Hello Friends,

Today I would like to share a story that a reader wrote explaining her experience while participating in the 40 day task for Becoming a Lovelier Woman.

Kisses,

Nanda Bezerra

How are you Mrs. Nanda?...

I would like to share, with you and all that follow your blog, the testimony of a group of girls that decided to participate in the “Tasks for Becoming a Lovelier Woman!”

During this task various tasks were stimulated with the intention of having them become daily habits and this is something that has changed our lives, our actions and it has molded us into women that are more pleasant to God. I determined that it would be like that inside of me and of course, with lots of sacrifice we are changing the way that we think, act, speak and even care for ourselves, for God lives in the Temple (the church) and lives in us human beings, that are also “temples.” There is nothing better than maintaining the appearance of God inside of us! I say “us” because a group of 8 woman of God that wish to be better are doing it together.

Well, in reality I started this purpose by myself. Before this Dare started I had begun asking God to give me a direction so that I could learn to take better care of my character, my appearance, daily routine and just then you started the “40 Day Dare for Becoming a Lovelier Woman.” I dove in headfirst and from the first day I could se change in my faith, it was stronger and more in tune with God. 

God’s guidance was given early in the morning and with every task that came, the joy and visible results in my character, in the way I organized myself and in my spiritual life were so great that I couldn’t hold back!

I printed a few of the tasks and I asked a few young ladies if they had faith to change and become even lovelier for God. They readily accepted and so we started the purpose. We would meet every day and jot down in our agendas our daily occurrences and what we needed to work on. 

Today I can say that all of them, and I say that without a doubt, all of them have changed from water to wine. I can see it in their faces, the desire to be even lovelier inside in order to please God!

With regards to the Daniel’s Fast that started, it was what gave us strength to sacrifice to the Holy Spirit, it took us out of our routine and brought us closer to God. Mrs. Nanda, I’m very happy and I’m sure that in the next 20 days we will be transformed on the inside and outside….

Kisses!

Silmara Sabino

Task #19 for Becoming a Lovelier Woman

Dear Friends,

Forgive me for my absence but now I’m back!

Today we are going to once again discuss our behavior.

There are many things that contribute to a woman being more beautiful or not…

And here goes something that simply makes us horrible…

Badmouthing other people!

A very critical persona that likes to make comments about other people is extremely unpleasant. No one likes being near someone like that because you never know when you will be the target of her very sharp tongue!

Now hear me out, let’s not look at our sides and start pointing fingers, for whoever has not made this mistake please throw the first stone…

Let’s look at ourselves and change!

Task #19 for Becoming a Lovelier Woman

“Let’s police ourselves and every time we are about to criticize or make negative and unnecessary comments about someone, we will close our mouths and choose not to make any comment at all.”

Task #18 for Becoming a Lovelier Woman

I don’t exactly remember when but I know that it was early on in my walk in faith that something spoke very strongly with me and I never forgot it.

“Zeal for your house will consume me.”

If I’m not mistaken (please confirm) it is written in John 2:17.

Upon arriving at the temple and seeing the mess in which it was in, the Lord Jesus became revolted!

He turned over the tables and began to kick out the merchants and all who were there with an objective other than seeking God.

In my mind when I imagine this scene, I see tables, pigeons and feathers flying in all directions!

Aside from the obvious lesson we can learn from reading these facts, there is something else that God showed me with regards to this and since then I began to practice it in my life wherever I go.

The zeal of the Lord’s house consumes me every day.

Please note that this isn’t something that came from me, it’s not in my nature at all! Generally I’m a bit absent minded when it comes to this and I don’t notice things, but after this, I began obligating myself to take notice. It was something that was initiated and that I continue to perfect each day.  

I remember that I was already an assistant and after this I began going to church differently.

A small piece of paper on the floor and there I was to pick it up.

Not to mention the bathrooms!!! My mother-in-law is a witness (I’m just not sure if she remembers) but I was constantly buying hand soap, toilette paper and hand towels for drying and even a rug for the public bathroom!! Hehehe

I would always go and inspect to see that everything was alright and I would get upset when I found something dirty or broken.

