Helpful, Inspiring, & Encouraging Blog Articles -- Matchless Beauty

Raising Daughters with Christ-Power in a Girl-Power Culture

Made Matchless

May 3, 2017

I remember very clearly when a acquaintance of mine said, “Oh, Leah! I’m sending you an article. I know you’ll love it because you’re all about girl power and it goes along with Matchless Beauty.”

Wait a minute, I thought as a bad taste entered mouth. Something’s not right. Where did she get the impression that I’m “all about girl power”? Or Matchless Beauty for that matter? Matchless Beauty isn’t about “Girl-Power”…it’s about Christ’s power through girls and women.

Although my acquaintance had good intentions, the article very clearly promoted a girl’s own personal power as her means to achieve everything she wanted. But as believers in Christ, we know our power is not of ourselves. And although hard work and determination are excellent qualities, tapping into our own power always, ALWAYS falls short and leaves us craving more. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my daughter striving for that!

Do you ever feel the tension?

You know…between God’s Word and the Girl-Power movement you see and read about? Have you ever asked yourself these questions?

What does God think about the “Girl Power” movement? Is it healthy? Damaging? Misunderstood?
What do I do if my daughter embraces or faces “Girl Power”-type messages?
How do I respond lovingly to the current “Girl Power”-type events, products, messages, etc?
How should my daughter respond to aggressive, powerful girls and how do I teach her to be a Christ-empowered girl?
How can I equip my daughter to make a difference in our “Girl Power” culture, just the way God made her?
What are the struggles I can anticipate that my daughter will face in the next phase of her life and how can I be prepared to help her navigate the “Girl Power” culture?

If these are questions you’ve asked, I have the perfect opportunity for you!

Beginning June 1, 2017, I’ll be hosting a monthly “Matchless Beauty Meet-Up” where we will address this very relevant topic of “Raising Daughters with Christ-Power in a Girl-Power Culture”. Every month, moms of daughters will meet to see what God’s Word has to say about these questions, share and encourage one another, get practical tips, and take steps toward building better relationships with our daughters.

Each month we’ll address a different question and although they’re related to one another, they’re not necessarily building upon one another. So if you miss one month, you won’t be in the dark when you come the next month.

This is all ABSOLUTELY FREE to participate!

(If you’re unable to make it or live too far away, I’ll be making the study available in its entirety for a very reasonable price on my website in the future. You’ll be able to purchase and download this important study for individual use or group study with friends and other moms of daughters at your church.)

So if you’re a mom of a daughter in the NW suburbs of Chicago (or if you have a spiritual influence on the life of any girl), and you want to feel encouraged, equipped, and empowered by Christ to help her navigate the Girl-Power culture, I hope you’ll join us! I am confident your participation will have a lasting impact on generations of girls to come. See you then!

To download the flier, click here.

Details:

What: “Raising Daughters with Christ-Power in a Girl-Power Culture”, Matchless Beauty Meet-Up

When: The 1st Thursday of Every Month (beginning June 1), 7:00-8:00 p.m. (8:00-8:30 social time)

Where: Panera, South Barrington, IL (Arboretum Shopping Center)

Who: Moms of daughters OR women who have spiritual influence in the lives of girls (this is for the adults only so we can share openly about any struggles, so girls need to stay at home).

Click here to download a printable version of the info.

For regular updates, please visit the “Meet-Up” page on this website by clicking here and sign up for email updates (in case of location changes) by clicking below.

Does God Feel Welcome in You, Mama?

Made Matchless

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May 2, 2017

Does God feel welcome in you, mama?

