Food, Beauty And Control! Women's Desires Becoming Their Enemy.

This one hurts, big time. It goes past all my confidences, it opens up the sores I try to hide. All three of the points Bob Lepine makes here (article below), are ones I sadly see take part in my life the majority of the time. My close friends even call me a "control freak", though we joke of it, sadly I think it's something that we should by the strength of God, strive to rid ourselves of. Let's not stop fighting! We end the fight often, with the excuse of every woman battles it, if that were so, I dare to say that many women would be conquering it through Christ. No, every woman has the tendencies, not every woman battles it. Ladies, Sisters in Christ, FIGHT THIS, it's something that can bog us down, tear our time and affections and confidence in Christ away. Fight this battle and never give up, fight this battle, always knowing who you are in Christ. Seek to be serving Him and glorifying Him, not your own self-esteem. Let's wield our Swords and take every thought captive.


In a breakout session Friday afternoon, Bob Lepine of the daily radio program FamilyLife Today unpacked from Genesis 3:6 three areas that tend to trap and even enslave women: food, beauty and control.

Here are some of Bob’s insights:

· Food. Women are more likely than men to suffer from eating disorders, to do emotional “binge” eating and to be obsessed with healthy eating. Even an obsession with healthy eating can become an idol in their lives when it takes on proportions it was never meant to have in their lives.

· Beauty. Many women struggle with the cultural notion that beauty is primarily an external reality, while Scripture views a woman’s true beauty as lying in the heart. The culture presses on women an external view of beauty and idolizes outer beauty and leads women to live sad, broken lives in pursuit of temporal beauty. “No amount of physical attractiveness can compensate for a lack of godly character,” Lepine said. “A beautiful shrew is still a shrew. A plain-looking woman who radiates the goodness of God from her face is beautiful.”

· Control. This was the great enticement for Eve in the Garden of Eden, an enticement that led her to throw off God’s Word and God’s control of her life. Women desire safety and security, Lepine said, so a woman often desires control of the things in her life, including her husband, to gain safety and security. Eve replaced God’s definition of what is good with her own view of it.

So, how can a woman tell if she is being controlled by one or more of these tendencies? Using a set of questions proposed by biblical counselor David Powlison, Lepine exhorted women to ask themselves what they organize their lives around and what they automatically drift toward. “What is the one thing, if you lost it, would cause you to lose the desire to live?” he said. “What things give you pleasure or delight?” If the answer is food, physical beauty or control, then these things have taken the heart captive, he said. “What influences your thinking on these three issues?” he asked. “Is it TV, the media, your own desires or what others think about you? Are you thinking culturally, carnally or biblically about these issues?”

The blogger team from Revive Our Hearts ministries are live blogging the conference. Their posts may be accessed here: http://www.truewoman.com/?id=15

King of Kings

This video gives a wonderful presentation of the King I serve, and why I sing His praises, why I write of Him, and why I desire to be transformed and growing in Him! THIS IS MY KING, THIS IS MY SAVIOR, THIS IS THE GOD WHO GREATLY LOVES ME!

What Is My Foundation?

When I first heard this, it was so tempting to say, 'what is my foundation? Are you kidding? That's easy, my faith!' Yet, this question was not posed to me, I thankfully didn't have to come up with an answer, I sat back for two days and thought on it. My job was to then assist in teaching what our foundation is to little kids! Never expecting a large amount of soul-searching to go on in my life at the time.

My pastor's wife had asked me to get some material ready for the lesson, I needed to type out What Is My Foundation? on some strips of paper and print them out for the kids to glue to their workbooks. As well as cut up some magazine clippings, with pictures of un-stable foundations people will often build their lives upon; money, fame, etc..; these were getting glued in the workbooks as well.

So the day arrived when I needed these done,(of course I didn't have them done, where's the fun in being prepared beforehand?), as I typed the question out twenty times over, ( I wanted as many different font colors as possible, so I did things the long way); the question began to become ingrained in my mind. What is my foundation? What is my foundation? What is MY foundation? Suddenly, this seemed like an in-depth question to be asking elementary kids, it felt deeper than the average feel good Sunday School question. I started to think on it as I prepared to go to town, I knew the kids would all have an area in the workbooks to print "JESUS" underneath the question, I thought on both the question and the answer and how it all applies in my life.

