I went shopping today at a clothing boutique several miles from home. I’ve never shopped there before because of the distance, but today I decided that it was a good day for a road trip.
And so, with a friend by my side, I hopped into my little red car and drove to the small town of Lockport.
From the moment I stepped through the door I knew it was my kind of store. I love vintage dresses, and this place was bursting with them. Floral dresses, ruffled hems, petticoats, and patent leather Mary Janes. Where had they been all my life?
Within minutes I started in about my body. “If only,” I said to a woman standing nearby, “I was small like you, I could wear anything I wanted to wear.”
Without skipping a beat, the sales woman chimed in. “Your body is the least interesting thing about you,” she said with a smile.
I had to think about that for a minute. What was she saying, exactly? And then I remembered—there are so many wonderful things that go into making a woman. A bubbly personality, a warm smile, kindness, compassion, generosity, an incredible sense of humor, a loyal friend, a hard-working mother, an understanding wife, a supportive daughter, a virtuous woman, a faithful believer, and the list goes on…
Measure any one of those things against the size of your waist and virtue is tipping the scales every time. That’s the scale that we should be focused on. Not the one that’s sitting in our bathroom waiting to disappoint us time and again.
It’s good to be healthy and strong, and to take care of our bodies, after all, they’re a gift from the Lord. But the minute we fail to see that what’s inside is far more important than what’s visible on the outside, then we’re missing the point. We need to look inward where true beauty resides.
“The unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” (1 Peter 3:4b, NIV)
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Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. (1 Peter 3:3-4, NIV)
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Darlene Schacht and her husband Michael live in Manitoba Canada where the summers are beautiful and the winters are cold. Together they’ve come to learn that relationships aren’t always easy, but that marriage, the way God intended it to be, is a treasure worth fighting for.
She began her publishing journey about twelve years ago when she pioneered one of the first online magazines for Christian women, known at the time as “Christian Women Online Magazine.” After three years, Darlene left CWO to blog as a solo author at Time-Warp Wife Ministries.
It was also during this transition that she worked alongside actress Candace Cameron Bure to write the NYT Best-Selling book, Reshaping it All: Motivation for Spiritual and Physical Fitness. Reshaping it All was the winner of both the 2011 USA Best Book Awards and the 2012 Christian Reading Retailers Choice Awards.
Author of more than 15 books, Darlene continues to write and to minister to her readers through her blog at TimeWarpWife.com.
Connect with Darlene:
Facebook: @timewarpwife
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Twitter: @timewarpwife
You are loved by an almighty God,
Darlene Schacht
The Time-Warp Wife