What Are You Hungry For?

Every two weeks, some very, very dear friends of mine send out an e-newsletter. Pastor Ken Lovelace writes an article, and his wife, Lygia, writes a devotional. Lygia is a very gifted writer, and although her devotionals are always excellent, this week’s devotional really, really stood out to me.

There are few women on this earth whom I admire more than Lygia. She is truly a woman after God’s own heart. Completely supportive and respectful of her husband (in the six years I have known her, including four months of living in her home as a member of the family, I have never heard her speak one negative word about her husband), devoted mother of ten children, a prayer warrior, a steadfast and passionate follower of Christ, Lygia, in my mind, is a modern Proverbs 31 woman. I cannot tell you how strong my admiration is for her and her character.

There are so many things in this devotional to step back and think on. I have always believed that after her relationship with God, a woman’s relationship with her husband, and her family, should be her greatest ministry. Our homes are our greatest and most important mission fields. Our husbands need our unconditional respect, our unconditional love, our most heartfelt prayers, our encouragement, and our support. They need us to live by example, and they need us, the women they chose to grow old with, to be their biggest fans.

Our children need us to pray for them, guide them, teach them, love them, encourage them, and to be "Jesus with skin on". Lord willing, Jeremy and I will one day have children of our own. Even though I am not a mother yet, that doesn’t stop me from praying for my children, and Jeremy and I, that we would be a light in a world of darkness.

If we cannot minister to our own families, then what are we doing here, in the church?

I pray that not only you will hunger and thirst for God, but that your husbands and children would, and that God would use you to guide and encourage them in their search.

What are you hungry for? What are you thirsty for? Most importantly, who (or what) do you look to satisfy these needs? Be honest with yourself.

Here is the link to Lygia’s article. I will be praying for all of you.

http://kenlovelaceministries.com/lovelace_hindrance.html

What's In a Name?

I had no trouble choosing the name for my blog. I knew I wanted it somehow to allude to my favorite Book and I knew that I wanted it to have something to do with my life verse, perhaps one or two other verses as well. "Hidden and Unveiled" became a natural choice, after about 5 minutes of brainstorming.


I suppose I should explain myself.


The words "hidden" and "unveiled" refer to my life verse and another favorite verse of mine.

"Your adornment must not be merely external -- braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God."

-1 Peter 3:3-4

and

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

-2 Corinthians 3:18


For a few years now, those two verses in 1 Peter have been my verses. I love them! It is such a relief to me to know that I don't have to join the beauty rat race with which our society plagues women. God's love for me is perfect, so I don't have to have to "dress to impress" when I am spending time with Him. He cares more about my inward appearance than He does about my outward appearance. I know that when I focus on cultivating my inner beauty, that pleases Him, and to please Him is one of my strongest and most fervent desires.

Another strong desire of mine is to be "transformed into his likeness". 2 Corinthians 3:18 describes my desire perfectly. When people look at me, I don't want them to see me. Not at all. I want them to see my Best Friend. My Savior. My Everything. I want my unveiled face to reflect His glory. (More about having an unveiled face in a later post.)

In the future, I hope I reflect Him properly. I hope He saturates my heart, and that this saturation pours out of me into the world.

What's in a name? Well, in this name, I hope to convey my desire to become wholly His and to touch the people He brings into my life.

Here We Go Again

I've always wanted to have a blog...I love to write, and have futilely started one or two blogs, which were always abandoned, untouched. I was talking to my husband's mother last night (she's basically my second mom), and she encouraged me to start writing again.

As I was laying in bed last night, I came up with the usual excuses...don't have the time, don't have the energy...I look at my to-do lists (oh yes, I have more than one), and can't even conceive adding "blog today" to any day of my hectic week. I didn't even talk to Jeremy about it, which is very unusual. I tell him everything. For some reason though, I guess I needed to work this out with God.

And here I am. I'm not really sure how often I will write here. Maybe every day, maybe just a few times a year. But, I am determined to keep at it this time. No forgetting passwords, no procrastinating, no excuses.

I'm excited and enthusiastic. I am looking forward to this.