Life is hard, but God is good.

So as life’s sharp edges try to hold up your inner beauty and inner strength, fear not. Jesus is with you and he reminds you that you are a saint now. (The biblical meaning of saint is a forgiven believer.)

You are holy now. (This doesn’t mean you’re perfect but as a saint you have the perfection of Christ.)

You are the Father’s daughter now.

Chosen, blameless, redeemed and forgiven.

You have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms now. You cannot get more blessing. You dod not need more blessing. Why? You already possess every spritual blessing.

Every is. . .well, every.

You don’t have to get your act together before God will bless you. He has blessed you. Present tense.

You don’t have to check off every item on your spiritual to-do list.

You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and cannot lose your salvation that he guaranteed because God cannot not be God and unseal and un-guarantee.

What does this all mean?

Find your rest in your identity in Christ.

You’ll find these promises in Ephesians 1:3-14. If you have want a copy of my “Who You Are in Christ” handout, leave a comment. Thanks.

You Are a Saint!

We women long to hear:

You

are

beautiful!

Yet we rarely do. We live in a put-down world with impossible beauty standards. Flawless faces leer at us while we wait in the checkout line. You’ve seen them, haven’t you?

Blemish-free skin, perfect noses, impeccable makeup. And just below the faces. . .

. . . big bosoms and slender, sculpted bods.

Who can compare?

Not me.

Not you.

No one.

Seriously, even supermodels are air-brushed.

I surveyed a dozen Christian women, ages 20 to 60, who attended my workshop “Inside Out Beauty.” The question I posed: What are two things would you change about your looks? They wrote their answers. No names. Complete anonymity.

The results: All but one mentioned weight.

No surprise. Everyone I know wants to lose a little, a little there.

The other things they’d change: hairy arms, wrinkles, age spots, eye color, hair color, even “my whole body.”

Ouch!

Here’s the big Q? How can we learn to see ourselves like Jesus does?

Question: What would you change about you? Leave a comment.

You Are Blessed,

Cari Kaufman, formerly a high priestess of Wicca, thought she could do everything — yep, everything — by herself, thank you very much. Really, who needs friends when you have yourself

and a cauldron?

Cari is my special guest on Tuesday’s blogtalkradio show “The Sisterhood of Beautiful Warriors,” which I host weekly at 1 p.m. Central. You can listen to the conversation LIVE or to the ARCHIVE. Please tell your family and friends, especially if they’ve struggled with the ugliness of self-sufficiency or with the occult.

After 10 years in the occult, she became a Christian. You can read her testimony.

Long story short, after lots and lots of prayer by her friend named Heather and Heather’s church choir, Cari read the end times novel Left Behind by the pool while on vacation. She told her husband, Charlie (also not a Christian. . .yet) that she felt terrified.

Cari admits, “I had, for over ten years, vehemently opposed Christ and his teachings and was pretty sure he would never want me in his camp. Charlie’s response to me was, ‘I don’t know anything about this stuff. . .ask Heather.’”

{Oooh, I love that Heather.}

A month later, Cari asked Jesus to wash away her sin, past, present and future.

In Jesus’ strength, she broke free of her “I-gotta-be-the-best” mentality and wrote a book on friendships titled Living Life with Strings Attached. It’s about forming deep, strong, and meaningful relationships with women around you. Cari says it’s a picture of God’s design for relationship.

Cari also is a certified life coach, professional speaker, and decorated military officer as well as a wife and mom.

Join us Tuesday! To enter the book giveaway for Living Life with Strings Attached, please leave a comment.

You Are Precious!

Lori Moore know inferiority

too well.

Junk happened in her childhood, piles of junk. She piled on Satan’s lies, repeated my her mom and dad, that she lacked value, that she was as good as her looks, that she had to prove herself perfect. She looked for love in the wrong places and yet God protected her in amazing, amazing ways that’ll

blow your mind.

Lori is my special guest on Tuesday’s The Sisterhood of Beautiful Warrior radio show at 1 p.m. Central. She wrote the book From Zero to Christian in Just 35 Years, a slim, easy-to-read volume perfect for hurting women seeking God. 

