365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 185

They were talking on the radio about the top 10 things women don’t like about their bodies. The #1 was the stomach. I guessed that right! An image of myself when I was a senior in high school came to mind. I had seen a photo this weekend of me trying out for the captain of the drill team. Wow! I was tall and very skinny. I remembered being called a bean pole and I can see why. I think women are plagued by this man-made idea of beauty. But the reality is God doesn’t make mistakes. He loves us just as we are. In the end our body will age and go back to the ground from which it came but our heart, soul and spirit are moving on. This is where your true beauty lies. It is what’s inside us that shines outward. Shine on, shine on.

1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 103

As I walked into my office building yesterday, I ran into our office manager who was waiting for the elevator. She greeted me and asked how I was feeling and than I asked her how her daughter was doing. I had heard thru the office grapevine that she had had a second seizure within a month. I decided to ride up the elevator with her instead of taking the stairs which is my normal routine. She said that her daughter who was a preemie has had this place in her brain that may not have gotten enough oxygen and now the doctors are saying that it is a degenerative thing and that symptoms will worsen, etc. She ended up in tears telling me how she just needed to stay home yesterday to just be with her daughter and how she started a diet program to lose her excess weight so she can be healthy and take care of her daughter as she grows older. The interaction I had with her has stayed with me. I don’t know our office manager outside of office stuff so this was on a personal level that I had not gone to with her before now. It is amazing to me how little we know about the hearts of others. I got a good look at her heart yesterday after working there for almost 4 years but God knows our hearts inside and out, through and through, completely. He knows what we need and how we are feeling and will answer those needs and comfort those feelings. Lord, I ask you to give comfort, peace and strength to this woman whose heart is breaking for her daughter and heal her daughter. With you all things are possible. Amen.

1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."