Makeover Monday

Have you ever gone to the salon for a simple cut and color...and left wondering how a cut and color got turned into a Tie-dyed Takeover? I remember when my younger sister was in beauty school. I would go in smiling...the kind of smile that hides chest-thumping anxiety. You see, my sister- she's a bit more trendy than I am. I was happy in jeans and she needed a dress. I was fine with no makeup while she could rock peacock green on her eyelids with confidence! We were ummm...different!?!?! So when I would go sit in her chair, I would go and expect more.. I would expect to well...come out looking like the trendy, in-style, latest fashion beauty that she was! And well, sometimes I loved what she did... and other times it took some getting used to...and sometimes, I needed to go back for a change the next week. And we all know what it's like to have the hair stylist make it look sooooo great, only to find out that when we get home and shower and blow dry- it's the same exact way it looked before the cut!

I think sometimes we go to God with these great expectations...that if we go this Bible Study, this worship night, this conference, this speaker... that we'll come out lookin' like that rockin' Christian woman we wanna look like. But, sometimes we don't. Sometimes, we leave looking not much different. Sometimes we may even leave jealous, or more self-critical- and we even feel more defeated than when we arrived. I have gone to Bible Studies where I expect some major change...and I leave well...the same. Sometimes the other women may chat you up, compliment you and encourage you, but when you go home, you know your heart remains right where it was... the encouragement doesn't last. Sometimes, even when we don't change...we keep going back hoping to fall in love with something...for something to be right, to leave being "better."

I wanna tell you something about hair... I've had several haircuts, colors, trims, even waxes...and not one of them has overhauled my self-esteem to places it's never been before. I may have left the salon feeling a little better about myself- but in the grand scheme of things I'm still me with the same issues...

So it is with God. We can go to all of the events in the world, hear all of the speakers, sit through 20 Beth Moore Bible Studies, and still come out looking like the same old Christian. Unless we have an internal change, we have the same old issues and hangups. My faith is standin' still along with my self-esteem b/c my hair really isn't the problem! And neither is your Bible Study!

We as women have to connect! God doesn't say go to a Bible Study, make sure you don't miss any Christian Conferences....but he does say this: "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit every season." Psalm 1: 1-3

If you want to love your new hair cut whatever it may look like...if you want to be that girl who can rock any style... it has nothing to do with the hair cut and everything to do with believing you're beautiful.

And so it is with our God... it does not matter what we try to do... we can only be made right and have a deeper relationship with God, when our heart changes! And we do this by meditating on his law... it is then when we will yield fruit! It is then we will become filled with love and patience and kindness - those things we want to emulate in others. It only comes from the Lord! There is no other way!