"Soul of Modesty"

1 Timothy 2:9
"...women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control..."

Yesterday I listened to a sermon by CJ Mahaney on modesty. This subject is something that is difficult to face, especially in a culture where the motive of fashion designers is sensual provocation. What led me to this sermon was a survey on modesty (you can look at the survey results by clicking on the link). This survey first asked women to send in their questions and then Christian men answered the questions. Some women, specifically young women, are ingnorant on this topic. They don't understand or know the war against lust for men and the effect of our bodies on the mind of men. I felt like I had somewhat of an understanding but I was alarmed by some of the responses and felt like it meant I should just wear a cloak. However I knew this was NOT an option and it made me a little frustrated (can men not just stop thinking??). Why do we have to sacrifice because of men and their sinfulness?

WOW... was I being selfish or what?! While listening to the sermon I was very convicted about this topic. Mahaney began and primarily focused on the intention of the heart. What really struck me was the question, "What motivates your shopping and purchase of clothes?" Was my motivation to show grace and beauty of womanhood, to reveal a humble heart devoted to worshipping God OR was it to call attention to myself and flaunt my beauty, or to attempt to allure men sexually(in this case I would only want to allure my husband... but wearing the same thing in public would allure other men)? I can't tell you what my motive officially was... but I can tell you I was NOT ever thinking about how the way I dressed reflected my heart. My wardrobe is the statement of my personal and private motivation, and I feel that most of the time I'm shopping to impress others or get positive attention and not to show my humble heart.

Most of us know that modesty is the avoidance of clothing and adornment that is extravagant, showy, revealing or sexually inticing, but Mahaney described modesty as humility expressed in dress, a desire to serve others (specifically men). This definitely changed my mind set. I should be humble as Christ was humble, I need to stop thinking selfishly and serve others, not myself. I still can look cute and stylish, but my motivation while shopping isn't to impress others but to display my beauty humbly as one who is devoted to God. Therefore as a result of this conviction I will be more intentional about evaluating my motives while shopping and I will definitely be going through my wardrobe and tossing out some items...

I thought I would share what I have learned and also challenge those Christian women who read this blog. Some questions that Mahaney posed to help realize where your heart is on this subject of modesty are:
-What statement do your clothes make about your heart?
-Is your shopping and purchase of clothes informed and governed by modesty and self-control? (i.e. Do you take God to The Gap?)
-Whose attention do you desire and whose approval do you crave?
-What statement is your hair and attire making?
-Who inspires your dress, biblical women or Halle Berry?

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New Twitter Gadget

You guys may notice that there may be some fairly odd changes to the right side of our blog. This is a new feature we added called Twitter. Twitter is one of the hundreds of social networking technologies that have become really popular over the last couple of months. Basically, Twitter is a a way to send short updates or thoughts throughout the day. Twitter users can follower other twitter users and we have added a feed so that anyone can view out "tweets" from our blog without having to register on Twitter.com

Friendship in the Making

Tonight we captured only the beginning of the friendship between Ellie and Hannah Hamaker (a 2 year old from our church small group):



Ellie wasn't quite used to spending time with 2 year olds, so this is how it ended:

Good To Be Home

This past week Ellie and I went to Winston-Salem/Kernersville to help Zach's grandmother after having knee surgery. It was great to be with family, but with Ellie teething it did get rough at times. One morning I decided to get up and make muffins but Ellie would not let me out of her sight without screaming. Therefore I ended up making muffins with Ellie on my hip... that definitely made me feel like a housewife.

We got some great quality time with Gigi (Zach's grandmother), Grandma T (Zach's mom), and Nana (my mom). Grandma T took Ellie shopping and got Ellie her new favorite toy, a worm that plays music. It is so much fun to watch her while the toy plays music, she bounces with the beat... love it :) Ellie also has gotten the cutest outfits I have ever seen this week. One is a beautiful sweaterdress from BabyGap Nana spent many days trying to complete, and the other is an adorable shirt, jeans, and sparkly shoes from Grandma T. I will definitely post some pictures of these as soon as I capture them... you probably haven't seen anything cuter than Ellie in these outfits (I know I haven't)!

It sure is great to be back home in Raleigh though... but don't worry grandparents, we will back next week for Thanksgiving!

Green Beans

Ellie tried green beans... we received the funniest reaction ever. You must watch:

"We Don't Live for Politics"

Occasionally this thought comes across my mind, 'What is going to happen to our country once the new president takes over, is our country going to survive?' However, there is no need to worry because my confidence in the future does not rely on our future president... but in Christ. John Piper helped me come to this conclusion in this clip from his website desiringGod.org:

WE VOTED!

Zach and I voted early and luckily missed any lines! It felt good to get the vote behind us, but I'm not looking forward to the result. I'm not very excited about either presidential candidate, but am excited not to see any more campaign ads!

So we got a few shots of Ellie's first voting experience:


As you can tell, she wasn't very happy either about the election... but she was happy about getting a 'I voted' sticker:

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Ellie's Dedication

Yesterday, Zach and I were commissioned as parents to raise our little Ellie in a God-centered home and show her the ways of the Lord. This is such a huge role we have and one that should not be taken lightly. Our prayer is that we will continually delight in the Lord so that we can represent Christ to Ellie through the overflow of our hearts. In Deuteronomy 6:5-9, God commands us:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

We pray that we will listen to this command he gives us. Ellie is a gift from God, she is HIS child... and we are so thankful to be given this opportunity to raise her and love her. We want Christ to be the leader of her life and we only want to be the ones who direct her to her true Father.

Our pastor, J.D. Greear shared with us his thoughts about this role we have been given...
"Our culture teaches us to give our kids experiences. God's Word teaches us to give them relationships. Your relationship with your child will be the most formative influence on their character. And it is their character that will determine their destiny. So don't let anyone or anything raise your children or influence your children more than you do. That means TV, media, games, friends, school systems, government or any other force. You shape them. You love them. You spend time with them. The greatest gift you can leave your children is not an inheritance of material things, but an inheritance of time invested in them over their lifetime."

Wow... what a HUGE role we have. What truth is in J.D.'s statement... we must remember this daily. Zach and I ask that you will pray for us and be partners with us as we take this role as parents. We know that we won't be able to conquer this without prayer.

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