Red Lipstick

by Gwen Smith

Today's Truth

"Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God." 2 Corinthians 7:1

Friend to Friend

When my three children were young, it was a challenge to keep track of where they were. My husband and I baby proofed the house as best we could, used gates and hoped for the best. I'll never forget the day that Preston and Kennedy were accounted for in the play room, but Hunter had wandered off. I called for him, but got no response.

Curious, I headed for the front stair case and listened for his little two-year-old voice. I checked his bedroom -- no Hunter. I checked Preston's room and Kennedy's room - no Hunter. By now, my heart was racing as my concern grew. When I headed into my bedroom, I heard faint noises coming from the master bathroom.

Our bathroom mirror gave me all the information I needed. Hunter had gotten into my red lipstick and it was everywhere! I wanted to laugh -- I wanted to cry! He was unaware of my presence as he continued his creative lipstick artwork on my walls and on the linen closet door.

On a whim, I ran to get the camcorder.
Stifling laughter, I crossed the threshold of the bathroom and confronted my little chubby-cheeked 'red lipstick-all-over-his-face' boy. He immediately hid his scandalous tool behind his back...thinking I was none the wiser. I asked him what he was doing, to which he replied "Nothing." In my best trying-not-to-laugh mommy voice, I continued to ask him a series of questions and he continually denied any wrong doing.

Sometimes I wonder how many times I go before the Lord in prayer while trying to hide my red lipstick behind my back. How many times have I thought I was pulling one over on Him? Just as simply as I saw the tangible evidence of Hunter's red face, God sees our hearts and knows what we've been up to. He sees pride, anger, gossip and bitterness. He sees hurts not forgiven, sins not confessed, the habits we cling to, the shows we watch and the literature we read that don't honor Him. He sees our failures and lovingly longs for us to allow Him to clean up the mess we've made.

A few years back, after reading 2 Corinthians 7:1 and Psalm 51, and seeking God's heart in prayer, I was inspired to write the following song:

Purify My Soul
By Gwen Smith

know my heart and You know my ways
Yet You love me just the same
I know that You are able
You are God, it's true
Help me Lord, just as I am, surrender all to You
Purify my soul
Cleanse my heart and mind
Restore to me Your gentle, loving arms
Purify my soul
So I can go and be a true reflection of Your holiness

Create in me a clean heart
And renew a right spirit within me
Cast me not away, Lord from Your presence

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
Lord, Your love surrounds me -- encompassing my soul
Mold me as a potter molds the clay
The freedom of forgiveness liberates my life
Renew in me a fire, in the name of Jesus Christ

© 2000 Audio 31 Music / Sunday Best Music (ASCAP)

What is your red lipstick today? Are you ready to hand it over to God?

To find out more about Gwen Smith, click here or read her blog.

This article was taken from the daily devotional of Girlfriends in God.

Love Covers All

By Mary Southerland.
Email: mary@marysoutherland.com

Website: http://www.marysoutherland.com

But anyone who does not love does not know God--for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 1 John 4: 8-10

When I was a little girl, my mother collected S&H green trading stamps. She collected them while I licked and pasted them in saving books. For months, she would hoard the small, green stamps until she had enough to trade for something she needed. It was always something we needed until that Saturday in December. "Get the green stamp books. We are going to town!" Mama said to me, a strange excitement in her voice. I assumed that we were going to buy a Christmas present for someone in our family since I knew Mama never bought anything for herself at the Green Stamp Redemption Center. To do so would have been a luxury she rarely allowed. Stamps in hand, off we went to find a treasure.

When we reached the redemption center Mama marched straight in, past the appliances, toys, hairdryers and vacuums, heading straight for the linens department. She did not look around or hesitate until she abruptly stopped, a smile spreading across her face. "It's still here!" she whispered in relief. I remember thinking that whatever she had spotted must be very special to warrant such determination and such joy. When I realized that the blue treasure she clutched in her hands was just a tablecloth I simply did not understand. There were so many other beautiful things in the store and we had been saving those green stamps for months. And she was going to buy a tablecloth? What was so special about an ordinary tablecloth? I was confused -- until we got home.

My family was poor -- in material things -- and we lived in what most people would refer to as a "shack". My mother was an amazing woman who somehow managed to raise three children who never thought of themselves as deprived. Many happy times and scrumptious meals were enjoyed around our old, scratched, worn and downright ugly dining room table. That dilapidated table made the entire room ugly -- until the day Mama bought the blue tablecloth. As she spread her treasure across that shabby table, an amazing thing happened. Not only did the table look beautiful, the whole room looked better!

Love is like that, its mere presence transforms the ugliness of life into a beautiful trophy of grace. Love covers the scars of sin. Love heals wounds and eases the pain of the past. We all need to be loved and we all need to love.

Jesus was and is the living illustration and certain fulfillment of His Father's love. The love of God is unconditional, unfailing and will stubbornly pursue us no matter where we go, what we do or don't do. God's love satisfies the deepest longings of our soul and enables us to love ourselves and others.

Friend, across your defeats spread the hope of a tiny baby lying in a manger! Across your pain, spread the unconditional love poured out on a cruel cross! Across your doubts and fears, spread the promise of an empty tomb! The love of God covers all and changes everything.

Celebrate Him! Celebrate His love!

