01 May Tempering Vanity

I love fashion.  I wouldn’t call myself the most fashionable person, but I love clothes.  And not just any clothes.  I like clothes I can’t afford.  My Instagram feed is filled with stores, designer lines, and fashion experts because I just love seeing it.  It’s like art to me.

When I wake up in the morning, usually the first thing on my mind is “what am I going to wear today?”  I stand in the shower and put on my makeup and fix my hair all the while playing dress-up in my mind about outfit possibilities.  I think about what people will say about my choices and whether they will think I’m cute, fashionable, or something along those lines.  But I would also say that this  preoccupation with clothes, fashion, and the way I look can be sinful, because it’s often based in self-promotion.

Bill White, one of our teaching pastors, recently said that suffering has a way of tempering our sin.  I have always known that sin has consequences and of course suffering may come as the result of sin, but I never thought about God using suffering to “temper” my sin.   So then I started to connect the dots.

“Suffering taught me to be selfless.”

In 2012, I had my second child followed by months and months of a major thyroid issue that caused me pain, exhaustion, LOTS of anxiety and just frustration.  I still struggle with the anxiety it brought on.  I remember when I was at my worst physically I felt like I was in a prison and just couldn’t do anything.  However, during that time I didn’t obsess over my appearance (my body and clothing, etc).  I  didn’t have the energy for vanity.   And somehow during that time, God brought to mind people in need, other people suffering, and gave me the energy to serve them.  When my mind wasn’t so occupied with promoting myself, I was free to think about others.  I could be inviting, nurturing, and partnering because I wasn’t finding my identity in my appearance.  I was clinging to God (or praying that He was holding on to me) with everything in me. Suffering taught me to be selfless.

I find that when I feel good physically and emotionally, I start to drift back to what I think makes me happy—fashion, clothes, looking nice, etc.  I feel like I have everything I need. It feels good to just think about me, and I’m not thinking about those around me.  I pray for forgiveness and I’m thankful for the tempering of sin brought on by my suffering.

– Chappell Hughes, Downtown

Have you been in a situation where God used suffering to produce repentance and healthy fruit in your life? What aspects of your life need tempering?