The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. Proverbs 11:25 In this verse, the Hebrew word behind ‘liberal’ means a gift, a blessing, and prosperity, denoting a giver of good things when taken in context. The second part of this verse adds depth as the Hebrew word for ’watered’ (‘yarah yara’) is the root word for ‘torah’, which is the Hebrew word behind the English word ‘law’ in many verses throughout Scripture. ‘Yarah yara’ means to flow as water, to lay or point out, to teach and instruct. But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD: …And they shall teach my people between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. Ezekiel 44:15, 23 The theme is a recurring one, going well beyond these two texts: men and women who teach what they are taught will be taught more. It is a blessed work, where laboring and giving and being gifted repeat over and over again in praise to the Living God. The same promise given to Moses is given to us today, “Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.” (Exodus 4:12)
Hey, Maidens! It is a beautiful thing that when the heart (or mind) is recreated after the righteousness of our Messiah, all other aspects of the life are transformed as well—even dress. Yes, you may not think it, but our dress is a pretty big aspect of our life as daughters of God. The first thing you notice about someone is almost always what you see, or the visual first impression. Which is why it is so important that our appearance —and all that it includes—boldly tells the world around us that we are our Heavenly Father's daughters. As daughters of God, we represent Christ, and we want His attributes and loveliness to shine through and be seen in us, rather than ourselves. When He has our hearts, He will change them from stone to flesh (Ezekiel 11:19). Consequently, our wants and desires will be changed also, and the perfect example of this is how David describes himself in Psalm 26. It is thus that the Word of God becomes so very comforting and satisfying to our souls as we read and live it. Just some inspiration for your day and life. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, ❤︎ Erica
Hey Maidens! Getting to the point of this testimony, let's delve into hair color. So, is dying or bleaching your hair okay, or not-so-okay? There was a time when I wanted to think it was no big deal, but once I gave my Heavenly Father a chance to fully have my heart in this matter, He opened my eyes to see it in a new light. Ever since I became convicted on the point of modesty, I've always been convicted about not wearing jewelry, painting my nails, wearing makeup, etc. I have had prior experience with all of these things in the past and had come out of partaking in them. However, when it comes to hair, I had never ever done anything except cut my hair different lengths; my hair has always been its virgin color and I've always been content and happy with being a brunette. Yet, sadly, in hopes to make myself beautiful, I decided to bleach my hair blonde—without true prayer or bible study on the matter. I just really wanted to do it, since I'd never done anything like that before, and that desire won over the need to pursue my Father's will in the matter. After bleaching my virgin brunette strands a strawberry blonde shade, I began to really like my “fresh” appearance. Inwardly, however, I felt a twinge of remorse, sensing that I had done something I shouldn't have and thus brought displeasure to my God. At the crux of the matter, I knew my heart wasn't fully sold out to my Father when it came to my appearance. True, I had changed a lot in terms of dress, but I wanted my self to still have a little hold on my appearance. Full and complete surrender just wasn't there. Praise be to God for His faithful ones, because we can really be a blessing to each other is we speak out when Father directs our mouths to speak. You see, I was approached by two of my brothers in Christ. That got me more than anything because it showed me that I had an open spiritual struggle that was visible to others. Thoughts came swarming in my head, and I felt terrible as I thought of those who looked up to me and often followed my example. Most devastating to me though was that my Father's displeasure was staring me in the face. That pain pricked me to the core, but I praise God for that pain because it brought me to a true repentance. Such a repentance that I never want to look back in that direction ever again. I'm turned off at the thought of fake beauty, and so very content in how my Abba has created me. Glory to God! And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God [which made them beautiful], adorned themselves… ♥︎ Erica
Hey maidens! Whoa, I'm finally sitting down to blog again for MMM—yay!! Me so happy. ;-) I'm convinced that time flies faster as more passes. :-\ Oh well, my reason for this post is not to talk about time, but to give you an update on how I've been doing with my headcovering. As you are probably already aware of by now, I have somewhat recently learned about the importance of headcovering in Scripture and have been striving to put it into practice myself. If you want to know exactly where I stand on the issue and what some of my thoughts are, you can read about it here.
As with anything new, my experience with headcovering has been exciting, encouraging, very set-apart (if you know what I mean), a little challenging, but altogether strengthening to my faith and growth in Christ. I'll be honest, I've been very blessed by many people (both men and women) coming up to tell me how happy they are to see me covering and that they fully support it, but I've also received lots of "oh-she's-one-of-those" looks and even funny remarks that just go to show how little people really understand about it. Something else I want to mention is, since this is usually such a different step for women who start covering, it's totally normal to kind of be unprepared at first. Hey, I'm still adjusting to it, but if there's one thing I can recommend to anyone trying to start covering, it's this: you need more than one, in fact, you need several. Several in earth tones and hues that complement your complexion and reflect your personality. You need to be able to have more than one for different outfits and what not, because you want to proclaim this in a beautiful and attractive way. I'm not saying go all out, you still need to keep it simple and it shouldn't be the whole focus, but there is a tasteful way to do it. I only had two to start off with, which made it a bit tricky; but in time I bought or made more (they're SUPER simple...do I hear future tutorial??). So, what have you been thinking about head coverings lately? I'd love to know your thoughts! Comment down below. ♥︎ Erica Okay, so, I don't know about you, but I've just been bombarded with the issue of head coverings for the past 6 months at least—and I ignored it for 5 months. Maybe it's the groups I worship with or the type of surfing I do on the web, but all I know is that I just couldn't seem to get away from it. So, I finally consented to looking into it and gaining a better understanding of the passage in 1 Corinthians 11. I mean, what could it hurt, I knew I wouldn't be convinced I'd have to wear them anyways, right? Hehe, reminds me of the saying "young and stupid." ;-)
September and Pinterest haven't really spent much time together this year in my world, but I did manage to gather up my top five favorites from what I did see. My feed is pretty well rounded out, from small-town pinners to vogue magazines and top style icons. I see a lot, and have to weed through a lot. But, to me, its worth it, because I deem it a very important thing for a daughter of the Most High to seek to be both modest and modern in her endeavors.
Here's a secret: I used to be so consumed with dressing modestly that I went way to far into the “Little House on the Prairie” extreme. True story, ask my sister. I think that modesty in dress and character, as well as an all-around Biblical womanhood, is something that needs to be righteously attractive, not a legalistic reproach or a liberal twin to the world. That is why I personally, as a young woman in Christ, find it such a blessing to stay up-to-date somewhat with the world of style and fashion, not so that I can conform to its quickly changing standards and unrealistic whims, but so that I can remain fresh and in-touch in my appearance as I take a stand for Christ and His righteousness through image. Let's face it, we live in a society where image is everything and where the people we come in contact with make their first and most defining impressions of us with what they see. ♥︎ Erica |
PurposeThe strength a sister can give to her sister is a true gift. I pray that these posts may be uplifting, inspiring, and motivating. All centered around modesty and biblical femininity in a modern world. Hugs! ❤︎ Erica Archives
December 2021
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