What Makes Women Beautiful

I once heard a story about a girl who was considered ugly. Her name was Mahana, but everyone called her "ugly". They despised her and told her she would never be desirable and no one would ever love her. Mahana was a hard worker and a kind woman who spent her days caring for her drunken father. A boy fell in love with her when they were both very young. One day he went away to make his fortune promising to return to marry her.

In that village, when a man went to marry he would give the father of his bride a bride price, often in the form of several cows as these were very expensive and highly prized. The women would often boast of how many cows their husbands had given for them. A very beautiful, much sought after young bride boasted that her beloved had given FIVE cows for her!

Years after the boy had left, Mahana had almost given up hope, when at last he returned a very rich, famous man. He then did an unheard of thing. He gave Mahana's father eight cows for her, shocking the entire village with this foolish bargain. They thought he had given much wealth for very little in return.

A short time later a tourist, the author of the story, went to visit the couple at their home and was amazed to find, not an ugly woman as he had been told to expect, but a very beautiful and happy wife!

I have met and known of a number of beautiful, single women. I have seen many of them marry and start their own families. The world would expect these women to become tired and stressed because of the type of life they have chosen, but I have noticed a peculiar thing. Every time I see one of these women I am wowed, knowing how beautiful they were before and seeing how they have changed. Marriage to a godly, loving man does something to a woman that I find intriguing.

Maybe I'm just weird, but these pictures make me get teary-eyed for the joy that they have found!

http://www.visionforum.com/hottopics/blogs/dwp/2009/11/5823.aspx

http://www.niednagel.com/blog2009/june10952.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_s6KGLk_x0wU/Sq14kmnaezI/AAAAAAAAClk/0QYVWW2VK2A/s1600-h/IMG_3850.JPG

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_t5lZxGqBzZw/SveRdTUpm-I/AAAAAAAAA6Q/FfWNkyVepxY/s1600-h/Wedding+1-6-09-20091108_PS_056.jpg

A Prayerful Woman

Psalm 5:2-3
Psalm 9:10
Psalm 34:15
Psalm 116:2
Proverbs 3:5-6
Matthew 21:22
John 16:24
Philippians 4:6
James 1:5-7
James 5:16

No writing assignment for this lesson, so I'm just going to post a few comments.

I have long believed in the power of prayer. When I was a little girl I prayed about everything....and I mean EVERYTHING! I prayed that God would help me find something I was missing. I prayed for certain things to happen and for certain things to not happen. Throughout the day if something came up I would say a quick prayer as I went along. I don't remember one time when I was not answered, whether I got a "yes" or a "no". I'm not sure where I got this habit, but I think it was a result of the power of prayer, no matter how insignificant the issue, was deeply ingrained into me by my parents.

There have been times when I prayed and God denied me what I asked for and instead showed me later how that was not what I really wanted. I have in the past actually prayed that I might marry some certain man, (or boy in most cases) but I don't pray that anymore. It's positively frightening to think what my life would be like if God had answered any one of those prayers!

I do, however, pray for my future husband. Proverbs 31:12 says, "She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life." I do not know who he is, or where he is, or what he's doing right now, but I do know that the prayer of faith will be answered. I usually pray that he will be blessed and whatever he touches will prosper. I pray that he will be strong in the Lord and resist temptation. But most importantly, I pray that he will love Christ more than anything else, including his wife.

I believe in the power of prayer and I believe in the power of a praying wife. I have heard testimonies of broken marriages put back together when a wife began praying for her husband. Imagine what our country would be like if we faithfully prayed for not only our husbands, but our children, siblings, parents, friends and enemies! An army of women doing battle on their knees surely defeat the powers of darkness and turn the world right-side up again!

The Current Crisis

Due to having received several questions about my Facebook status message yesterday, I have decided it might perhaps be expedient to clarify my meaning and hopefully clear up any misunderstandings.

I said, "Satan is destroying the world by spreading wrong ideas about over-population, equality of women and the hard work of raising a family. The same techniques won't work in the conservative Christian church, so he accomplishes the same goal by spreading wrong ideas about the Sovereignty of God, purity and singleness by twisting scripture and teaching it through the godliest among us."

Satan wants to prove himself stronger than God and therefore has made it his goal to counteract anything and everything that God is doing. The earth is the battlefield and we have the choice to join one side or the other. This enemy of ours is extremely cunning and intelligent. He knows what he's doing and we must be wise to not be taken in by his schemes.

In Genesis 1:28, God gave mankind their first command. The first part of that command is to "be fruitful and multiply". Considering this (and other scriptures, but this is the main one) I think it is safe to assume that God meant for us to bear children and populate the earth since that is what He said.

Naturally, (or rather unnaturally) Satan is opposed to this, so he has come up with a plan to keep us from fulfilling this God-given mandate. Plan A in our society today is to brain-wash people into believing several lies.

Lie #1: The earth cannot sustain the number of people currently living so in order to combat starvation, we should discourage large families and encourage people to have no more than 2 children if any at all.