I also remember the pastor’s and assistant’s kitchen and bathroom- every month I had to buy something to make it better and I liked cleaning the church as well.

Not to mention the Sunday School!

I tell you from the bottom of my heart, I never did any of it to call a pastor or bishop’s attention but since then the zeal of my Lord’s house consumes me and I know that He knows that.

When I awoke to this I also started to perceive that many people don’t know the importance of that zeal which is why I would like to invite you to wake up to this fact.

Task #18 for Becoming a Lovelier Woman

“Now with this “understanding,” you will seek to be more alert to this and you will look for ways to demonstrate to God you zeal for His house.”

Did you notice the bathroom was dirty? What does it take to clean it? You’re not an assistant? So what? That can’t stop us!

Did you see that there aren’t enough cleaning supplies? Don’t wait for someone to ask you, remember that the Lord’s house when you’re off doing your shopping.

Did you see a child doodling with a pen on the church chair? Go over and take the pen away from them.

Did you see a light on unnecessarily, go over and ask someone to switch it off.

It would be great if you could share your ideas here on the blog, for that opens up our minds to see certain things that we hadn’t perceived before.

P.S: The photo above is of members, assistants and pastor’s wives in Houston (USA) that came together when a storm tore the church ceiling in May of 2010 and water began entering the church… Notice their tired yet satisfied faces.

Task#17 for Becoming a Lovelier Woman

I used to feel a great void inside of me and I didn’t know what to do to fill it.

Parties, friends, my boyfriend and even my family couldn’t fill that space. 

Sometimes out of nowhere, a great sadness, an immense anguish, would come over me and I didn’t know how to deal with that.

What’s worse is that no one could see that because it was all going on inside of me and I didn’t talk about it because I couldn’t even explain what it was!

Have you ever felt that way?

I felt that during many years and once I even went to point of thinking about suicide. I blamed my problems and worse of all was that any little thing because a huge tragedy for me- everything was out of proportion.

But friends, one day relief came!

It was unforgettable and I remember it as if it were yesterday. I wanted that God that they spoke about in church, I wanted that joy and peace that they felt and more than anything in this world I wanted to fill that void and get to know God.

I remember that I was standing in front of the church along with everyone, I don’t remember the pastor’s or people’s prayer, but I remember mine…

“My God, remember that time I said that I didn’t love you because I didn’t know you? Well, today I love you for real and I want to tell you that I love you more than anything in this world!”

It was a sincere prayer without vain repetitions. That was the day that I was baptized with the Holy Spirit.

After that I was never the same, I never felt alone or that horrible emptiness!!! He filled that void- that space was His and I didn’t know.

I think that God created us with that void inside of us that only He can fill.

Task #17 for Becoming a Lovelier Woman

“ My friend, you need to be born of God, be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Seek Him, Love Hime more than anything in this world! From today until the end of this Dare you are going to seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit more than anything in your life no matter what it takes!”

A sincere heart pleases God, be sincere in your prayers, speak the truth even if it doesn’t sound very good.

Fill that void my friend! It isn’t difficult and doesn’t have to take years to happen; the problem is that everything depends on you!

If you are already baptized in the Holy Spirit, then we are going to seek a renewal and we are going to give ourselves more and more.

Task #16 for Becoming a Lovelier Woman

The good son returns home…

I never imagined that our next stop would be back to London, in reality, God is always surprising us.

I’ve posted above a few photos of our church headquarters here in London. This church is very different because the building was once a theater and since it is historic patrimony of the country, nothing can be modified. I particularly find it to be one of the loveliest churches that I’ve ever been in.

Now back to our Dare… The pastor’s wives here in London are also in the same purpose of prayer and Bible readings. We meet every morning to hear God’s voice together and today he spoke very strongly with us which is why I would like to share…

Participating in the Dare will not benefit us if we are only “conscious” of our tasks and don’t really understand them.

