Frilly Dresses - Encouragement Café - May 31, 2016

Frilly Dresses
By Joan Walker Hahn
Tuesday, May 31, 2016

I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.  1 Timothy 2:9-10 NIV

My two-year-old granddaughter loves clothes and shoes.  It started when she was only one year old.  When she saw someone wearing shoes that she liked, she would tell the person to take them off so she could slip her little feet into them and attempt to walk around.  Even though she stumbled and fell often, she was determined to keep them on, smiling the whole time.

She seems to be developing into quite the little fashionista.  She loves to pretend she’s a princess.  It’s common to see her wearing a pretty, frilly dress that she has picked out herself.  But it’s just as common to see her wearing those princess dresses while holding her own as she wrestles with her big brother.

It seems that females really don’t have to be taught to like looking or feeling pretty.  And there’s nothing wrong with looking our best.  But it is also sad to note that we often develop our sense of self-worth based on our appearance instead of our character and heart. 

We sometimes allow our happiness to depend on how other people view us – instead of who we really are on the inside.

Once we have accepted Christ as our Savior, God looks at us through the blood of Christ.  He sees beauty and righteousness.  He sees a soul that He is transforming into the image and likeness of His Son. 

Our heavenly Father, our God and King, sees us, His child, whom He has loved since before the foundation of the world.

I’d rather be clothed in the righteousness of Christ than in the most glamorous of clothes stitched by man.

I’d rather have my feet shod with the beautiful, Good News of the Gospel than in the most expensive pair of heels.

I’d rather be known as a child of God than to have the approval of man.

When the world is judging me according to the “frilliness” of life, I want to be found holding firm against the wrestling with the world by the power of the Holy Spirit that lives within me. 

I’m definitely not a fashionista.  But I am, without doubt, a princess!

Have you allowed others to dictate how you feel and view yourself? 

A friend once taught me that when I begin to feel worthless and down on myself, I need to remember whose I am.

Follow this line of reasoning:

I believe in God.

I believe God is King of the world.

I believe God sent His Son into the world to die for me.

I accept Christ as my Lord and Savior.

I am a joint heir with Christ, God’s Son.

That makes me a child of the King.

That means I’m a princess in His eyes.

I’m a princess!

When we accept that we are the King’s daughters, we are able to recognize that no matter what anyone else thinks, we are worthy of the love of our heavenly Father.  And if I am worthy of His love, then the opinion of everyone else doesn’t matter. 

We are princesses.  Let’s wear the royal robes of salvation and let the world see the beauty of Christ in us! 

My Dear Heavenly Father,

I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever.  Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.  Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. Psalm 145:1-3 NIV

© 2016 by Joan Walker Hahn.  All rights reserved.

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