I plan on continuing this series tomorrow but wanted to let you know that I have updated the praises & prayer requests section to the right! Thank you for your faithful commitment to praying for us and please don't hesitate to contact us regarding your own praises and prayer requests.
“Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.” Psalm 35:4
True radiance and beauty comes from a heart that knows the Creator of beauty. Just a thought.
Love in Christ, Kate
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Body Image: A Video
Many of you have perhaps seen the Dove short film that is linked below. I encourage you to watch it again and remember that most of these women we find ourselves struggling to measure up to- have been dramatically changed and altered.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Body Image: Part One
I have had interactions lately with other woman in my life regarding body image. While this is a common area of struggle for women, it seems that in the last week the Lord has brought it to my attention through various avenues. The four ways God has surfaced this issue are:
His Word
Personal thoughts
Friends asking for prayer in this area and
Popular culture
To begin a discussion regarding this, I want to first be a little vulnerable myself. I am someone who is not in any way immune to feelings of physical inadequacy. I have battled this for several years in various degrees. Sometimes I will go days without thinking about how I look or comparing myself to another. Other times, I find myself dwelling on it several times an hour. I haven’t kept careful track of why it is inconstant like this but my guess is that it relates to how diligent I have been in reading the word, being in prayer as well as how much I have given in to the inundated cultural portrayal of "beauty". If we as women stop to think- we will realize that this is an ever-increasing battle. As information becomes more available via technological advances, and our dependence on them more evident, we are all the more exposed to worldly and unrealistic ideas of beauty. In a given day, I may see this portrayal in commercials, billboards, magazine covers, Internet sites, TV shows, movies …the list is really endless. This inundation is putting such impractical expectations on women’s appearances that even Hollywood is competing against itself. While I have intentionally stopped reading magazines that only cause more struggle within my heart and mind, I admit, I sometimes fall into the trap of my e-mails interface page. Yahoo will have the big entertainment stories of the day- with pictures and enticing headlines that sometimes to succeed in drawing me in. What I find are articles and pictures about who looks fat, who is aging, and who is still measuring up to the standard of beauty through starvation, botox and plastic surgery. Suddenly, 50 year olds look like 30 years olds and the 30 years old must look like teenagers again. What an appalling topic for our culture to obsess over! What a futile, fruitless quest for fulfillment! And yet it seems to only be getting worse and unfortunately, easier to be snared into. Isn’t it ironic to see children today dressing as adults and wanting so much to be "grown up" while the adults are doing all they can to get back to that youth? And so, the need for Christian women to intentionally abstain from cultural influences that may cause us to struggle is HUGE! It is nearly impossible to all-together avoid this within our world, but it is possible for us to greatly decrease the impact it has on us through paying closer attention to what we allow in… less of this world and more of His Word. I think I will stop for today… but I will continue this topic over the coming days- Please feel free to share how you have been impacted by our culture and why you think our world- mainly America, is so obsessed by how we look. I will not pretend that any of my thoughts about this pertinent subject are profound- but they are prevalent. I will end with a verse I often remind myself during times of struggle:
Beauty is fading and charm is deceptive,
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Proverbs 31:30
His Word
Personal thoughts
Friends asking for prayer in this area and
Popular culture
To begin a discussion regarding this, I want to first be a little vulnerable myself. I am someone who is not in any way immune to feelings of physical inadequacy. I have battled this for several years in various degrees. Sometimes I will go days without thinking about how I look or comparing myself to another. Other times, I find myself dwelling on it several times an hour. I haven’t kept careful track of why it is inconstant like this but my guess is that it relates to how diligent I have been in reading the word, being in prayer as well as how much I have given in to the inundated cultural portrayal of "beauty". If we as women stop to think- we will realize that this is an ever-increasing battle. As information becomes more available via technological advances, and our dependence on them more evident, we are all the more exposed to worldly and unrealistic ideas of beauty. In a given day, I may see this portrayal in commercials, billboards, magazine covers, Internet sites, TV shows, movies …the list is really endless. This inundation is putting such impractical expectations on women’s appearances that even Hollywood is competing against itself. While I have intentionally stopped reading magazines that only cause more struggle within my heart and mind, I admit, I sometimes fall into the trap of my e-mails interface page. Yahoo will have the big entertainment stories of the day- with pictures and enticing headlines that sometimes to succeed in drawing me in. What I find are articles and pictures about who looks fat, who is aging, and who is still measuring up to the standard of beauty through starvation, botox and plastic surgery. Suddenly, 50 year olds look like 30 years olds and the 30 years old must look like teenagers again. What an appalling topic for our culture to obsess over! What a futile, fruitless quest for fulfillment! And yet it seems to only be getting worse and unfortunately, easier to be snared into. Isn’t it ironic to see children today dressing as adults and wanting so much to be "grown up" while the adults are doing all they can to get back to that youth? And so, the need for Christian women to intentionally abstain from cultural influences that may cause us to struggle is HUGE! It is nearly impossible to all-together avoid this within our world, but it is possible for us to greatly decrease the impact it has on us through paying closer attention to what we allow in… less of this world and more of His Word. I think I will stop for today… but I will continue this topic over the coming days- Please feel free to share how you have been impacted by our culture and why you think our world- mainly America, is so obsessed by how we look. I will not pretend that any of my thoughts about this pertinent subject are profound- but they are prevalent. I will end with a verse I often remind myself during times of struggle:
Beauty is fading and charm is deceptive,
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Proverbs 31:30
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Fallen off the face of the earth!
Actually, no we haven't but by the lack of activity on this blog, one might assume so!
Inspired by Kyle Borg, I thought I would write briefly why we haven't written lately...
Kate started a new job and thus is off her three month break from working...
Jeremy is spending every free moment (when he is not working his 60 hours) applying for teaching jobs and beginning to prepare for his sermon at CCC on Feb 3rd.
Kate has been feeling a little bit better as of late, thus allowing them to hang out with friends more! PRAISE GOD!
And lastly, sometimes, I just don't have anything to say! Imagine that! :)
Hope all is well and thank you for your continued support and prayers!
Kate
ps: shout out to DP for reminding me I DO have a blog and SHE ( if not anyone else) reads it! :)
Inspired by Kyle Borg, I thought I would write briefly why we haven't written lately...
Kate started a new job and thus is off her three month break from working...
Jeremy is spending every free moment (when he is not working his 60 hours) applying for teaching jobs and beginning to prepare for his sermon at CCC on Feb 3rd.
Kate has been feeling a little bit better as of late, thus allowing them to hang out with friends more! PRAISE GOD!
And lastly, sometimes, I just don't have anything to say! Imagine that! :)
Hope all is well and thank you for your continued support and prayers!
Kate
ps: shout out to DP for reminding me I DO have a blog and SHE ( if not anyone else) reads it! :)
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