Beauty Advice in an Offensive Climate

I n this difficult time of pandemic and political unrest, it has been easy to get hung up on all the negativity. For me it has been a time where the majority of my contemplation has been on spiritual strengthening to help me cope. That is not unusual for me and it has served me well. I share a lot of those thoughts with you in the hope to help you achieve a greater spiritual transformation. But that was only one part of my blog and it seems the physical transformation (the beauty part) has been lacking lately. My apologies for that; so today I will discuss some basic internal beauty advise to help you remain beautiful inside and out in this hostile environment.

Nothing affects ones countenance (a fancy word for facial expression) in a negative way more than difficult circumstances. I will spare you all of the ways we are experiencing this today, as the first sentence of this blog kind of sums it up. In my very first blog post in May of 2020, I wrote about the value of a smile to avoid wrinkles and frown lines. I furthered the correlation to beauty and a happy or sullen face in my post called Beautiful Countenance in June of 2020.

Circumstances

I paused from writing this blog for a bit, as I went to pick up my precious little dog at the vet for a broken claw. I sat in my car waiting for them to bring her out to me and kept thinking about my current circumstances. My entire household now has COVID and then the dog got injured. I was grateful to be feeling better than expected, and then I got the vet bill! Yikes! I thought, there goes that small inheritance check I received just yesterday. As I sat there profusely sweating wearing two masks and latex gloves with the windows down, I pulled down my masks for a moment and glanced in my rear view mirror. Wow, how my countenance had fallen. Those lines around my down-turned mouth were not pretty. And then I remembered what I was writing about before I went to get the dog. The fact is, God knew and had provided. I knew I should be grateful and feel the joy of the Lord and turn that frown upside down. Immediately I started doing those isometric exercises my mother taught me. Ohhh Eeeh!

Fear can affect your countenance in a negative way, like fear of running out of money when you’re not making any, or fear of dealing with an entire house of COVID and an injured pet, or fear of fighting over who gets the bed, so you can maintain social distancing and avoid reinfection before healing is complete. Sometimes you feel like you want to scream. It’s okay, go ahead and scream and then call on the Lord. You will be reminded that with faith in God all things are possible. Changing your resolve to not fear and embrace God’s perfect love will enable you to regain your smile. Remember fear is the opposite of faith. Without faith, it’s impossible to please God. If we want Gods blessing, His healing, His provision, His peace, His joy, we must believe He will bless us with those things and not worry about what the circumstances look like. We set our sights on the things unseen, the things we hope for and proclaim the words: Jesus, I trust in You!

Offended

Being offended is another big detriment to looking beautiful inside and out. Google defines offense as follows: annoyance or resentment brought about by a perceived insult to or disregard for oneself or one’s standards or principles. When people are offended, they are angry about something. The next two paragraphs are paraphrased excerpts from notes I had taken on a sermon from Pastor and teacher Perry Stone. The focus was about saving yourself from the trouble that is coming.

He said, people love to draw others into their offense. They want their offenses affirmed and they seek your support in it. It makes their offenses feel right and justified. So, we must try to get out of other peoples offenses! When they’re mad, you’re mad, when they hate, you hate. Matthew 24:10 says when people are offended, they betray, and then lose love…they hate. When you take on other people’s offenses, you take on their battles, whatever they are going through, their demons, their mental confusion. You set yourself up for an evil spirit to torment your mind when you live in offense. That is exactly what happened to King Saul when God anointed David in his place because of his disobedience. (1 Samuel 16:14-23) Don’t allow offense to become a root of bitterness. God can release you from a root of bitterness if you confess it. Give it over to God, once and for all. He is able!

Gossip

One big way people get involved in taking on other peoples offenses in by listening to their gossip. A gossip is a busybody. They tend to try and oversee another person’s life. The proverbs are full of wisdom about avoiding gossip. Psalm 64 basically says do not send out (arrows) accusations to take down someone. You will only end up taking yourself down. Gossip is legal assassination. You have to quit listening to it in order to not get offended.

