Moses, Psalms and the Makeup Connection

So as of this moment I have 14 days, 11 hours, 9 minutes and 18 seconds left till I can do a full face of makeup. And I'm excited.

But I'm not impatient. As a matter of fact I've turned a corner in this experiment. When we have somewhere to go I am ready in RECORD time. In order to feel a little prettier I have rediscovered my love of long dangly earrings (lost to the era of grabby handed baby Gabe). AND I have found and worn several items of long lost clothing that I love. And through these clothes, earrings, and flexibility I have also rediscovered some parts of my personality I'd sort of lost, first to corporate America (there's a strict dress code there) and then to SAH mommyhood (which is the opposite end of the dress code spectrum).

And lastly, and most importantly, I've had some big moments with the Lord. Doing some reading I ended up in the Psalms and was struck by the last sentence in chapter 42, "Hope in God for I will praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God."

Countenance means face, and here literally means an unhappy face. In this Psalm the author is broken hearted, he is crying out to God about the despair of his soul and he is saying that he knows the Lord is his strength, his key to peace and joy. The Psalmist is literally saying that God is his hope for a happy face, a poetic way of indicating the state of his spirit and his faith in God's ability to heal his spirit.

This got me thinking about the Bible's use of the word countenance. In Judges Samson's mother talks about the visitor that prophesied the birth of her child, and described him as a man of God with a "countenance like an angel". In Proverbs we get the verse "a merry heart makes a cheerful countenance". And in 2 Corinthians Paul is talking about the Lord's glory, and how after Moses received the Ten Commandments and walked back down the mountain, even though time had passed since he'd been in the presence of God "the children of Israel could not look steadily at Moses face because of the glory of his countenance".

Moses' encounter with God was evident on his face, physically visible.

I wear makeup and want to convey a certain identity and perception of myself. How selfish. How self-centered. My very face could tell of God's glory and I'm worried with whether my color blocked eye shadow is on trend.

I've spent the last few days inviting the Lord to move me, creating the opportunity to have a changing encounter with His glory and I have to tell you, I've had some epic moments with my God, produced by simply inviting Him into the moment with me, inviting Him to an encounter.

In a little more than 14 days I will go back to wearing makeup because I genuinely do love it and get joy out of playing with different colors and looks. But I will never again use it as a wall or tool to dictate a perception of myself. I don't want there to be a perception of me. I want God to be the health of my countenance, I want my very skin to shine with the glory of the Lord.