Lie #2: Equality means similarity and women should throw off the bondage of men and turn their backs on caring for their families and join the world doing men's work better than the men did before.

Lie #3: On the one hand, we are told that caring for children is extremely hard work that only a few gifted individuals are capable of performing. On the other hand, we are taught that caring for children is so simple that to devote one's life to it indicates that a person is lazy. These two opposing arguments are used interchangeably depending on which argument is more expedient for the situation at hand.

These lies usually go over very well in the secular community and in the more liberal Christian church, (which means most of them). However, generally, the conservative Christian community is not so easily taken in. We know better than to believe these lies, so he has to resort other measures. Here are the lies which Satan has tricked many of us into believing:

Lie #1: God is sovereign and therefore decides every single little thing, even down to a typo, that happens. Because this is true, we do not need to worry about getting married and bearing children. God is in control, so if men and women get into their late twenties to early thirties and are still unmarried, it must be God's will that this be the case.
(Many people who hold to this view of the sovereignty of God fortunately do not take it to it's logical conclusion and are some of the strongest proponents of marriage, (for example, Doug Phillips, Voddie Baucham, John Piper, etc.). I am stating this point as a generalization, realizing that many Christians who believe in the sovereignty of God as defined in TULIP, do not agree with the conclusion.)

Lie #2: In order to remain pure and guard one's heart for one's mate, we must refrain from being friends with the opposite gender and only speak as much as is polite and necessary for business purposes. We should completely turn off all emotions relating to marriage and "go to sleep"/enter into a coma.

Lie #3: It is better to be single than to be married, therefore we should all strive to achieve this state if at all possible. 1 Cor. 7 is usually used out of context to support this view.

I hope this clearly answers some questions. Let me know if you're still confused. :)

A Woman Who Memorizes God's Word

Deuteronomy 6:6
Psalm 19:8
Psalm 119:9-16
Psalm 119:30
Psalm 119:105

In times past and outside of the U.S. today Christians have often found themselves in situations without access to a Bible. There are many who would be overwhelmed with joy upon receiving just one copy of the Bible or even just a small part of the scriptures. Most Christians in this rich society we live in take it for granted. So much so that they do not recognize the worth of this book that is so easily available to them. Many don't even read it at all. I personally own 4 copies of the entire Bible plus a small New Testament. I don't have to hide them for fear that I will be found out and reported or that someone will take them away.....yet. For now at least, these words from the mouth of God are there whenever and wherever I choose to study them. How could I not take advantage of this precious gift that was denied to others, but given freely to me?

But even that is not the most impacting reason for scripture memorization. Watch this video.

I have been told that most Muslims have not only the Q'uran memorized but also the entire New Testament and some of them parts of the Old Testament as well. With the statistics shown in the video and considering the fact that Islam requires that all dissenters, especially Christians, be eradicated, the importance of memorizing scripture skyrockets. Not only must we be "....ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you...." (1 Pet. 3:15b) but if we will not deny Christ in the face of persecution we cannot have spent our lives ignoring the only thing that strengthen us for the trials to come.

A Modest Woman Part 2

My first post for this lesson was extra. I didn't really know how to write what was actually assigned, so I just shared what was on my heart. Finally, after a week of total writer's block, I'm back in business, ready to roll!

For this lesson I was supposed to answer the question, "Does modest, God-pleasing dress require a woman to dress in a way that is dull and drab?" I would have to agree with most proponents of modesty that it is entirely possible to dress modestly without wearing burlap sacks all the time.

The Proverbs 31 woman, whom we all know so well as the example held up of a virtuous woman, is pictured making clothing for herself of tapestry, silk and purple (Prov. 31:22). When Abraham's servant found Rebekah for Isaac, after she had watered his camels, he gave her a gold earring (or nose ring depending on the version you're reading) and two bracelets. Rebekah was not immodest. Ezekiel 16 tells a story in which God clothes His bride with broidered work, badgers' skins, fine linen and silk. Further, He not only covers her with the most expensive, beautiful, high-quality fabrics but He adds bracelets, a necklace, earrings, a jewel on her forehead and a crown! (Ez. 16:10-13) She was very beautiful by the time He finished!

Many Christians use 1 Timothy 2:9 ("In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;") to teach that we are to dress plainly, with little or no decorations, uber simple fabrics, the same simple hair-do all the time, etc. But considering the examples above, if you believe as I do, that the Old Testament is just as relevant today as the New Testament, you've run into a bit of a paradox. We have examples in the OT of women being dressed in costly clothing, made to look beautiful, etc. and then Paul seems to say to not do those things.

I have a solution. If you study the history of how the women dressed during Paul's day it becomes more clear. The Roman women would braid gold into their hair in all sorts of elaborate ways, often one outfit cost as much as the average citizen made in a year...or more, they piled on the make-up much as I have seen some teenage girls do today. A Roman man once said to a lady, "While you stay at home, Galla, and preen yourself....your hair is at the hairdressers; you take your teeth out at night as you take off your silk frock, and sleep tucked away in a hundred cosmetics boxes--you don't even have your own face for a bed-fellow. Then you wink at men under an eyebrow that you took out of a drawer that same morning."