My biggest thought at the time was, "do I live a life that shows that Jesus is my foundation? Do I base everything on the fact that Jesus is my foundation? Do all my decisions include Him in them? Do I seek His will in Scripture and in prayer before moving ahead?" I knew the answer, didn't dwell on it though, I mean why ruin a good day by being convicted?

I don't subscribe to any magazines, so off to the store I went, in search of some worldly reading/advertisement material. Once at the store, I picked up a few trashy magazines, one on success with money, the other, a teeny-bopper magazine, I looked for Star, People, and US Weekly, with no success, knowing they would have individuals in them who build their lives on un-stable foundations. Sadly, while buying the magazines, I wanted to yell out to everyone, " I DON'T READ THIS TRASH, I'M ONLY BUYING IT TO CUT UP!" I was prideful and very self-righteous, thinking "I'm a good Christian girl (and home schooled at that), I'm not like those other people who read this stuff, I'm better than they are". I know, wretched of me, right?

So, I tote my proud self off to Panera, where I promptly started cutting up the magazines. The money magazine was easy, I found alot of pictures of un-stable foundations, and I myself was not affected at all by it. The Teeny-Bopper magazine is where I was brought to my knees. While going through it, I shook my head in disgust over the gross, openly-evil things, things that used to be reserved for the adult magazines and now proudly displayed in a teenager magazine. Yet, every other page caught my attention, I started looking at the make-up advertisements, wondering if I could some how master the look that the model displayed, if only I could be as pretty as she. Then there were the clothing adds, "oh, so that's the style now?, I wonder if that will flatter my body type?" I got sucked in amazingly fast, looking at the advertisements I started to focus on how best I can look, how I could get the perfect body or apply the perfect makeup. And why? Nothing wrong with looking nice right? Well no, not always, it has it's place in life. Yet, that place better be ultra small though, and it can never be our foundation.

Too often I build my entire day around my clothes, my make-up and the way I carry myself. Seeking the approval of men and not my Lord. I build a life for myself out of sand, which collapses at the very slightest bit of wind. Thankfully, this did collapse, and I was brought back to my Rock Foundation, Jesus Christ!

The Scripture for the lesson was Matthew 7:24-27; Christ tells the parable of the wise and foolish builders. The wise man building his house on the rock, the foolish man building his on the sand. The pastor's wife had some great illustrations for the kids, and did a wonderful job explaining that, we are all born with a "sandy, un-stable" foundation (Romans 5:12), through Jesus we can be saved and have a solid, stable foundation on Him, the Rock of our Salvation!
We had a memory verse, which I was blessed with the opportunity to go over with the children and try to teach them; "For no man can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." - 1 Corinthians 3:11

I am so thankful, beyond words, that my Lord saw fit to save me and give me a firm foundation on which I am to build my life, Jesus! I know that my life cannot consist of anything durable enough to stand the storms of life, outside of Jesus. And oh yeah, that self-righteous attitude I had about the people in the magazines and the people who read them? Well that was crushed when thinking about Jesus, for I am no better or different than they. In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector; what was the sin of the Pharisee for saying he was better than the tax collector? That he thought he was better than the tax collector!!! (Thanks to R.W. Glen for bringing this up) I was like that self-righteous Pharisee, thinking I was better or any different than any other sinner, I'm not, Christ is! I am the chief of sinners, as Paul says. I am no better than the vilest of sinners, for I am the vilest of sinners, but for the grace of my Lord and Savior, I am now saved from the hold of sin, and cleansed from it, given His righteousness!

"But 'he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.' For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends." - 2 Corinthians 10:17-18

I am so blessed to be able to, when asked what my foundation is, answer the wonderful, simple, in-depth, Sunday school answer of: JESUS! ☺
By His strength and His grace will I be able to build up godly stones on that foundation, stones that will mold me into the woman He desires me to be. May He always be exalted and praised, may my life reflect the great Cornerstone, the very foundation on which my new life is built.

"Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." -Ephesians 5:15-17