my family.

I think this is how God is with us. :]

conviction.

1 Corinthians 10:31-33

³¹So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. ³²Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— ³³even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

I got hit with a major conviction last thursday, as I was driving back to Greenville from Farmville [my mom's house]. All girls struggle with self-image, but adding the 60 pounds you gain while being pregnant and then only losing 30 of them by month 4 after giving birth can really bring out some issues. Now add years of battling [not very successfully] an eating disorder or two, and being dumb enough to get on a scale other than at the doctor's office, and you have a good picture of my state of mind last thursday when Jesus got me.

Here's the problem: I am selfish. Sure I care about health issues, and want to be a healthy weight for those reasons, but that's not really what motivates me, or most females.

We have a deep longing [which I believe is from God] to be found beautiful. To be adored. It's why guys have a natural ability to find women beautiful. These are both good things. But what we have done is taken these natural, in-God's-image desires, and twisted and perverted them into things like porn, lust, pre-marital sex, and eating disorders, to name a few.

The male side of this struggle is pretty obvious, for the most part. The female side is veiled, and yet celebrated.

Vanity.

Vanity and insecurity so severe that we spend large amounts of time, money, and energy making sure that as many people as possible find us attractive. Vanity so consuming and uninhibited that we are willing to put our brothers in a position where they may stumble in order to appease our neediness. Sometimes we even go so far as to engage in physical relationships we'll later regret and that the other party will regret so that we feel "wanted".

This is sin. Yes, society feeds it and encourages it, but we have to take responsibility-this is sin. If I stand in front of the mirror before I leave and am thinking about what any person other than my husband will think, I'm cheating in my heart. Desiring any attention in that manner from anyone but your spouse, honestly, is a sin. It is idolatry, adultery, and being a stumbling block.

Thinking back to the above verse, we need to dress in a way that is pleasing to God and even that glorifies him [I do not mean cheesy Christian t-shirts! LoL]. We need to be loving towards the males in our lives by helping them not to lust. We need to be different from the world. We need to be more concerned about others' struggles than about our egos.

I'm not trying to offend anyone, or push my convictions on anyone. All I can do is read my bible and pray, and then listen. And this is what I get from that. I'm also not saying that males don't struggle with this - don't even get me started on male vanity! :]

So pray for me about this, and ask Jesus about it in your own life. And dress really cute for your spouse! After all, they're the person God designed to be enamored with you!