Westmont Chapter Worship & Testimony Night

Maybe she's born with it?

I'm watching Glee and a commercial for Maybelline Dream Liquid Mousse comes on the TV.

Like most makeup commercials, the woman has flawless skin, model-like cheekbones, plump lips, striking eyes, and silky, voluminous hair. The voice-over tells us that we can look just like her if we use this product.

The foundation is for "poreless perfection." I stop what I'm doing and look up at the TV. Really? This makeup will make me look like I don't have any pores on my face?

I go to the website, and, sure enough, Maybelline tells me:

Dream Liquid Mousse
Why you'll love it:

• smooth, 100% poreless finish with natural luminosity
• Air-brushed natural perfection
• Blends effortlessly for a flawless, air-brushed finish

The "100% poreless" concerns me a little. Can my science-major girls back me up on this one? Why do we have pores on our face? I assume it's not because the Creator of the Universe said, "Hey, I know what I can do to annoy the heck out of teenage girls everywhere - I'll give them tiny dots on their face that occasionally erupt into volcanic cysts." I think that maybe it had something more to do with, "In my perfect wisdom, I know that the skin of the human body requires these structures to function."

And, hey - Isn't "air-brushed natural perfection" an oxymoron? Whose skin is "naturally" perfect? In photography, doesn't "air-brushing" mean that we alter the natural photo?


Now, I will be the first to admit that I hate leaving the house without wearing eyeliner and mascara, because, as much as I know that God doesn't make mistakes, sometimes I think that I would have liked for Him to make me with large, expressive eyes. And, in the interest of full disclosure, I own several Maybelline products - but I will not be purchasing Dream Liquid Mousse.

This got me thinking about cosmetics in general. Something about making it look like I don't have any pores is weird and disturbing to me. Everybody has pores. I understand the desire to look like somebody else, but nobody has poreless skin! Talk about unattainable standards of beauty. Why are we trying to erase - literally - what God has created?

Am I being hypocritical? I mean, I shave my legs. Probably less frequently than 95% of American women, because I'm generally too lazy to go through the effort, but on occasion, I've been known to break out the Venus razor and shave my legs to silky smoothness. No woman is born without hair on her legs, so am I trying to erase what God has made for me here? I guess that I think that shaving my legs is somewhat more justifiable and natural because I like it- I love crawling into my flannel sheets with smooth legs! I don't know what I would like about poreless skin, except that I might look like a magazine cover instead of a living, breathing, (sometimes sweating) human being. And I don't think I would like that much at all, to be honest.

Maybe she's born with it? Nobody is born without pores! Maybe it's Maybelline - obviously it's Maybelline, because it sure isn't natural!


What we aren't born with: perfect, flawless, luminous, poreless skin (even babies get little pimples!)

What we are born with: the love of an all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-loving, compassionate God, who knows us and our thoughts (including our desires to have perfect-looking skin!), and who looks at the beauty of our hearts, not our cheekbones.

"For you created my inmost being,
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
Your eyes saw my unformed body."

-Psalm 139:13-16

I don't think it's time (yet) for a ceremonial makeup burning, with Maybelline's Dream Liquid Mousse on the top of the bonfire. Just be aware of what we are being promised when we see commercials like this - and to what standards we're holding ourselves!

By Jessica Rice

Music, Crowd-surfing & the Wellspring of Life

As much as I use to get a high off of the crazy beats of bands like Incubus, OAR, Blink 182 (I use to crowd-surf at their concerts!) & A New Found Glory the pathetic thing is I think the lyrics I recited in my head reinforced my insecurities, vanities and self-centeredness. After God got a hold of my heart I slowly began swapping out my Tom Petty CD ("Mary Jane" was my fav song - sad!) for something my weary soul was craving. Sidenote: I had a major obsession with Bon Jovi (it still creeps up on me!).

While I still enjoy listening to artists like Jack Johnson, Timmy Curran, John Mayer & Colbie Caillat, my renewed soul craves something more of substance. While not all worship songs, I thought it'd fitting to share with you girls some of the "Most Played" melodies in my Itunes Library. Most recently I stumbled across Kari Jobe. The surfer girl in me can never get enough of Josh Garrels and I absolutely love the music my sweet friend and our "wm Voice" Jessica McLean. New Zealander (a country I love!!!) Brooke Fraser is another artist I find hard to get tired of whose transparent lyrics move me closer to Jesus with songs inspired from her life like "Albertine" - the story of a young girl she met in Africa. I was turned on to the music of JJ Heller through my friends Constance & Travis at the True Campaign (go to their listen page!), and I've even been using the songs of Francesca Battistelli during the Spinning class I teach every week. Also, I'm stoked on the music of my other precious friend and our "wm Voice" Danya Hutson & Meghan Incorvaia - I don't think it will be long before we see their albums come to fruition!

