Hello there all!
This blog post isn’t necessarily directed related to the World Race but is more about me and a little life update. For this blog, I would like to share some of my thoughts I’ve had this past week regarding the upcoming Lent season and what I am planning on giving up.
The phrase “Be in this world, but not of it” has been on my heart a lot lately. I have recently been thinking a lot about stereotypes and labels that our culture and society put on us whether we like it or not. There are a lot of unspoken expectations that we feel we have to live up to in order to feel pretty, smart, and successful etc. Most of the time we don’t even realize we are chasing after them. It just becomes part of our nature and identity. I believe this is the result of being conditioned by culture and the environments we live in. Don’t get me wrong my purpose of this blog is not to dish on our society and culture (even though I could); Instead, I would like to share with you something I’ve personally been struggling with. Lately, I have been feeling a lot of unwanted pressure from what our culture tells us that we have to do, how we should talk and dress, and how to act in order to be beautiful, sought after, and loved. I have lived with these silent expectations, some good some (mostly) bad, treating them like they are the norm. I am just now scratching the surface of all these lies that I have been telling myself for years. I want to start breaking down these expectations and stereotypes and start discovering how GOD sees me and who he has called me to be.
In light of Lent season, where you typically fast from something for 40 days (46 if you don’t break the fast during each Sunday), I thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to work on discovering who Jesus views me as instead of listening to who the world says I ought to be. The purpose of Lent is to joyfully empty ourselves as Christ did when he died on the cross and completely rely on him to fulfill us. Through this process it allows us to spend time with Jesus and get to know him better.
With that I have decided to give up wearing make-up for the 2018 Lent season. I have put some thought into this decision that I would like to share with you. This choice ties closely to what I was speaking about earlier in my blog (see the first paragraph). Make-up, for woman is a great example of what our culture tells us we need to have in order to be considered beautiful… However, our wonderful God has created us and considers us to be beautiful without anything extra. Now I know most of you woman are thinking, but Becca… make-up does make me feel beautiful and confident. Trust me, I know. I’ve had those same feelings. But I would challenge you to think about, “Why is that? Why does it give me confidence?” To take it a step further I challenge you to go one day without wearing make-up with me and observe how you feel. You might feel weird or naked or even ugly. But I would encourage you to expose those feelings and sit with it; Roll around in it. Ask yourself “Where else do I get my confidence from? What defines me? Am I really going to let this product I put on my face define me because society tells me it should?” These are hard questions and I know because I’ve had the same ones. However, my answers to these questions led me to Jesus. I like who he says I am way more than what this world says about me. Throughout Lent season I am going to be diving into who Jesus says I am and I invite you to follow along with me. I am excited for this upcoming season of Lent and how God is going to change my heart. Please come alongside me and be praying for me.
Thank you for your love and support.
Yours truly,
Becca
