Wednesday

What is Beauty? - A Dose of Encouragement




As ladies we hear a lot of talk about beauty, we see a lot of adverts about beauty and from an early age we are aware that most people will make a decision for themselves if we are beautiful or not!

So instinctively we know who decides about who is beautiful in this world but before let ourselves stay in this mindset about beauty we really should consider what beauty really is.

Or what is real beauty.





So 

WHAT IS BEAUTY?


Let's take a very quick questionnaire

Questionnaire   (with my personal answers)

Read through the questions and note your personal answers.

1.   What is your favourite colour?       Blue

2.   What is your favourite number?     4

3.   Which do you prefer?  odd nos. / even nos.    Even

4.   Do you like to have music played loudly or softly?    Softly

5.   What style of music do you prefer?   Classical

6.   Do you like spicy food?     No

7.   Do you prefer savoury or sweet?     Savoury

8.   Do you prefer dogs or cats?     Dogs

9.   What type of shapes do you prefer?   curvy / straight   Straight

10. Do you like to go to bed early or late?     Late



Did you agree with my answers?

When I did this short questionnaire with a group of women last month no-one agreed completely with my answers in fact not many of the ladies could find someone else in the group who were very similar in their answers (even though quite a few of these questions only had a choice of 2 answers).

Different Answers!

WHY?

Because we are all unique.


HENCE

We will not all agree on what is beautiful.

We all have our different preferences and likes and dislikes.




Sayings about Beauty     

Have you heard these sayings over the years?

You may have some other suggestions to add to this short list

a. Beauty of Creation - colours of the rainbow 

b. Beauty is only skin deep

c. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder

d. Beauty makes you smile 

e. She's a beautiful soul

f.  I don't know what he sees in her, she's no beauty!

(ok this last one may be a Northern Ireland saying)


But leading on from these sayings let me tell you:


The Story of my face when Fred told me he loved me. 

Briefly:

At a youth camp I was fond of Fred and I thought from previous times that he may have been fond of me but I  thought there may have been someone else who was also fond of Fred!

But I had a very ugly and very large blistered patch on my cheek which everyone kept staring at. 

An ugly face which made other people stare at me but not Fred 

No idea if my face was going to be scarred for life, but that didn't stop him from loving me and telling me this at the end of the camp.

You can read more about this in What a Face!


Being physically ugly did not stop Fred from loving me

This always encourages me because it helps me to remember that:

  • Being unsaved made us ugly in God's sight
  • God just could not have us in His family because of our sin.
  • However being unsaved didn't stop God from loving us
  • So He sent Jesus to be punished & die in our place to replace the ugly sin in our lives with forgiveness  


Being physically ugly does not stop God from loving me!

But what is the real Beauty that God sees?








What 10 things can we learn from the Bible about Beauty?

1.   Is there a difference between physical beauty and Godly beauty?     

YES 

1 Samuel 16 v 7

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”






Proverbs 31 v 30

Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,

But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

 




 

2.   Can physical beauty be harmful?  Used wrongly?  Lead to sin? 

 

YES 

- lust  

2 Samuel 11 v 2

Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold.


- pride 

Esther 1 v 10-11

On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, to bring Queen Vashti before the king, wearing her royal crown, in order to show her beauty to the people and the officials, for she was beautiful to behold. 


  - lies 

Genesis 12 v 10 - 13

Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. 

And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance.

Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 

Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.” 



 
3.  Is physical beauty essential to becoming a Christian?


NO! beauty is never mentioned regarding salvation

 
Ephesians 2 v 4 - 5

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)
 



 



4.   How do we become beautiful in God's eyes?   


   Our beauty starts in our salvation.


 1 Peter 3 v 3-4

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,  
in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, 
the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,  
among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts 
of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.


God could not have us in His kingdom because of our sin which had nothing to do with our physical beauty
and 
we had no Godly beauty because of sin in our lives before our salvation.




  
5.  How do we stay beautiful in God's eyes? 

  
By the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

2 Corinthians 3 v 18

 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

 




 
6.  What should we be focused on? 

  
  The marvellous God who created us
and
the attributes of goodness
the true, noble, just, pure, lovely goodness of God  


Philippians 4 v 8

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, 
whatsoever things are of good report, 
if there be any virtue and if there be any praise
think on these things.




  
 
7. What beauty are we to ultimately want to admire? 


The beauty of God

Psalm 27 v 4 

One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in His temple






8.  Is Godly beauty essential to growth as a Christian? 


YES
 

The clue is in the sentence - Godly beauty must be beauty that reflects God hence it must be godly in nature so must take on the attributes of God.  The more we get to know God the more we will be changed by Him and we cannot be changed by God unless we show His beauty to others which means we must have His beauty within us.




9.   What were we created for?  

Good works


Ephesians 2 v 10

For we are His workmanship, 
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
 

 




10.   What did God see in His finished creation? 


A likeness of God


Genesis 1 v 27


So God created man in His own image,
in the image of God created he him;
male and female created he them




God created man in His image 

so this would indicate that mankind was beautiful to God


However


God did not look at all of creation and record it as beautiful, 

instead God clearly recorded it in the Bible as being GOOD!