I will go so far as to say, much of today’s news is pure gossip. Honest journalism has seen better days. I’m not going to tell you not to listen to a particular news media, or to listen to others that report facts not reported on the former. Also, consider that social media has become a very dangerous breeding ground for offense, so I caution you to use Godly wisdom and discernment in deciding if this is a wise place to hang out. (Proverbs 16:20: The companions of fools suffer harm.) My point is this: much of what is being reported in the news and on social media today can inspire offense. Everyone must use their own judgement and examine their heart for a root of bitterness. If you discover it, confess it and make a change.

The change I’m referring to is not to stop being informed (although I wonder if that would help), but rather take all thoughts regarding what you see that’s going on in the world to the Lord in prayer. Let God give you the peace that surpasses all understanding so you can smile in spite of it all. This was my mother’s best beauty advice. I’ll remind you again what she told me: when you’re 20 you have the face God gave you, when you’re 40 you have the face you made and when you’re 60 you have the face you deserve. So, keep smiling!

Good Works

Helping others makes you feel good. And when you feel good, you look good. Find a worthy cause to focus your energy on and tell others about the good that needs to be done on behalf of those less fortunate and how you’re inspired by it. Talking about loving others through good works, just might inspire them to start going the extra mile too. We can make the world a better place by accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative. It all starts with you, how you think, what you think about and who you are trusting in for the change you are hoping for.

Jesus said, you are the salt of the earth. If salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? He instructed his followers to be salt and light. I have written much on being the light already in my December and January blogs. So, let me explain a little about salt. Salt is a preservative. In the Bible it symbolizes the eternal, the everlasting. Salt was used in Biblical covenant promises as well as the temple sacrifices to the Lord. Salt also hinders yeast, which is symbolic of sin. As the salt of the earth, it is our responsibility to be the very thing that preserves the New Covenant Jesus made with believers before he went to the cross.

That covenant is found in the breaking of bread and sharing of wine, symbolizing Jesus body broken for us and his blood shed for us for the forgiveness of sin so we may become like the righteousness of God. This is the purpose of the communion ritual many Christian churches entertain. This covenant has been preserved for generations by God fearing people who love the Lord, by being the hands and feet of Jesus in this world. Let us also be the mouthpiece of Jesus as well and speak no evil. Let us keep the faith and fear no evil; let us be truly beautiful people inside and out by not taking any offense and giving all of our cares to Jesus. Let us go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit to be salt and light. It has been said, preach the gospel, use words if necessary!

Hearing from God

I will leave you with a final word about hearing from God. In the past six years or more, there has been much chatter on social media about Christian prophesies regarding former President Donald Trump. This is a complex topic to talk about to those who may be unsure of prophesy. I will discuss and explain prophesy in detail in a future blog. But for now, I want to point out that there has been much disappointment over the way it appears these prophesies played out. This has not only affected people’s countenance in a negative way, but brought about feelings of doubt. In some cases, so much so, that it actually turned people away from the Christian faith. Don’t let it be so for you. Perry Stone also said “ Stop depending on everybody else’s word from the Lord. Read your Bible! God can speak to you through His word! If you want to be prepared in the days ahead, in the even more difficult times that are coming, you must get in the Word to hear from God. You must pray continually, as often as possible, stay away from gossip and get out of other people’s offenses.” That message spoke loudly to me as this blog emerged out of it.

As I bring this blog to a finish, faith and the perfect love of Jesus once again has eliminated all of my fore-mentioned fears. I have already stated how a small inheritance check covered the vet bill with a bit left over, and I found out that my boss received a new government assistance loan to pay the salon employees our average salary in spite of the fact we work solely on commission. My husband graciously gave up the bed and took the couch, until our doctor told us this was not necessary, because we contracted the virus at the same time. We now have been treated with medication and believe by faith, that we shall soon be completely healed. When this is all said and done, we will also be able to donate life saving plasma to those in need due to the antibodies that we will soon have. It felt good to style style my hair and look in the mirror with a smile on my face, softening all of the hard lines the had previously appeared…. ohhh eeeh! So you can see that God is working it all out for good and His glory. I hope it encourages you. In the meantime be blessed! God is willing and able, you just have to believe. The following scriptures relate to this message.