Listen LIVE or to the archived show. Please share this post with friends and family who fear stepping into church. Just like Lori did.

As Lori and I chat about her inferiority problem – even her cul de sac into stripping — and the hope that led to a new identity in Christ and to freedom. As you listen to Lori’s God story, I pray you take away this truth:

In Christ you are blessed, you are forgiven, you are redeemed, you are adopted as a daughter of the Almighty God. As you believe these truths – straight from God’s Bible – you are well on your way to living the abundant life promised by Jesus.

Got a question for Lori? Or a comment you’d like to share? Dial our number: 347-850-8893.

You should check out my website too. Here I serve overflowing cups of faith, hope and joy to Christian women who need hope now and to women’s ministry leaders who need resources on how to connect with women – like me! – who don’t fit the good church lady profile.

Join us on the radio! I can barely wait to share Lori’s God story. . .from inferiority to a strip club to the place she thought she’d never ever set foot in: a church.

You Are Precious!

Pulling up to a red light, Kate noticed a young man clutching a sign.

It read, “HOMELESS. NEED FOOD. PLEASE HELP.” The icy wind reddened his hands. She knew what she had to do, even though it inconvenienced her. She drove to a store, bought men’s gloves and returned to the sign holder. She rolled down her window and handed them to him.

And she prayed for his mother.

Kate, too, has a grown son. Addicted to drugs. Sleeping somewhere. She couldn’t warm her own child but she could show Jesus to a stranger.

Debbie Macomber shares this true story in her book One Simple Act: Discovering the Power of Generosity. A sister in Christ and bestselling fiction author, she understands. She’s dyslexic and her third grade teacher told her mother, “She’ll never do well in school.” And she didn’t.

But her love of words and her parent’s encouragement, and later her husband’s, gave her the boost to sign up for a writers’ conference in New York, and — to use a cliche — the rest is history.

This post isn’t about Debbie or Kate. It’s about you and overcoming your struggles in Jesus’ power. I want you to find hope and healing. One thing I learned:

Sometimes to find healing you need to reach out to a hurting soul and help her.

Here’s an example: A woman I counsel — whom I’ll call Sandy — spied a lady dumpster-diving for food scraps behind a fast-food joint. She maneuvered her car from the drive-thru lane and into a parking spot. Sandy had bought two lunches, one for herself and one for the lady. She handed one bag of food to the lady. She said, “I don’t want your food. I don’t take no charity.” Sandy put the bag of food just inside the dumpster and walked back to her car, glancing backward to see what the lady would do.

She took the food.

Now Sandy and the lady have a game of sorts. Sandy places food by the dumpster when she sees the lady and the lady eats. Sandy feels she is making a difference. She feels less alone.

This simple act of generosity reveals Jesus to a lady and to a hurting world.

“Do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Hebrews 13:16 NIV).

Question: Why can you thank God today?

You Are Blessed!

The Proverbs 31 lady:

Is she a true beauty? Am I?

Are you?

CONFESSION: The description of the Proverbs 31 lady disturbs me. She seems too perfect, too polished, just another unattainable standard. I don’t want to be her, I want to hurt her, maybe knock her on her bottom with one of those spinning karate kicks you’ve seen in a Chuck Norris flick. Wow! It felt good to admit that.

Thankfully, the Proverbs 31 lady doesn’t exist. Theologians agree “she” is a poetic description of what a man would like to see in a wife. Admirable, yes. Should we beat ourselves up if we don’t compare?

 No.

To discern the difference between outer beauty and inner beauty, let’s do a little word study.

Outer beauty:

In verse 30, we read, “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting.” The Hebrew word for beauty here is yophiy, and it means “beautiful as to outward appearance.” And it is “fleeting.”

Ain’t that the truth? In my cosmetics bag, I have concealer for minimize wrinkles, foundation to even my complexion, blush to pink my cheeks and eyebrow pencil to fill in gaps.

Gray hair? I prefer to call these strands “platinum.” They blend nicely with the blond.

Ha!

Inner beauty:

A few verses earlier, the noun hadar describes how the Proverbs 31 woman is “clothed”: with splendor and honor, strength and beauty. This beauty is godliness. She “laughs without fear of the future” and “shall rejoice in time to come.”