There’s a big difference between being “conscious and understanding.”

When we are conscious of something it doesn’t necessarily mean that we are going to do something about it.

Understanding is different.

What good is it to only be conscious that the tasks in the Dare are important?

Being conscious alone will not lead us to change anything.

Being conscious about something leads us to remorse but not to repent.

Task #16 for Becoming a Lovelier Woman

“Let’s stop being only conscious about our problems, our defects, our flaws. Let’s find out who we are truly!”

Do you know when a problem keeps repeating itself in your life and you don’t know the reason why, for apparently it wasn’t and isn’t your fault?

Well, perhaps you are only conscious of the problem but you don’t really understand it and you probably blame everyone besides yourself… Let’s search within ourselves and find what is hidden no matter how hard it may be.

Task #15 for Becoming a Lovelier Woman

It is certainly always a shock when news about disasters like what happened in Japan spread…

For some time we want to know what happened, we watch the news, we search the internet, newspapers and we make comments and listen to comments.

Have you noticed that it’s been one tragedy after the other?

What’s more is that things are not going to get better- it’s only going to get worse.

My friends, we are in the end of times. We don’t know the exact hour but the end is near.

Now the question is: “Are you ready?”

Many people live under anesthesia thinking that disaster will never reach them but do you think that the hundreds of people that died in Japan knew that that was their last day?

What if today was your last day? Are you ready? Are you prepared? Where is your soul destined to go?

This tragedy made me meditate on this; we will never know the moment but we need to be ready for our Lord.

Task#15 for Becoming a Lovelier Woman

“It’s time to scour your heart. Grudges, sadness, hidden sin will determine eternal life our death! Rid yourself from them, have a clean and pure heart. Fill it with the presence of God and let us be ready at all times!”

I pick eternal life and am going to fight with all of my might to achieve it, how about you?

Task #14 for Becoming a Lovelier Woman

This week I was super busy packing my bags and saying goodbye to Namibia.

At this very moment, I’m writing to you from the airport while I await my flight to a new challenge.

Goodbyes are always hard but I leave Namibia with great joy and satisfaction.

There is nothing better in this life than to make part of someone’s spiritual growth- seeing someone arrive to church so lost and after some time seeing them completely transform.

Saying goodbye to the Sisterhood girls and the V-Women was the hardest part but at the same time it was very delightful.

Each of them went through a marvelous transformation process that I’m filled with such great happiness that there’s no room for sadness.

Have you had the pleasure of speaking about Jesus to someone and see that person be transformed by Him?

People, that is very satisfying!

With that in mind, let’s face our next task…

Task#14 for Becoming a Lovelier Woman

“You are going to make a bigger effort and speak about Jesus to someone that needs Him.”

But it’s not just about talking about Jesus, you are going to invite that person to church, you will accompany her, you’ll be right beside her and help in whatever way you can- you will even lead her to talk to the pastor.

This purpose is to transform us into lovelier women and the Word of God says…

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news.”

I would love to receive a photo of you with your sheep and I will be placing it in my little prayer book…

Task #13 for Becoming a Lovelier Woman

With all of the agitation that we live in nowadays, making to-do lists and organizing our time, many times we end up becoming very selfish people.

We only think about our time, our lives, our lists and we forget that other people also inhabit this planet!

When was the last time that you looked around and thought about someone else besides yourself?

This attention is nothing other than kindness and a gentle person becomes even lovelier in everyone’s eyes.

Task #13 for Becoming a Lovelier Woman

“You are going to look around you to see where you can practice some kindness.”

Look at your friends, your mom, aunt, sister our even a stranger and look where you can put this into practice.

Your mom got a cold and is in bed, don’t wait for her to ask, go ahead and do something for her, something that she needs…

It would be so nice if we treated others the same way we would like to be treated, isn’t that so?

We shouldn’t wait for people to do things for us first, if we can do it before they do, that’s when we make a difference!

Let’s think about that.