Does he feel at home? This morning in my quiet time, I was reflecting on Christ living in me, the Holy Spirit dwelling in me. I wondered if he felt “at home” there or if my soul is cluttered, dusty, and inhospitable. I know the Holy Spirit will never leave me, but it did cause me to reflect. Awhile ago, I read a verse out of my Greek Expanded Translation of the New Testament that said this:

“On this account I bow my knees to the Father from who every family in heaven and on earth is named, that He would grant to you according to the wealth of His glory, with power to be strengthened through the Spirit in the inward man, that the Christ might finally settle down and feel completely at home in your hearts through your faith; in love having been firmly rooted and grounded in order that you may be able to grasp with all the saints what is the breadth and width and height and depth and to know experientially the love of the Christ which surpasses all experiential knowledge in order that you may be filled up to the measure of the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:14-19 (emphasis mine)

I don’t know about you, but I DO long to know, experientially, the full love of Christ and to be “filled up to the measure of the fullness of God”. If you’re a believer and you never stop to think about the Holy Spirit feeling “completely at home in your hearts through your faith”, Ephesians 3 prompts you to consider it!

Picture your heart as the home of the Holy Spirit…the place where Christ dwells.

Is it dusty with needless, perfunctory religiosity? Is it cluttered with anxiety, doubt, fear, and distractions? Is it muddied with impurities from the world, sensualities, and worldly “truths”? Or maybe it’s tainted with judgmentalism, criticism, cynicism, and self-righteousness. Perhaps it’s “outdated” with apathy and complacency.

Whatever the state of your “home”, if you’re a believer in Jesus, he dwells there.

Each of us struggle with these and there are times when we are completely unaware of just cluttered or dusty our heart has become. But we can do something…or rather, God can do something in us. We can pray for God to help US help HIM to feel at home. We can ask God, through the Holy Spirit, to bring to our attention the areas that need to be dusted, swept, decluttered, and cleaned and to bring in whatever he’d like that’s new! We can ask him to open our eyes to how he would feel more “at home” in our hearts…and then give him permission to DO IT!

After all, he’s the Designer of your very soul, and he not only knows what’s better for you than you do, but he knows what’s absolutely best. And that’s what he wants for you! Do you trust him in that?

If you’re ready to trust him with that, God will by no means wait to answer, so be ready! Here’s a simple prayer you can pray (as well as a free printable version of the prayer below):

O God, make your home in me. Dwell in me. Settle down, you are welcome here. Clean out the old me and declutter. Sweep out the apathy, complacency, and stale, dusty faux-faith. Remove what you don’t want and replace it with what’s finer. Out with the hand-me-downs and in with the brand new. Sometimes I think I know what’s better, but YOU are my designer, and you have excellent taste. You know what’s best and beautiful. Replace it with YOU, God–your Spirit in me. And make your passion in me so attractive that others want to know who lives here. Because you do, and you feel welcome. And you’re in the business of making all things new & beautiful in their time.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

For the printable version, click here.

The Only Good Thing Worth Striving For: a Good Friday Devotion for Moms

Made Matchless

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April 14, 2017

The Only Good Thing Worth Striving For: a Good Friday Devotion for Moms is from a series of devotions meant to prepare moms and girls for Good Friday and, ultimately, Resurrection Sunday. In this series, I’ve shared three devos already for girls ages 4-8 , 9-12 , and 13-18. Download the printable version of this devo here. Please note that the printable version has my old website name on it. If you are printing to share, please be so kind as to write MadeMatchless.com on the print!

The Only Good Thing Worth Striving For: a Good Friday Devotion for Moms

We strive so hard to be “good moms”. We work hard, earn money, feed kids, do laundry, attend meetings, sign our kids up for sports and band camps, juggle schedules, and try oh-so-hard to get permission slips back to school on time.

And that’s just Monday!

There are so many “good mom” line items. We strive to reach her…whoever she is. Because not only does she serve her family well, but she also runs marathons, wears stylish clothes, rocks her aviator glasses and stacked bob like a supermodel, is president of PTA, and organizes three fundraisers a year. She’s educated with a comfortable income, and her home puts Magnolia Farms to shame. And it’s always, always clean.

None of these things are bad, of course. Yet, many of us, to different degrees, strive to reach her.

It’s exhausting.

Maybe you’re not striving to have that perfect home or look, but I bet you still find yourself striving. The definition of “strive” is to “make great efforts to achieve or obtain something”. Some synonyms are “do one’s best, all one can, one’s utmost”.

