Sidenote...if you are not already watching or following Cherise, you need to. Her monikor is BrownEyedGirlCherise
Now, I am absolutely not knocking those things at all! Absolutely not!! I love them!! If God had not taken me down the "makeup" trail I never would have found my way here. What my point is, is that my intention was not His intention. For whatever reason He wants me to use this blog to touch the women that are in the beauty community. Now I don't know the long range plan. I don't know what His ultimate intention is for this or for me, other than the fact that I know He does have a plan for me:
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.
I don't know how He plans on using this blog to reach other women in this community or how those other women will touch others because of this. I just believe that He does have a plan. So, I'm trying to be faithful and use the gift that He has given me to tie in our mutual love of beauty into a greater love for Him, because ultimately He is the creator of all beauty.
During my lunch today I was talking with my friend Andrea and I was telling her how my original intention for this blog was to talk about makeup and I haven't done it yet. Her response was, "you are talking about the makeup of women". I thought that was profound and it enforced to me, the fact that I believe that what He has been showing me lately is that this mutual love of beauty and makeup can bring us together for a greater purpose. He brought me first through the season of learning to appreciate the beauty, and now bringing me through the season of seeing how it can teach me, and others, about ourselves, our lives, and more importantly HIM.
There is a time, a season, for everything, and when that season ends it doesn't end abruptly. There is always a transition between the seasons, and that transition is usually messy and that's when it seems chaotic. We don't just jump from Winter into Spring, right? Snow melts...messy...then we see some buds...then we get pollen...VERY MESSY...then, boom, we have beautiful Spring. We need to recognize that when we are in a state of chaos it means that something is changing, or needs to change. Try not to fight it. Try to recognize that a new season it coming.
There is a time, a season, for everything, and when that season ends it doesn't end abruptly. There is always a transition between the seasons, and that transition is usually messy and that's when it seems chaotic. We don't just jump from Winter into Spring, right? Snow melts...messy...then we see some buds...then we get pollen...VERY MESSY...then, boom, we have beautiful Spring. We need to recognize that when we are in a state of chaos it means that something is changing, or needs to change. Try not to fight it. Try to recognize that a new season it coming.
Now as this relates to makeup, makeup is pretty and we like it but when we get too much it becomes a burden. It becomes hard to keep tidy and store neatly. It becomes messy! We have too much, we can't see the individual beauty, we put things aside and neglect them. We need to clean up. Remove what we don't need. Get rid of the clutter and chaos so we can see the beauty we have and enjoy it. But most importantly, we need to do this not just in our makeup but in our life! Stop neglecting the beautiful things and people in our lives. Stop putting them aside for the newest, greatest thing. Clean out the garbage, remove the clutter, get rid of whatever is taking away your focus so you can see clearly the beauty that God intends for you to see in your life.
God is speaking to me a lot lately about seasons and how everything has it's own season. Everything! He also is talking to me about trusting Him in every step I take. To stop holding on to those things that need to be released and instead look forward to embracing what He is going to provide. God is not a god of chaos. He is all about things being orderly and in their place, and at their due time. It might not look like that to us but He sees the big picture. He sees how everything intertwines and works together. During the growth process there is always what appears to be a little chaos, but in the end everything is put together the way it's supposed to be.
I encourage you today to take inventory. Inventory of your makeup collection, yes....but more importantly inventory of your life. Do you have clutter, garbage, things that are "sucking the life out of you"? Remove them! If it's too hard for you ask God to help you. Tell Him you want to trust Him more, walk with Him more, talk with Him more, BE WITH HIM MORE! He will answer, and you can be assured that when your greatest desire is to be with Him he will give you the desire of your heart.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart
Hello Danielle,
ReplyDeleteeven though I am not religious (my boyfriend really is!) But I really enjoyed reading your blogpost! It is so true about cleaning your life and getting rid of clutter! I am currently trying to get rid of a lot of my stuff because I am preparing to move out of home :) And I only want to take the things I really love! I still have about 3 more years till I can move (currently in ergotherapie school and not making any money), but I don't want to get rid of stuff then, because I really want to have time to choose the stuff I am keeping, and not take a lot of things with me, because I may like them ;)
hope to hear from you soon ♡
xSonea, I'm so glad to hear that you are enjoying the blog. I hope you continue to read the posts because it is truly a blessing for me to know that through this post people's lives are being touched in some small way. I know it's tough to get rid of things but keep with it! You can do it!! I have faith in you. And even though you say you are not religious, I hope that you will not mind if I say that I will pray for you on your journey through school and I wish you many blessings!
ReplyDeleteBest one yet! God does want us to remove clutter and make room for him. I'm far from perfect but I can hear his quiet whispers. You are an encouragement, much needed at that.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sally. I appreciate your support more than you know.
DeleteThank you so much for the shout out, Danielle! So funny how we talked about before that our plan is sometimes not His. The great thing is that we really don't need a plan because He already has the PERFECT plan for us. We just need to be sensitive to our Spirit and listen when He says "move." I love that scripture and it so true. Danielle, you are touching people, I know you have for me! When I started my Youtube channel, it was very important to me to incorporate the Lord somehow but I didn't know in what way to do that. Again, I didn't have to do anything special but just be me. He did it all! He put people in my path that either have had a word for me (without them even knowing) or gave me a word for them (without me even knowing what they were going through.) So, to me, it might not be on a Grand scale of doing something but sometimes the littlest things mean the most. I know the Lord has me on Youtube for a reason other than makeup. It's just the common factor that ties me to the other people here on social media. If someone would have told me years ago that I would have a channel doing makeup, with the camera on my face so that everyone can see all the imperfections, talking in front of a camera, I would've cracked up in their face and said "yeah right, never going to happen!" But, somehow out of nowhere a love for makeup was planted and here I am. I didn't even wear makeup up until my 30's other than mascara, lip product and maybe eyeliner. Had no idea about highlighters, bronzers, concealers, etc. So, I know it's the Lord of why I have a channel. The whole thing you wrote about when things are chaos and messy it means season is changing. Oh, wow is that me right now! It's hard to give up control and give it to God when you don't know the unknown but that is where my faith kicks in. I know He has best intentions for my family and I and even though I don't understand what or why things are happening, but I have to trust in Him. I am taking inventory!!! It's time to CLEAN HOUSE!!! Thank you so much again for this. I pray that the Lord continues to use you, you are touching people. I filmed my chit chat and shout out video 3x yesterday..lol Everytime I got to you, I rambled on too long!! I am not an eloquent speaker by no means and half the time I feel like I don't finish a complete thought because my mind is going in so many directions. I hope people understand what I'm trying to say. lol I have to edit and get it up by Sat... I really do pray that the Lord gives me favor with that video and people do come to this blog after watching it. I know I don't have the biggest audience but even if you gain a handful of people that tell other people, that is a big victory! Your posts need to get out there! Have a beautiful Thursday! xoxoxo
ReplyDeleteBrownEyedGirlCherise
Cherise I'll have you know you brought tears to my eyes. I'm so touched, and not because I think I'm any big thing, because trust me, I know I'm not, but because to get confirmation that God is working through you is humbling and exciting all at the same time. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment on these blogs, and thank you even more for your encouragement. Be blessed today!
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