Beauty in Love

Last night I and some friends got talking; with valentine in the air, the subject of course was love. On the radio, the presenter was instructing his listeners to tell their girls they were pretty.

One of the guys there asked; "what if she isn't pretty?"

My natural reaction was one of outrage. Why would a man marry a woman he does not find pretty? Ok. Scrap that. Folks get married for all sorts of reasons. But honestly, how can one truly say he is in love with his wife (or girl friend) and he does not find her pretty?
It is my personal opinion that when one is in love, beauty trancsends the physical. It does not matter how completely battered up that person is, or if she's fat, pregnant an pimply, she should always be beautiful in his eyes. But then, that is just me.

What do you folks think? Drop a comment.
And Happy Valentine's Day!

Loving Right

How do you show your loved ones that you love them? Saying it is good; it is definitely a start. But if all you do is ‘say’, it begins to wear thin after a while.

So what do you do? Buy him or her things? Things are not bad either, but if you are buying things for your loved one thinking that alone should be sufficient you are going to find yourself with a resentful one instead.

The Bible says that perfect love casts out fear. Sometimes resentment is born out of fear. Virginia Satir understood this. As the pioneer of family therapy in the US, she discovered in her work that a troubled child is often the product of a troubled family. A lot of the time, the family is troubled not from the absence of love but as a result of the inability to express that love. Maybe those families thought ‘things’ should adequately express love. Love however, takes a little more than that.

Love needs to be shown in a person’s attitude. One great way of expressing love is an uncritical attitude. Nothing kills love faster than criticism. There has to be a degree of freedom in any relationship.

Freedom goes hand in glove with love. Virginia Satir mentioned five freedoms:

• The freedom to see and hear what is here, instead of what should be, was, or will be;
• The freedom to say what they feel and think, instead of what they should;
• The freedom to feel what they feel instead of what they ought ;
• The freedom to ask for what they want, instead of always waiting for permission,
• The freedom to take risks on their behalf instead of choosing to be only “secure” and not rock the boat.

Go through the list again, slowly this time around and carefully examine your relationships. Answer the following questions:

How do you show your loved ones that you love them?
Do you let them love you back by giving them the freedom to them?

Being protective of the one you love is a very natural bye produce of love the emotion. However, love is more than just the feeling; it is very much the doing also. Giving your loved one the space and freedom to grow in that relationship is definitely a practice of love the verb.

This will be a bit difficult for those who suffer from over protectiveness. But that’s fine; the grace of God is there to make it easier – if you let Him.



Sharon Famonure loves the Lord. She has been in Youth Ministry for several years and has worked as an informal counselor. To read more inspiring articles go to her blog http://sharonife.blogspot.com

I'm Free to Love

I walked in the sandy bogs of fear
Swum the muddy waters of despair
I gave up hope, lost all held dear
Until I said a prayer

You filled me with comforting warmth
Wrapped me in your loving arms
You said to me, ‘Go spread my word
You are now free to love’.

God’s love is all I need
It’s strength when I am weak
It’s life to this dying breed
This love has set me free

Diggin Out the Pain

Yesterday I watched this film about a girl who became an unrepentant prostitute. She was a prostitute or "ashawo" as we call it here in Nigeria but was resolutely unapologetic. This particular young man took interest in her and tried to get her to turn form her ways but his appeal made no difference to her.


As I watched I tried to discern the rationale behind her chosen profession. It obviously was not solely for the money; she was young and had no aversion to hard work. So what could have caused it. What bothered me most was not even the fact that she was indiscriminate about who she had sex with, once she got paid. What really disturbed me was this hardness about her. She did not want to hear about God or a better way of life. She did not want to hear anything at all. When the gospel is preached, there are a myriad reactions. Not everyone is receptive, but at least they react; even if it is to laugh in disdain. She was completely indifferent.


Later on, as the film progressed, i discovered that she had been continuously raped and abused by her father who was a pastor! How was anybody going to convince her that there was a good God out there who cared about her? All of a sudden, her antipathy and hardness of heart made sense. She had suffered so many hurts that to arm herself against further hurts she made herself stop feeling. She had buried the pain so deep, she could not feel it anymore. In order to begin to feel once more, she had to dig up those hurts and examine them. Give them a chance to heal.


A lot of us have gone through one experience or the other that have left scars. we have pains we have buried deep inside that we cannot even remember they exist anymore. But the subconscious remembers and that is why we act the way we do.

We all want to love and be loved, to live a normal and well balanced life. But somehow we find that we are never able to get there. The mind can be funny like that. If there are hurts that have refused to heal, or pains buried deep down, they block the way for the spring of love to well up. It could be anything: childhood abuse; rape; a broken home; a broken marriage; you name it, if we have not allowed LOVE to heal them then it will be impossible to experience love.

Psychologists and Shrinks have said to look deep inside self for the strength to go on. Well, what happens when we dig into the reservoirs of self and come back empty? The Lord Jesus says "Come unto me all you who labour...and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28 NKJV). The hurt might be decades old and it might seem like its too far gone to heal. But He made us, surely he knows how to fix us. Until that pain is dug out, the love certainly can't spring out.

Read the article Cure for a Broken Heart by Wilma Watson to get practical steps on letting God heal the hurts.