With this in mind, it is easy to see what Paul was concerned about. It wasn't that he was advocating that women not make themselves look attractive, but rather he was saying, "Be different! Don't do as the women around you are doing! The time they spend working on the outside, you should spend working on the inside!" He wanted them to not go overboard, but that doesn't mean we should go to the opposite extreme. Balance is the key.

A Modest Woman

Deut. 22:5
Matt. 5:28
Romans 12:2
Romans 14:13
Romans 15:1-2
1 Cor. 10:31
Eph. 5:3-4
1 Thess. 4:4-7
1 Tim. 2:9-10
James 1:14-15

"...'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'" John 3:3b

"And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." Rom. 6:18

This is the Christian life. This is what sets us apart from the world. A person can call themselves a Christian, they can go to church, say all the right things, read their Bible every day (even have it memorized word for word from cover to cover), have all the right answers and still not be a true follower of Jesus Christ. Christianity at its very core is a life lived, "forsaking all others" to follow Christ.

Since we now live only for Christ and no longer for ourselves we only have to worry about what Christ wants of us rather than what the world wants. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments." If we are truly His disciples we will obey his commandments:

Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matt. 22:37-40

...If we don't we are nothing. We are not Christs and have no reason to live.

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing." 1. Cor. 13:1-3

When Christ said to love our neighbor as ourselves He meant those of the opposite gender as well. He never said, "love your female neighbor" or "love your male neighbor", He said "love your neighbor". Period. That means everyone. If you truly love someone, you will want what is best for them.

"But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Matt. 5:28

So if a man lusts (to lust means to have to have an intense sexual desire) for a woman, he has committed adultery with her in his heart.

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, (emphasis added) nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Cor. 6:9

I think we would all agree that it is not in anyone's best interests to go to Hell (the only other option aside from the kingdom of God). It would not be loving to help someone along on that path. And yet, millions of Christian women do that very thing every day.

I have known men, old and young, who have struggled with pornography addiction. Even those who have conquered it years ago are still affected by the past and have to guard against it, often more than they would have otherwise. These men are not the exception by any means.

As a woman, I do not fully understand it when someone tells me that men are visually oriented. In general, women are stimulated by touch and men by sight. Girls, let's tap into our imaginations and see if we can catch a glimpse of what our men go through every day.

You're at a party/get-together/thinga-ma-bob with your friends, male and female. You walk in the door and a Josh Groban lookalike walks up to you, encircles your waist with his arm, (not in a creepy way, in a nice way that makes you feel loved and protected) and tells you you're beautiful. He leads you into the room and every guy stands up and each one greets you in a similar manner. One gently touches your arm in that way that says, "you're special" and another, with a charming grin, grabs you around the waist swinging you up several feet in the air (you know like they do in the movies). Keep in mind every one of these guys is terribly good looking,clean-cut, great with kids, good Christian, you name it they've got it. These are top quality guys and you're.....what ARE you doing right about now? You've just been surrounded by great guys, every single one making you feel like a princess, every one seeming to offer you something more than friendship. Most of us know the feeling. When your mind is intoxicated with his smile, your ears are full of his voice, you long to feel his arms around you guarding from all danger....and the thoughts won't leave no matter what you tell yourself.

Ok, now that we've got that thought in our minds let look at the guy's point of view. Every young woman that he runs into is dressed in such a way as to excite his passions and make him long for more. A guy is affected by sight the way we are affected by touch. He walks into church on Sunday and every woman he runs into is a walking invitation. In order to obey Christ's command not to lust (and thereby commit adultery) he has to constantly focus on keeping his thoughts pure instead of being able to relax and enjoy talking to you without feeling like he's being hunted. Some of them, by the power of Christ, are able to resist, but many succumb to being constantly attacked by their female friends they cave in. They stop trying. When they stop trying they usually go further and fall into outright sin (pornography, the act of adultery, etc.).

"Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." Romans 14:13

Merging

I'm merging my blog www.ladyabigailsfinishingschool.blogspot.com with this one so that I can automatically import all my posts to Facebook. Plus, this way readers that were not aware that I have another blog before can (hopefully) enjoy those posts as well. :)

My description of the blog and what I've studying:

Finishing school is usually defined as a private school that emphasizes training in cultural and social activities, but it has also been used to describe colleges with the purpose of preparing young women for marriage. This is the definition I am using.
For fun, learning and, more importantly, to encourage other young ladies I have decided to write a special blog sharing what I'm learning, my thoughts, opinions and questions.
My wonderful mother has put together a course including subjects such as health, money, family, marriage, etc. So as not to bore you (and myself) with details about healthy eating, paying bills, budgets, etc. the main subject that I will be focusing on here is Polished Cornerstones, (inspired by Psalm 144) a Bible study course designed for women of all ages. (You can buy it from a friend of mine here.)
So grab a cup of your favorite beverage (I personally prefer hot cocoa with a little coffee mixed in, but I'll be drinking tea...it's healthier), curl up in your comfy computer chair and enjoy!