes this does say charm is deceptive, but I think people see that and say to themselves "oh no! charming people are deceptive! Must run away from all charming people" (shoots a leery glance at the handsome prince they married, "I knew there was something off about him" ahem, anyways) That is not talking about charming people it's talking about charm in general. Some people particularly women (imho) can come off as charming at first but it's like a mask. Charm can be taught (hello! Charm school anyone?) but it's not real. Not everyone is charming all the time, at some point prince charming stops putting his shoes in his closet and his undies in the laundry basket (not my prince charming, but you know *other* prince charmings out there) and there comes a point in time when a woman takes of her make-up or *gasp* doesn't wear any sometimes. See what I mean? Its a mask. Next part, beauty does not last. Beauty fades! Yes it does we all know it. We all (or almost all) try to deny it and color our grays, buy wrinkle creams, exercise our bodies into submission but we all pretty much reach our most attractive point at a young age and then (very, very slowly) ;) grow older and not as beautiful as we once were. However that does not mean that until your beauty fades you cannot be a good God-fearing woman! Not at all! If your focus is on being beautiful on the outside and you forget the necessary inside beautification then your in trouble. Wash yourself with the word woman! How many days do you go without taking a shower? If you don't do that regularly you will stink! Also you will start to look gross. (you know it happens) So why do we go days sometimes without taking our daily Word bath? Honestly? Nobody sees us not reading our bible. We can charm our way into seeming like we did it. But God sees. If we really fear him really, honestly care most about what he thinks then we will take the time to talk with him each day and read the beautiful love letters he wrote us. Read this

How beautiful you are, my darling,

how beautiful!

Your eyes are like doves.

My dove is hiding behind the rocks,

behind an outcrop on the cliff.

Let me see your face;

let me hear your voice.

For your voice is pleasant,

and your face is lovely.

You have captured my heart,

my treasure, my bride.

You hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes,

with a single jewel of your necklace.

Your love delights me,

my treasure, my bride.

Your love is better than wine,

your perfume more fragrant than spices (taken from song of Solomon)

Alright ladies. That was written for you. How do you feel? Has anybody on earth told you something that beautiful? (it is possible I know, just not very common) Reading that, do you think the one who invented flowers and wrote that for you wants you to be ugly? Or pretend you don't want to be what he made you? I don't think so! You are beautiful! God made you that way so play it up! Just don’t let yourself get too carried away. Balance is the key to life. Be beautiful for God and you will be fine. (oh and it's ok to like it when people say your pretty or beautiful...and in case you aren't sure, the proper response to such a statement is "Thank you" )

Logans first lesson in tithing

When you become a parent there are tons of books, websites, etc... totally devoted to telling you how to raise a happy healthy child. One that loves to eat vegetables, generally behaves as an adult and is potty trained by their second birthday. Most of it is well meaning but not very practical or maybe it only works on those children that were meant to be angels. (I wouldn't know what those are like from personal experience though I have 2 pretty great kids)
There is also an abundance of advice you are given by friends family and well meaning strangers, even before the children are born. (I think every grandma/mother in my town told me to enjoy every minute of my baby(s) because they grow up before you know it) Most of that in my humble opinion is more practical but you still have to learn to take the advice you can use and not be overwhelmed by it.
Some advice I have been given which I think is pretty valuable is basically "You can teach with your actions much more easily than with words" a different take on "Actions speak louder than words"
One of the "actions" Jose and I have been teaching our children with is Tithing and Offering. We live by our giving, and God has always provided for us even when we didn't see it.

So last week Logan went to church with Jose to clean up from our New Years Eve service. We have a balloon drop every year and about 98% of the balloons get popped within the first couple seconds of hitting the ground. So while they were picking up and throwing away the balloon pieces Logan also found some change. Jose said he could keep it and he never mentioned it until Sunday. We were about to leave when he yelled "Oh no! I need my offerings! I'll be right back, wait for me" He dashed upstairs to his room and came back with his coins jingling in his hand. I helped him put it in his pocket. 7 cents, that is what he had, and that is what he gave. I thought it was cute and was proud of him (especially because nobody told him to give it. It was a choice he made for himself) But honestly forgot about it after I dropped him off for Sunday school. A couple days later he was at Wal-Mart with my Father in law. They were standing in line to pay when an older couple in front of them turned around and gave Logan a gold dollar coin.

