Renewed: From the Inside Out

My word for today is RENEWED: to make like new, restore to freshness, to make new spiritually, regenerated, revive, rebuild

I'm sure noticing many advertisements and labels that shout out “Renew your youth! Reduce those lines and wrinkles! Guaranteed success or your money back! Become a new you!” I’ll admit, I’ve yielded to their promises and purchased some of those products. I’d like to say that, as they promised, I look ten years younger from their “magic potion” – but, NOT!

The truth is I AM okay with my age, and I’m okay with these lines that seemed to have come from nowhere...quickly. I’ve earned every line and crease with every chapter of every story I’ve lived. Those stories make up who I am. And I wouldn’t trade my stories, and my years, for anything. I’ve lived long enough now to see (even the tough years — the ones I didn’t think I’d survive) how God used every one and every experience to bring me to a place of deep assurance and sweet peace today. God showed Himself strong through it all. And my trust in Him grew.

The journey from youth to maturity has come quickly, but I've found that RENEWAL really is possible. It’s not the kind of renewal that’s promised in a store-bought product on a shelf or a surgeon's knife. RENEWAL begins with yielding to our Creator and letting Him RENEW us from the inside out.

To be RENEWED from the inside out is purging all those "unsightly" ways, attitudes and emotions from the inside so that our outside reflects God’s beauty. My Mom always said “Beauty is skin deep….it’s what's in your heart that makes you beautiful.” I think about Saint Mother Teresa. She had more wrinkles than anyone, but at 85 she was younger and more vibrant than a 20-year old as she loved and cared for hurting humanity. From the inside out....she was extraordinarily beautiful.

When we realize WE ARE BEAUTIFUL because the marvelous, exquisitely beautiful ONE lives in us, and when we embrace THAT BEAUTY and let it shine through our eyes, speak through our mouths, hug with our arms, love with the love of Christ, then we will be RENEWED and the fountain of youth will be flowing out of us to a hurting world.

Proverbs 31:30 "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."

Let's Go On A Treasure Hunt

Day 146 of Photo Inspirations -- Let's Go On A Treasure Hunt
I admit it.....I love the notion of finding hidden treasures.  This must be my impedus for doing treasure hunts for my grandkids -- for every birthday since they understood what it was about -- but even before they could read.  The big kids handled the reading of the clues, and quite often, because they could read, they'd head out to the next clue location before the little guys could get there.  Now, we hold back the big kids so the little kids can find the clue.  And once all the clues have been found, they find their hidden treasure -- the wrapped up "treasure" from Nana.

And, we adults totally get caught up in the journey of watching them look here and there, doing their best to understand Nana's methodology, and finally figuring out the clues along the way!   I love their wide eyes of excitement.

The fact is.....we're ALL on a treasure hunt as we journey through life.  God made us for the journey. AND, best of all, He gives us so many clues in His Word to find the hidden treasures.  Every place He says "IF you....." is a CLUE to success.  And when we follow the CLUE to the nth degree, then we are assured of finding the treasure.  Example:  "IF you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as He swore to your forefathers."
Deuteronomy 7:12
"IF you make the Most High your dwelling – even the LORD, who is my refuge – then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent."
Psalm 91:9-10
Jesus said: "IF you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."
Matthew 6:14-15

Have you been searching and searching for the key to your success, the open door that leads to prosperity, the matchmaker that brings you your significant other, the magic potion that gives you restored health, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?  Then I urge you, today, to begin searching for the treasures in God's Word.   The Bible is God’s treasure chest where He has so many valuables just waiting for you!