Sound like you? Or at least what the culture says you should be? “Doing all we can”. Reaching for it. Achieving it and helping my family achieve it. Being everything. Earning what we’ve been striving for. Payoff and satisfaction, knowing we got there.

But what most never realize is that the earthly striving will never end. There’s never a moment of “I’ve arrived”. If we’re honest, the feeling of complete satisfaction is always just around the next corner. So we keep striving, hoping its different this time.

There is nothing this world promises that’s worth that. Not even success? Achievement? Getting the kids into the best schools? Nope. Nothing that is worth the upkeep of image, endless work, strained relationships, and fake smiles plastered over brokenness. Nothing worth the stress, loss of sleep, and loss of what’s truly important.

Maybe you’re the kind of mom who has all these line items checked off, or maybe you’re just tired of striving for what this world offers, but I promise you… they always fall short. But I do know of a single good thing that is worth striving for.

Good Friday is coming.

It’s the day we remember Jesus’ suffering and death on a cross. It’s a sad day for two reasons: (1) Jesus was God’s son and he lived a perfect life without sinning, yet he was convicted as a criminal and died a gruesome death. And (2) Jesus didn’t just die an innocent man, but ON BEHALF of people like us who ARE guilty. He took the punishment we should have had and paid the debt we owed.

I know the story, but what does that have to do with striving?

Well, as many “good mom” achievements as you’ve unlocked, you owe a debt. In fact, it’s so huge that no comfortable income or fundraisers you organize can pay it. It’s so set-in-stone that no PTA meetings or school petitions can negotiate it. It’s so heavy that your philanthropy won’t balance it out. And it’s inevitable so you can’t get out of it by looking the right part or having connections.

That debt is your sin.

See, God is holy (which means “set apart”). Everything he does and is is good…PERFECT. And Jesus is God in the form of a man, so he was perfect, too.

But we are NOT. We’re full of envy, greed, lust, pride, unjust anger, bitterness, and that’s just inside! Compound that with foul language, gossip, impatience, lies, substance abuse, self-righteousness, and more. That’s why God must be “set apart” from us. Yet, God created us and loves us. He WANTS us to be with him, but our sin keeps us separate.

Romans 6:23 says that “the wages of sin is death”. So not only must we be apart, but that debt? It has one payment: death, both here and eternity in hell. And we deserve it!

But because God loves us, he decided to solve the problem we couldn’t solve ourselves.

God sent his son Jesus to die for us. See, because Jesus lived a sinless life, he was the only one who could pay the debt we owed for our sin! Jesus did it willingly, out of love for us. He knew us before we were born, watched us grow from girls into women, and, now, watches sadly as we strive to be “good”.

Why is our striving so sad? Because it’s needless. Simply choosing to follow him requires no striving on your part. All the effort and “good mom” achievements aren’t required because Jesus has done all the work himself! You don’t need to work hard to earn his love or heaven. You don’t need to look the part, say all the right words, or clean up your act first.

Just come.

Repent of (turn from your sin) and place your full trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation and he’ll begin working in your heart. Or if you’ve already done that, ask him to renew your mind in this area. Open your heart to him. Learn who he is through the Bible. Pray for God’s Holy Spirit to fill you. Your desires for worldly accomplishment will begin to change. The endless line items you pursued will begin to fade as your heart aligns to God’s. The need for the right image, family success, and all the rest will change as you realize: God desires the tenderness of heart so much more than your life goals.

Your exhaustion to be the “good mom” will turn to peace. You know why? Because you will have embraced the most beautiful message of Good Friday: that Jesus was all the “good” you need to be and that pursuing him is the only “good thing” worth truly striving for.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 4:29 (ESV)

Prayer: God help me to put my full trust in you and to pursue you with all my heart. I want to stop striving for things that don’t matter. Help me see clearly this Good Friday that your sacrifice for me has brought me peace. Amen.