PS> And to fuel our music cravings, we're working on adding more tunes to the music page of our website!

Proverbs tells us to "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Music moves our heart so let the wellspring of our life be filled with melodies of truth, gratitude and praise to our Maker!

By Allie Marie Smith

The Desires of Your Heart

As a little girl I was full of big dreams and deep desires. Like a dried up rose some of them have died. Others have been pruned - cut back so new ones could blossom in their place.

I remember first stumbling across Psalm 37:4 at age 18 when I began reading the Bible for myself (not just for Religion class).

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."

In our selfish nature I think we often want to approach God like a genie - one who is able to grant us every thing we could ever want. It is true that God loves to give good gifts to His children (Matthew 7:11 & Luke 11:13), but our delight, our joy should never be rooted in what God offers, but in who He is. Many like to take this verse and other "warm-fuzzy" ones to promote a false prosperity gospel message - just love God and you will have the most amazing life....you will never have hardship again. Jesus said following him would not be easy! Life would still be hard.

To delight ourself in the Lord is to be so filled and at peace in His presence that naturally we want to live a life for Him. To rejoice in His goodness. It is not to worship the things He enjoys lavishing up those who love Him but to adore God for who He is.


While so undeserving, God has fulfilled so many of the desires of my heart. To marry my best friend; to live near the beach; to do something I love, to visit faraway places, to live a life of adventure..... And being the extravagant giver He is, He has gone above and beyond. To give you a glimpse at how God does this, He just made my girlhood dream come true - to swim with a dolphin in the wild! For over an hour I swam, played and laughed with a wild dolphin named Moko off the coast of New Zealand! As Moko and I played hide and seek, catch the seaweed-ball and tackled the waves together I giggled with a "perma-smile" stretched across my face knowing that while God didn't have to give me this gift, He did anyway!


I believe something amazing happens when our delight is in the Lord and not the things of this world....let us pursue Him with all our heart!

Pursued.

I was changing a diaper upstairs today when I heard an awfully suspicious noise. Not a noise I could actually identify, but one of those "a 4-year-old boy is making God's outside MUCH LOUDER THAN ORIGINALLY DESIGNED" suspicious noises.

He'd been playing so well with his pet snails.(Yes, I said pet snails...)

I went to the upstairs window and immediately started thumping away when I saw that he was pounding the fence with a baseball bat. He heard the thumping, but couldn't figure out where it was coming from, searching around with his eyes.

"Keefe! Look upstairs!"

He heard me. And then he spotted me.

And then his whole face lit up into the most precious, genuine smile you've ever seen, like I'd just presented him with a "Let's pretend it's your birthday!" mound of gooey, chocolate candle-filled cake.

He was DELIGHTED that I had pursued him at the window; that I had so obviously found a new place from which to seek him out and enjoy him. And when I saw that in his joy, I was filled with joy, too.

I waved and smiled back; then gently told him not to hit the fence. (He explained that he was trying to hammer the nails, so we did a little redirection to the nearest large tree trunk).

His joy changed everything.

And how about your joy?

Does your heart just burst with a lovely innocence when you realize that you are pursued by God?

You are, His beloved.

You are His, beloved!

He is jealous for you, loyal to you, and watching for you at the window. (Luke 15!)

Nothing can separate you from that love. (Rom. 8!)

Delight in that reality today!!

By WM Mentor Jen McCarthy

Beautiful Sandals that support educating women in Uganda

Hey Girls! One of the things us girls here in wm love is spreading the word about causes spearheaded by ordinary girls like us who are doing extraordinary things for God and others! Our volunteer graphic designer Brittany Bentley recently started helping "Sseko Designs" spread the word about their handmade sandals. These ladies, just like our friends at 31 Bits are combining fashion, shopping, social entrepreneurship and a genuine desire to encourage and empower women in Africa - a cause we just couldn't resist telling you about!

The sandals themselves are beautiful, and have interchangeable straps. But the story behind the sandals is even better! Sseko partners with a girl's school in Kampala, Uganda and employs recent high school graduates to make these sandals as a way to earn money to continue on to University. Now you see why we love this? They employ young women who otherwise would not have the opportunity to continue their education and are passionate about educating and empowering women, specifically in developing countries.

They recently started selling online and we wanted to help get the word out about this amazing company. They also just recently started offering custom made sandals for brides and bridesmaids. They can be made in every color to coordinate with wedding colors and bridesmaid dresses!!!

If you are interested in buying a pair, shop online- pick out strap color. For Sseko Ambassador's Name, put Bentley. If you have an event coming up that I would love to set up a booth for it. Just send me an email (brittbentley@gmail.com).