Genesis 1 v 31


And God saw everything that He had made,
and, behold, it was very good.



 

 

In God's eyes everything He created was good.

And it is logical that whatever is good in God's eyes 
is beautiful to God.

So Godly Beauty is Goodness.








Sunday

Psalm 96 v 9 - Memorizing the Bible


I could never do it!

          Do what?

Memorize loads of scripture!

          Yeah that's not so easy,  BUT  you can learn a verse of the Bible.






Let's look at a verse from one of the Psalms.

Many people think they could never manage to memorize a whole Psalm or a whole chapter of Scripture.

It seems like a rather difficult challenge especially if you have never learned any scripture before.

So we are not even going to tackle one whole Psalm but we will take on one verse of a Psalm - Psalm 96 v 9


"O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: tremble before him, all the earth."



So in memorizing this verse we will look at 4 things:
  • Memorising Tips
  • Graphic of Psalm 96 v 9
  • A short video of the words of the verse
  • Some Freebies to help you.








Memorising Tips
If you read the Top 10 Ways to Learn Scripture you will see that I give 10 tips to help in this process but we don't have to use all 10 of them on each verse - just the ones that suit best with the verse.


For Psalm 96 v 9 I'm going to advise using tips 1, 2, 7, 8, 9



1.  Read the verse often, every day, multiple times in the day.

Leave a bookmark in your bible and every time you go past it grab the bible and open at the verse etc. (you will pick up other ideas later in this post).

Reading and repeating somethings over and over is the natural way to get it into your head.

With this verse it is obvious to think of it in two parts as we read it


"O worship the Lord 

in the beauty of holiness:


   & 

tremble before him,

all the earth."





2.  Write out the verse several times.

Why?  Because he action of  WRITING  helps us learn anything.

The first part above can be written on one line of a page and the second part on the next line.

So you are writing it in two halves just as reading it in the two halves as in no.1 above. 









7.  Understand the meaning of the verse.

We will never memorize anything properly without having understood the meaning of it and knowing the meaning helps us remember the order of the parts of the verses.

In this verse we have the attitude & reverence around how we should
worship God.

The first part of the verse tells us how we should approach God knowing He is Holy and recognize the glory and beauty of His Holiness. 

Then the second part tells us about awe and fear of the Lord which we should never forget as we come before Him.





8.  Make it easy to see the verse clearly and regularly each day.


In no.1 above I mentioned your bible and a bookmark

but

we cannot have our Bible at hand every moment of the day so if you feel you need frequent readings of the verse like pop-up reminders then do the following:

Get a post-it pad and write the verse out clearly on it then tear off the post-it and stick it on
  • the mirror you will use first thing each morning and last thing each night
  • the front cover of your Bible
  • the front cover of the book you are currently reading
  • the door of the fridge
  • the inside of the door of the cupboard where you go to get your favourite mug for that cup of coffee








9.  Make or use Bible Verse Graphics 

The picture of Psalm 96 v 9 near the start of this post is an example of a Bible Verse Graphic.

A picture with the words written on it clearly.
By making these yourself you will learn as you create them.

or

by using ones made for you that you keep close to hand
(see my freebies below)

I post a bible verse graphic every morning on my
so if you want to be encouraged by a verse each day or have a graphic you can Share to your timeline or Save in Facebook then click through to my Facebook Page and be sure to like and follow the page to see those graphics in your feed each day.

or

by watching very, very short graphic video like this one I created








or Colouring Pages

While colouring in a Bible Verse Page you will be spending time around the words and this also helps to learn the verse as you can repeat it to yourself.
(see my freebies below)



or Phone Screensavers / Wallpaper

What better use of your phone - to keep that verse in front of you each time you go to check your messages.

For this you will need it to be a suitable portrait shape and size so most of the normal verse graphics you see will not suit.





Some Freebies to help you.

For today's verse to help you memorize I have

  • Colouring Page


  • Bible Verse Graphic




  • Word Search Puzzle



all of which can be downloaded HERE 




Don't forget 
that many of my other posts on the blog have bible verse graphics and many of these are also available as free downloads in my


also that's where you will find the phone screen savers for 
a few verses.





I've also prepared a playlist of Short Songs to help you memorize some Scriptures on YouTube:







Monday

FREE Psalm 96 v 9 Word Search Puzzle - Coffee & Conversation







Do you enjoy puzzles?

Do you like to relax and do a Word Search?


Well let's make Coffee & Conversation today
 into a cuppa with a 
Word Search!


The Theme for this Word Search is

Psalm 96 v 9






I'm offering this Word Search as one of my assortment of free printables which can be found in my Resource Library



Word Search based on Psalm 96 v 9


It includes 12 words or phrases taken from 

Psalm 96 v 9









The Word Search is available to download in both A4 and Letter size and of course comes with an answer sheet.


Here's the full verse for you 





Have you downloaded this Free Psalm 96 v 9 Word Search yet?



