NOvember

Hey!

So this post is about a MAHOOSIVE learning curve for me that took place in November of 2011. Basically I felt really challenged by God to not wear makeup for a whole month and this conviction was confirmed as on that same day, I was cycling home and it began to rain. And I mean REALLY rain. So I put my hood up and carried on cycling along. But then I heard God say, "Take down your hood."
Urgh.
So I take down my hood and just let this rain fall on my hair and face. When I arrived home I saw that the rain had washed away all the make up from my face, is that confirmation or what? It was approximately the 28th of October and so I just said I won't wear make up until the 28th of November and what I didn't realise was, was that I wasn't the only one!  My friend from the girls' group I attend sent me a link to someone she knows' status and it was talking about a thing called "NOvember" which is similar to the guy version, "MOvember" but instead of growing a moustache :P it's about not wearing make up in November!  This really inspired me and was comforting to know I wasn't a complete loon!

The first few days were okay, you know my skin wasn't too blemished and despite one comment on the first day that I looked "tired" even though I'd gone to bed at 10 and slept really well, I didn't feel too bad about it. However, eventually my skin was getting pretty bad and I felt myself coveting other girls' ability to wear makeup! Which sounds so ridiculous now but looking back on it, it felt really hard.
So I'd be thinking to myself "Oh it's okay for them, they can wear as much make up as they want!" But I'd forgotten the most important aspect.

I had been called to do this by GOD.

And God called ME to do this. Not the girl with really nice eye make up or the girl with perfect skin, he called me and that goes for ALL the things God calls us too.

It was once I had realised that, that I started to feel better about it and I grew to appreciate my face the way God had designed it. And after it had finished, I wasn't SO transformed I vowed never to wear make up again but I had learnt through it and for example, wearing no make up revealed to me the ACTUAL shape of my eyes and I realised that I really liked that feature and decided that once I was wearing make up I would, instead of trying to alter those features, I would work with them and, in a way, show off God's design!

Abstaining from something you love is such an amazing way to show God He is so much more important than the material things it is so easy to get wrapped up in.

So whoever is reading this I challenged you to give up something for a month or even if its just a week and see how God changes you from the inside out.

:)

E.C.