Her inner beauty shines Jesus! Look at these New Testament verses.

Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of your sinful nature. Romans 13:14

As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12

All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.” 2 Peter 5:5b

Now scoot back to Proverbs 31:30. I purposely skipped the second half of the verse, so we could talk about it now. In its entirety, it reads, “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” In this context, the word “fear” means to revere, to honor, to adore.

Did you get this? Her belief is her beauty. So is yours.

You can write it as a simple equation:

BELIEF = INNER BEAUTY

I think I’m beginning to like the Proverb 31 lady.

Sure, she sews her clothes and I don’t. She invests in real estate. Not me. She gardens. No green thumb here. She wakes up before dawn and cooks breakfast for the family. I’m sleeping. So much of what she does, I don’t do.

One thing we have in common: We love the Lord.

That’s all that really matters.

You Are Precious!

This is the beautiful truth: You are who God says you are.

He says

you’re worth it

and

you’re lovely.

Scroll a bit down and you’ll see a short list of who you are. If you want the long list send me a message with the words “Who I Am in Christ” in the subject line. My email is Lucy@LucyAnnMoll.com.

You are a new creation. (2 Cor. 5:17)

You are complete. (Col. 2:9,10)

You are secure. (Rom. 8:31-39)

You are God’s workmanship. (Eph. 2:10)

You are God’s treasure. (1 Pet. 2:9,10)

Father, thank you for reminding us who we are in Christ. You’ve chosen to love us. This is amazing. Thank you that when you look at us you see true beauty that comes from your Son, our Savior. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

You Are Blessed!

CLANK. BOOM.

Mary of Bethany scrunched her nose. Another boom. Her eyes flickered irritation. “Boy, is she loud!” Mary murmured. She breathed deep, exhaled and refocused her attention on the teacher. She sat as his feet, just like his other students, almost all of them men. They weren’t here now. Just him and her and her.

She adored him. Not a girl-guy thing. He was as close as a brother. Closer? Could this be?

She pushed aside her thoughts and listened. Deep.

His words stilled her soul. They spoke power and truth. And gentleness.

And insight beyond understanding. She watched his earth-brown eyes, the curve of his mouth. She memorized his expressions.

A crinkle around the eyes. Delight. Two downward grooves above his nose. Serious? Sadness? She couldn’t tell. His laugh? It jiggled her insides. He laughed from the belly. Not a care.

CLANK.

Mary jerked her head toward the kitchen. Martha again.

Hands on hips, hair falling out of her pony, sweat shining her forehead, Martha stood at the door and school-marmed the teacher, “Make her help me. There is much to do.” He leaned forward, elbows on his knees and spoke just above a whisper.
“Martha, you’ve chosen busyness. What you do matters. But your sister has chosen to learn from me, to know me and worship.

I will not take away her joy.

“Come, Martha, sit with us.”

Martha hesitated. “The roast is in the oven. I won’t let it burn.” She swiveled and walked away.

My beautiful warrior sister, did you like my fictionalized account of the scene of Martha in the kitchen — busy, busy, busy — and Mary at Jesus’ feet, listening deep. Busyness dirties us. Peace eludes us. Worship vacates. Do you know what I’m saying?

God wants you to wipe off the mud mask – the mud of your difficulties like crazy credit card debt or an impending divorce, the mask of insecurity and doubt, and worship him passionately.

Like never before.

You worship not because you “should” – please, please erase should from your vocabulary – as if it were a requirement, a law. Like filing your tax return.

Worship God with a passion, a holy desire. Experience the true peace that results from revering the One whose name above all others. Go ahead, sit at the feet of him who love you most.

You Are Precious!

In a round-about way God led me to this Tangle video, and my Spirit said, “She is a beautiful warrior.”

Her name: Sara Groves.

She cares, she gives, she risks, she loves. . .just like Jesus.

Katrina. Rwanda. Two tragedies. . .one love.

The video is AMAZING. Watch it and love like Jesus. (Click on the purple.)

Pause my music player at the bottom of the page. : )

You Are Beautiful, Lucy