Following God's call

In today’s day and age, it is entirely too easy for young women to dress in a way that draws the wrong kind of attention and turns heads for the wrong reasons. Midriffs and cleavage are practically screaming at young women from the clothing stores, the cover of magazines and the heart of Hollywood. 

Standards for purity in dress have declined over the years and are continuing to decline as young women allow themselves to be sucked into what is now called “fashion.” How do we, as Christians, set the example for young women to be fashionable and modest at the same time? Sarah Joyner, a senior at Liberty University, has started to do her part to get this message across.

In 2011, Sarah Joyner, along with Ruth Gomes, decided she was no longer going to sit back and watch as Christian women let themselves get sucked into the lie that society was feeding them about dressing immodestly. The result of this decision was a fashion blog entitled Fearlessly Chique. As its name states, Fearlessly Chique, which contains a mixture of the words “unique” and “chic,” is about encouraging fashionable Christian women to stand in fear before God without fear before man.

Sarah, who is the overseer of this blog and the main writer, said she used to struggle with finding somewhere to pour her passion. She was at a loss until she was directed to Jeremiah 29:11-13, which says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’”  

“(I) spent time praying and asking God to show me his plan for my life,” Sarah said. “I asked him to give me passion about something, knowing that I loved fashion and that I was good at business. Once I prayed this, I heard his answer loud and clear. He told me that he had delivered me out of captivity, and that I need to promote modesty to teenage girls.” 

And that is exactly what she has been doing ever since.   

Fearlessly Chique is a mixture of modest fashion tips, devotionals and opinions about modesty from a guy’s point of view. There are too many girls in today’s society that think that dressing modestly means covering up from neck to toe. There are also too many girls who think that dressing fashionably means wearing the latest trends that show too much skin. Fearlessly Chique proves both these stereotypes wrong.                                                                         

What makes this blog different from any other fashion blog? Yes, it promotes modesty, but it does not stop here. Each week, Sarah writes a devotional that has been placed on her heart to share. 

“Modesty is a balance,” Sarah said. “If girls focus too much on the inward, they can become legalistic. If girls focus too much on the outward, then they can become apathetic. When both these focuses are mixed together, they bring glory to God.” 

Sarah uses this concept to write inspiring devotionals to tell girls how cherished they are by their creator. The devotionals are not completely focused on fashion because Sarah said wants to share not only her sense of fashion, but also her love for the Lord.

Sarah and the other writers of Fearlessly Chique could easily stick to fashion advice and leave it at that. But they have heard the call of God and are responding to that call. They have seen the need that has arisen for encouraging young women to dress in a way that does not send the wrong message and that does not cause others to stumble. They also want to encourage young women to find their identity and contentment in Christ and not in the attention they can get from dressing provocatively. 

“If girls keep on fighting and searching for their contentment in the attention that they can get from dressing like that, then they will end up in a never ending circle,” Sarah said. “We can’t find our completeness in that. Satan gets into our minds and tells us that we can find contentment in this, but the world will continue to change the meaning of contentment. God’s love doesn’t change, and he loves us despite everything we’ve ever done. If girls start to seek God’s love instead of the world’s love, then they will find the contentment that they seek.” 

                                                                            

The little things

What goes through your mind when you hear the two words "give blood"? These words are small in size, but cause a variety of reactions when said aloud. 

One of the most common responses is, “No I can’t do that!” Some other common responses that you’ll hear are, “I can’t stand needles,” “I get sick too easily,” or, my personal favorite, “I don’t get paid for it, and it’s not like there isn’t enough blood to go around. So why should I give blood?” 

In the grand scheme of things, for the donor, giving blood is not a big deal. It takes a few hours of your time and then you get up, walk out the door and carry on with your life. But how many of us stop and think about the other end of the process? How many of us think about the person who needs that blood? I know I do.

