Friday, November 11, 2011

Beauty From the Inside Out

{by Kelly Riddell}
Howdy and warm greetings to all of you from the wonderful state of Texas!  I am so grateful for this opportunity to write a guest post on this new encouraging blog.

A few years ago, I was able to travel to Virginia with my sisters Tara and Elizabeth and the Rebsch girls to join the Sadler girls in holding a conference for young ladies. What a joy it was to become acquainted with them. One of my great desires has been to encourage young ladies in the ways of our Savior and at this conference; I enjoyed teaching the girls natural beauty tips!

I would like to share with all of you some different ideas and thoughts on the subject of inward and outward beauty.  What does it mean to be truly beautiful?  How can I make myself attractive as a Christian young woman? How do I spend time in front of the mirror without obsessing and becoming too focused on myself and my outward appearance? These are all important questions, ones that girls ask and ones that need to be addressed.

First of all, true beauty could never start on the outside and work its way inward. The world would have us believe that if we will buy the newest and latest expensive beauty products, shop the latest fads and styles, and someday get enough facials and plastic surgeries; we will be well on our way to being perfectly gorgeous!!! Guess what? This is completely wrong! True beauty is not something that can be merely worn on the outside, without your inward condition spilling out from the inside.

A long time ago, there was an older young lady that I was acquainted with. I always looked up to her, admired her and used her as my beauty and fashion icon. I thought she was very attractive and I was always excited to observe what she wore, how she fixed her hair, makeup etc. I recently saw this woman again and wondered how I ever could have admired her and wanted to copy her.  All I saw was a woman hardened by life and used by the pull of the world’s pleasures and vanities.

You see girls, when we are focused on pleasing our heavenly Father instead of our peers with our outward appearance; our outward beauty only gets sweeter and sweeter with time. Girls, no matter how much we try and try, we all know our outward beauty just will not last forever.  True beauty will be with us always. So what is this beauty of the heart that seems to be so essential to true beauty? The answer is having a living relationship with our heavenly Father. It is the outward proof of Christ working within to conform us into the image of his Son.

After beginning by focusing on the heart, I am passionate in my belief that it is important to pay attention to our outward appearance. After all, God looks at the heart, but man looks on the outward appearance, right?  (1 Samuel 16:7)   Let’s be a good representative to the world of our Lord and Savior.

It is impossible to give you a list of rules of what makeup to wear, what hairstyle and so on because we are all so different. Let me just give you some general guidelines.

As far as hairstyles, I fought my curly hair for many years. We live in the hot humid south and it seemed impossible to control the tendency toward frizz. A few years ago, I decided to stop straightening and just learned to enjoy the curls God chose for me. Once I discovered mousse, I was able to keep it all under control!  I would encourage each of you to work with the hair the Lord has blessed you with. Recently, while shopping, I came across some tiny braids that you add into your hair as a hair band but I was disappointed that there were none that came close to the color of my hair. Suddenly, I realized that I had plenty of hair to create my own so I tried braiding two small pieces from behind my ears and crossing them over my head to create bands! I have received many compliments on them!

In the area where I live, women wear a lot of makeup. It is not considered gaudy or flirtatious; it seems it is just the way it is! In some of my travels to other areas, I have noticed that the women there wear very little makeup or none at all. Because there is such a variation in what is acceptable, I believe it would be wise to ask your father and mother what they feel is appropriate for you. My sisters and I went through a time when we thought more was better! We have since arrived at a point where we prefer to look more natural, just enhancing the features God has given us. After all, do you want people to look at you or your makeup?

One area I always covered in my sessions was not to over pluck those eyebrows! In general, your eyebrows should begin directly over the most inner part of your eyes. Too much plucking can create an odd look and sometimes those brows may not grow back! 

One of the greatest beauty tips I have is to exercise! It will help you to feel better and look better too!  Our library contains hundreds of exercise DVD’s and I love to rent them and try them out. I have found some favorites and try others for variety. Running or walking is a great activity when the weather allows.

Good nutrition is another backbone of beauty! I gave up sodas years ago.  If you would like to, just replace them with water with a squeeze of lemon and over time you’ll be glad you did. Enjoy looking around the web at all the great nutrition sites and start incorporating a few new ideas.

You are God’s creation so stand on truth and glorify God in your body! May the Lord bless each of you as you cultivate both inward and outward beauty.

Kelly Riddell is the third born daughter of four girls. Her goals in life are to honor God in all she does, be a shining light to a lost and dying world and live a life of service to her Creator. While living at home she enjoys serving her family as well as putting her energy into any ministry that God brings her way; whether it's discipling and encouraging younger girls in ways that honor God, ministering to families at her church, teaching music, or investing in her younger sister, nieces and nephews. She loves to spend time cultivating and enjoying her family relationships as well as singing, playing the piano and violin, drawing, exercising and enjoying God's magnificent creation. She thanks the Lord for giving her this life to have a personal relationship with One in particular...Jesus Christ. 

3 comments:

  1. Kelly, this is so powerful and encouraging. I really enjoyed the conclusion you made about beauty being our outward representation of Christ to the world. Although we don't want to be obsessed with our appearance we still want to present Christ well and not scare others off. God gave us beauty to enjoy and God is an artistic God so why not represent that part of Him too! Thank you so much!

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  2. I LOVE what you said about "do you want people to look at you, or your makeup?" That is what I always think when getting ready in the morning. I want people to look at my face, not my makeup. The naturally pretty look is always best. :)

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  3. Thank you Kelly. I especially appreciate the advice about make-up! Blessings!

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