I just started reading The Lost Art of True Beauty, by Leslie Ludy. I am in the middle of chapter two, and slowly I am grasping the idea that in myself I am ugly, sinful, and have no value. But, I am slowly seeing the freedom and beauty that Christ brings to a person fully surrendered to Him. It's His beauty that makes a girl sparkle. This is a quote from Oswald Chambers. Read it over, and let it sink in.
"It is a tremendous freedom to get rid of all self-consideration and learn to care about only one thing - the relationship between Christ and ourselves."
Wow. I want that. To only care about my relationship with Christ...bliss.
Here's another quote:
"The secret to becoming the radiant, beautiful princess of our childhood dreams is forgetting all about our self, and becoming completely consumed with one thing - Jesus Christ....it's the cure for feminine insecurity."
Here's another quote:
"The secret to becoming the radiant, beautiful princess of our childhood dreams is forgetting all about our self, and becoming completely consumed with one thing - Jesus Christ....it's the cure for feminine insecurity."
I am just starting to catch a very small glimpse of Christ's design for beauty, true feminine beauty. Leslie writes about girls who are SO obsessed with becoming beautiful and alluring to guys, trying to find satisfaction in them. And the find NO SATISFACTION, plus their lives are dark and destroyed. The more I read about that, the more I want to run the complete opposite direction! I want Jesus to make me shine; to make me truly beautiful.
I'll leave you with one more thought.
"He is the lily, but His beloved is like He, for He applies His own chosen emblem to her - "As the lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters." Notice that He is the lily, and she is as the lily - that is to say, He has the beauty and she reflects it! She is comely in His comeliness which He puts upon her. If any soul has any such beauty as described here, Christ has endowed that beloved soul with all its wealth of charms, for in ourselves we are deformed and defiled!...There is no beauty in any of us, but what out Lord has worked in us."
I really love that book. It was hard to read because I discovered there was so much I needed to change (or really have GOD change in me)! But it was so helpful to my life in showing me real, physical, applicable things to do to draw nearer to Christ.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the quotes and what God has laid on your heart! I look forward to hear more of what you discover is you read! I'm going to be writing more about Set-Apart Feminity (reading for the 2nd time, this time taking notes :D) as I read more of it. Love you, dear!
Yeah, everytime I read, God shows me new, and amazing, simple things! (Well, not always simple.) :P Love you too!! I am so looking forward to reading the rest of it.
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