1 Peter 3: 3 Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. 4 You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. 5 This is how the holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They trusted God and accepted the authority of their husbands. 6 For instance, Sarah obeyed her husband, Abraham, and called him her master. You are her daughters when you do what is right without fear of what your husbands might do.
we as women are obsessed with our looks... no, we aren't obsessed with our own looks.. we are obsessed with everyone ELSE'S looks... I heard that less than 2% of the women in the world feel they are beautiful...
when I was growing up.. there was an italian girl that was in my circle.. and she was BEAUTIFUL... like put even adults to shame.. beautiful... she was trained as an opera singer... at a young age she sang in the Pittsburgh Opera... and she thought she was unattractive... she obsessed with what to wear and having her hair done and having better clothes and shoes than everyone else, because if she couldn't be the prettiest.. she would surely dress the best... and the rest of us wondered what was wrong with her... and why couldn't she see herself clearly....
when I was in the world... men flocked to me.. and women hated me... it had nothing to do with beauty... I believe it was about confidence... in real life it was about pride... I have been a size 4.. I have been a size 15... the size didn't matter... I have worn beautiful clothes... I have worn a too big sweat suit.. the clothes did not matter... it was something on the inside...
when I came into the kingdom... God had me change my manner of dress.. I no longer dress provocatively... I no longer go in public looking 'grunge' (although I surely do it at home...) I am always dressed and presentable.. (well at least 95% of the time..) but somehow.. I lost that confidence... that thought that no one else could compete with me... in the past I KNEW I looked better than the other women.. and she would know it too... but that is not the case now.. whatever the reason.. God seems to strip us of the things that we stood on... the things that made us confident...
in this scripture we see that a meek and gentle spirit.. someone who is obedient and quiet.. these are the things that the bible sees as beauty... I see this as truth in some of the older women in the church.. even though their outward beauty may not be what it once was... they always are elegant and gracious and beautiful... and amazingly... they are the ones that will tell you how beautiful you are... and you really believe it...
I pray for this meek and gentle spirit... I may be better than the past.. but I am surely not where I need to be... I would like to have my confidence in my appearance back.. but I doubt it... I think that God likes it when we know for sure that even our looks were not enough to get us where He would have us to go... it appears that true beauty in God's eyes is within.. if only we could accept that in our own minds.. we might get somewhere...
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