I used to be one of those people who didn’t think twice about giving blood. In fact, I never thought about it at all. Until I was 14, and I became the person on the other end of the process. Before then, giving blood was such a trivial thing that I never thought about it. But it’s not. Six years ago, two people gave blood and saved my life. Giving blood doesn’t seem like such a small act anymore.

How many things do we pass over, ignore and walk by without noticing because we think they don’t matter in the grand scheme of things? Our culture is so focused on doing the least amount of work for the greatest amount of gain that we forget about the things that can actually make a difference. 

I have to admit that I try not to pay attention to commercials that ask for donations for starving children. I glance away as the images of bloated stomachs and protruding rib cages travel across the screen to the sound of music that is meant to pull at your heart strings. Too often I find myself saying that if I cannot change the way something is, I might as well not even bother. I willingly allow myself to believe the lie that my small contribution will not make a difference. 

Do not fall into this trap. Do not let yourself believe that you can’t make a difference. Will you be able to provide food for every starving child? No. But that does not mean you cannot give a small donation. And making a difference doesn’t always mean going on missions trips or sponsoring a child. It could be helping to carry groceries for your neighbor, it could be giving your friend $10 for a missions trip or it could be keeping someone company when they’re sick. 

It doesn’t matter what you do. What matters is that you do not tell yourself you are not important enough to make a difference, and that you do it.

To this day, I still think about the fact that there are two people out there somewhere who, six years ago, sat in a chair for a few minutes and did something that they might have thought was not that big of a deal. They might not even remember the day that they gave blood. It was such a little thing that they did not bother to tuck it away in their memory, and it has slipped through the cracks. But the 14-year-old girl lying in the hospital bed didn’t think that it was such a little thing. 

Isn’t that how it works most of the time? We don’t think we can make a difference in this world, but we can. We just have to realize that the little things are not so little. They actually can be life changing actions - just wrapped in small packages.

The peace that guards

How many of us can say that we struggle with unsettling feelings and with anxiety regarding our circumstances? Thoughts creep in on us unexpectedly and create doubt, confusion and even anger. It always amazes me how we just let this happen. We know the truth – why do we let these unsettling thoughts and feelings beat us down and control our attitudes? Why can’t we muster up our strength and fight back?

The truth is, we do not often have the strength to fight back. We think we do, which is why we end up failing to protect ourselves. The thoughts of our minds and the whispers of our hearts are precious. We want to protect them from the lies that are thrown at us every single day. But how can we if we don’t have the strength?

Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” I read these verses the other day, and God showed me something different that I had not thought of before now.

The first thing that popped out at me was the word “thanksgiving.” It hit me that I pray for things and thank God after he answers my prayers. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but there is something missing from that. Paul tells us to present our requests to God “with thanksgiving.” 

We all present requests before God. Many of us even have the right heart attitude when presenting these requests. But how many of us thank God in advance for answering our prayers? Why do we wait to thank him until we are sure he has answered? We should be thanking God just for the opportunity to be talking to him, let alone for the fact that he will answer our prayers! So the next time you present a request before God, remember to thank him for how he will answer your request.

The second thing that I realized was the meaning behind “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” I love how you can read a verse over and over again, gaining something different each time you read it. This was one of those times. 

As I read this verse, an image came to mind. I thought of a transcending peace, a peace that goes beyond anything I can understand, surrounding my heart. Things such as anxiety, guilt, jealousy and fear are nearby, ready to strike. But every time they do, they merely bounce off of God’s peace. This peace that I cannot even understand because it is so great protects my thoughts and my heart from being attacked.

So it is true: We can’t protect ourselves from everything that comes to attack. But we don’t have to. We just have to give it God, thank him for what he will do, and trust that his peace will protect us. This doesn’t guarantee that we will never be tempted to give in when attacks come. But it does guarantee that God’s peace is with us, fighting for us, guarding our hearts. I hope that this promise gives you the courage to not back down the next time anxiety threatens to bring doubt and confusion. Remember to give it to God, and stand in awe as he provides you with the peace that guards.