We also have a free colouring page of Psalm 96 v 9

And

A free sheet of Bible verse graphics of Psalm 96 v 9









Don't forget


Or pin this pic below to come back later








Thursday

I Love Unusual Fountains - Travel






I love fountains! 

BUT

 I have seen so many over the years in various countries where we have lived 
or gone on holiday 
that I now like to look out for unusual ones.


Maybe it is just because I love watching moving water 
or prancing about in waves. 
 I wonder - does paddling in cold ripples on the beach 
also qualify here?



When we lived in Belgium we were in a Village called Tervuren and it was a lovely village with a royal castle and the gardens were open to the public as a park.

There was a roundabout in front of the castle and a long road leading up to it and shortly after we arrived there they started to work at the roundabout.






It was a mystery as to what they were going to do with it because it was obvious soon enough that it was not just going to have nice flower beds.  Well you can probably guess it must have had a fountain because that's what I'm writing about today but for the story and to see just what type of fountain was involved you will need to read Tervuren Fountain



We have lived in America and Belgium as well as our homeland of Northern Ireland and we have also visited several places on holidays over the years so I've picked out some of the more unusual fountains in those places as a representation of


 "Fountains throughout the World".






From Top Left going round Clockwise we have:

  1. Washington D.C.
  2. Singapore
  3. Geneva, Switzerland
  4. Manneken Pis - Brussels, Belgium
  5. Paris, France
  6. Las Vegas, USA
  7. Seoul, South Korea
  8. Old Faithful Geyser - Yellowstone Park, USA


These are all beautiful fountains but my heart lies firmly with the one in Tervuren which is more unusual than these and as I would pass it on almost a daily basis it continued (over all the years we were there) to put a smile on my face each time.

Tervuren Fountain  will always be special to me - you really need to go and have a look.

About halfway through my time in Belgium I was fortunate enough to be in a ladies group which managed to arrange to visit the workshop of the man who created the Fountain.  This workshop was at his home and all around his large (very large) garden were many more sculptures of many different animals and people and objects.

I remember telling him that I already knew then that The Fountain at Tervuren would be the thing I would miss most when I left Belgium and it is true, although I do miss the friends I made there as well.

It took Tom Frantzen a long time to design, get all the materials necessary and then to create this beautiful feature.

This always makes me think of my wonderful creator who did not even have to gather together materials because He made the world from nothing.

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed 
by the word of God, so that things which are seen 
were not made of things which do appear.
HEBREWS 11:3


Tom Frantzen is a very gifted sculptor and has made beautiful things but even though we use the word create in this context he really made them out of other things whereas God is the true creator because he made the world and us and everything in the world from nothing.

Oh how marvellous is my God.

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: 
for thou hast created all things, 
and for thy pleasure 
they are and were created.
REVELATION 4:11



Have you acknowledged God's wonderful creation?

You should, because you are His wonderful creation.






Our daughter now lives in South Korea and of course she took us to see a lovely waterfall on Jeju Island on one of our trips to visit her but also while we were there 

 I found another lovely fountain; 
quite small but I loved the idea of it 
so I'm adding it in for you to see here.






 Have you visited any of these places and admired these fountains?

Let me know in the comments







Sunday

Sunday Scripture - 1 Thessalonians 5 v 11 - 24



Sunday Scripture is just simply a thought or two on a 
Bible verse 
or short passage 
that may have struck me afresh 
or maybe for the first time 
or has always been special to me.


Today I am looking at 

1 Thessalonians 5 v 11 - 24






This is one of the longer passages that I have included in a 
Sunday Scripture 

But that doesn't mean this will be a very long Blog Post.





In this passage we see the responsibilities we have as Christians, believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.


These are two-fold


1.  Relationship between us and God


2. Relationship between us and other people





1 Thessalonians 5 v 11 - 24 

Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 
And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. 
Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. 
See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. 
Rejoice evermore. 
Pray without ceasing. 
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 
Quench not the Spirit. 
Despise not prophesyings. 
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 
Abstain from all appearance of evil. 
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

 

 

Relationships

1.  Relationship between us and God

Rejoice always

Pray without ceasing

Give Thanks Always

Do not quench the spirit



2. Relationship between us and other people


Comfort & encourage others

Respect others

Be at peace with others

Help the weak

Be patient with everyone




The start of our passage jumps right in with verse 11 which almost sums up how we should treat others.



It continues through to verse 15 considering relationships and attitudes towards those who have a leadership role and those who need more help than others, stressing the patience and care needed and advising of the right attitude to all people doing good and not evil to any.


The next section of our passage starts with verse 16 giving instruction in a very simple way as to how we need to behave towards God and continuing on to verse 22.






Perhaps we should remember that a part we often overlook is a very important phrase giving us the reason we need to keep these relationships right.

 

       "For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus

       concerning you"


To NOT keep these relationships as stated here is to go against the will of God.


But we are not at the end of our passage just yet.

To finish off Paul leaves us with a blessing in verse 23







and

some of the best encouragement we can have in verse 24


"He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it."

We have a faithful God who does what he promises.