I wasn't there so all I know is what Logan and Jose's dad told me but I know why they gave it to him. The first thing I thought of was his "offerings" on Sunday. It was a small reminder that when you "Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back."

Luke 6:38

New Year, New Adventure

It occured to me the other day that we can no longer say that we are going to Peru *next year* it is now this year that we are going. I can barely believe it and I can hardly stand it! I'm so excited about going that it's always on the corner of my mind. Today was a big day for us as our Pastor officially signed off on our mission. He gave us some great encouragement also. It's so awesome to have his support :) We will be the first missionaries raised up and sent from Powerhouse!   

Christmas at our house

This year Christmas day was very low key. We attended our church Christmas Eve service and opened presents that night then we stayed up late playing with our goodies. Christmas day we spent the morning watching movies and playing candyland. Then we drove to College Station with Jose's family to visit Santas Wonderland. If you haven't heard of it is a huge drive through Christmas light village. At the end you have the option to go to Santas village where they have a Christmas movie playing and little shops to buy Texas themed Christmas stuff. (I was a bit underwhelmed by the village but the lights were well worth the drive) 

I just want to take a moment to thank all of our friends and family that are supportive of our ministry (in word, action, and spirit) You mean more to us than we can easily express and we thank God for you every day. Please continue to keep us in prayer as we are right now in the tedious part of preparing to go. Gathering financial support, working out details of accepting/receiving that support. Making out a written mission statement, plan. Also for me learning spanish. (If you live near me and you speak spanish harrass me about it. I need help staying motivated about my lessons)

I will leave you with Logans version of the Christmas story and some pictures of this past month.
"Once upon a time baby Jesus and his mommy and daddy went to the farm to live. But there was nowhere for them to live and nobody would let them live in their house so they slept in the hay with the animals. Then the bad Angel took all of baby Jesus' clothes. So his daddy killed the angel. Then the bad king killed all the baby's so Baby Jesus mommy put him in a basket in the water. The Princess found him and he was the King so all the other kings gave him presents."
(I am not making that up he told me that exact story)

Logan and his cousin Domenico

Logan and his cousin Sophia (He loves spending time with her)

Our silly little family

Logan and Daddy decorating the Christmas Tree

Logan hard at work

Timothy "helping"

If daddy gets out of the car Timothy jumps in the drivers seat a.s.a.p.

     

~ Simply Having A Wonderful Christmastime! ~

I love Christmastime! Since I live in Houston (for now) I can't say anything about snow. ~although we did get some this year~ But I love the sounds and the smells. The Food. The baking. The gifting. The Food. The family time. The lights. The food. The picking out that special thing for that special someone. Did I mention the food? I could go on and on about everything I love about Christmas and the Holiday season. However there is something I'm not so fond of this time of year. Because we are Christians we love hearing the mention of Christ whenever we buy groceries and seeing little pictures and statues and inflatable front yard thingies of what artists (also known as Chinese factory workers) think Jesus looked like when he was a baby. But the last year or two I've seen a lot of taking Christ out of Christmas. Which is not cool. But I've also seen a lot of Christians stop acting like Christians because of it. So here is my plea to God fearing men and women this year. If someone says Happy Holidays, Season's Greetings or nothing to you today, instead of getting all red in the face and Screaming "Don't you know what this "SEASON" is?!?! It's about JESUS you Jerk!" Try a kinder, gentler approach. Smile act like someone the happy holidayer might actually want to talk to and say "Merry Christmas!" if it is a waiter or someone you traditionally tip give them a bigger tip than normal and if you feel like you can do it from the bottom of your heart throw in a "God bless you!"

I'm just saying. If you weren't a Christian which example would you be more likely to listen to and possibly learn from?