Reflections Of You...

The last three posts have been from a message I gave at our Woman's Tea, entitled, Reflections Of Beauty. It's not the enire message but parts of what I spoke on. It's been edited just because it was too much for a blog post. Today's, post is.... Reflections Of You.

James 1:23-25 “ For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.”

Some of you might have mirrors that magnify bigger than a normal mirror. I Have one that magnifies 8x’s larger. It’s really cruel to do that to myself. I see things on my face I can’t see with a regular mirror. I see things that were not there yesterday.

I’m one of those women that just can’t go without make up. Every flaw flashes like a neon light. If my husband comes home and I have make up on he wants to know where we’re going or did I go somewhere today. He calls it a miracle transformation when I put make up on.

We look in a mirror to see how we look on the outside. When we look in the mirror of God’s word it shows us how we look on the inside. It’s easier to cover up the flaws on the outside with a little makeup. When God shows us the flaws on the inside, it’s a work that can only be done from within. It too, is called a miracle transformation.

Even though, God’s word reveals to us the flaws in our hearts and our character; He lovingly shows us how to change. Even when I knew God was relentless in showing me my need for change….I was not condemned but lovingly convicted. It’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. Intimacy with God brings about change.

Many times we as women compare ourselves with each other. Satan wants us to compare..he wants us to think other women are better. He will taunt us to compare, envy and covet what another woman has. He especially wants us to think we can’t have that love relationship with God that others do….

He wants us to think something is wrong with us and it’s not attainable for us. But I am here to tell you that each one of us can have all we want in our relationship with the Lord. God is not a respecter of persons but the enemy wants you to think that. We all have the same opportunities to be intimate with God. It’s our choice.

Jeremiah 29:13 says…
“If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.”

If we look in the mirror of God’s word not only will we find him but we will find ourselves. We are daughters of the Most High God; we are daughters of the King!!To God each one of us is uniquely beautiful. He fashioned and formed us to have a beautiful face that will reflect His love, beautiful hands that will help others, beautiful eyes to see his beauty that surrounds us and beautiful lips to tell of God and His love for us. I am not talking about physical attributes.

This is how God sees us. Your hands maybe calloused and wrinkled from years of hard work..but God see the beauty of those hands in all that they did for others in His name.

We may not see ourselves that way, but God does. We at times compare ourselves to the world’s standard of beauty so we don’t see the beauty God created in us. The beauty of “beauty idols” will soon be forgotten. God will work wonders in our lives to perfect the beauty he desires to see in us.

That kind of beauty will radiate to others and change lives. When God’s work is complete our

character will show off the beauty marks to all those who know us and love us.

Joni Earekson Tada says, “I will find in every person that facet of the Lord’s loveliness that only he or she can uniquely reflect.”

My reflection will always be me. Oh, when I look in the mirror over time, my physical reflection will change… there will be more wrinkles and the shape of my face could change, hopefully thinner…. my hair color probably isn’t going to change. I don’t want any physical reflection; I want the refection of Jesus. It’s the trials and circumstances of my life, the valleys and the mountain tops…that God will use to bring about that unique reflection.

It took me many years to figure out that God made me unique. That he made my personality just for me. There is such freedom in being who God made you to be, rather than who you think you should be..or be like. Never being happy with yourself and always wanting to be like someone else...Is a form of bondage.

By God’s transforming grace we can reflect beauty in our lives. Each day as we walk in the Spirit our faces will increasingly reflect the beauty of Jesus. When we have Jesus living inside of us nothing can dim the beauty that shines from within.

The circumstances and trails of our lives past and present do not need to tarnish our reflections. They can, but they don’t need too. I am not minimizing what those circumstances have been or are presently. We each have our own stories to tell.

It’s our choice what we want to reflect. We can choose to reflect all of our hardships and trials or we can choose to reflect the Jesus in us. Each one of the circumstances in our lives was designed to bring about that perfect luster that only God can accomplish through the buffering and polishing of His Holy Spirit.

You are Daughter's of the Most High God. You are His precious treasure hand made to reflect beauty. You have a unique beauty that the Father has only given you to reflect. The choice is yours in whom you want to reflect….Ourselves or Jesus?

It is my desire this morning that when you leave today that you will feel special to the Lord and see how just how beautiful you are. You are his chosen daughter to live right here and now to reflect His beauty to a world in chaos and to each other……Because we as women need each other.

So as we close this morning with our hearts hopefully challenged to be a reflection of beauty, a reflection of Jesus Himself.. Let me leave you with these few words….

May the Jesus in me, see the Jesus in you!