2013 Modesty Interview
18 MarchA couple years back around this time, Hannah and Sophia at 2 Sisters 1 Faith and I wrote modesty articles and they were published on happilydomestic.blogspot.com. I was curious what happened to them, so I went to her blog and typed my name into the search engine. The modesty posts that the three of us girls did came up! Of course we were two years younger than we are now, but it was fun to remember and see what we had written. Here they are for you to read yourself!
My name is Hannah and I am 14 years old. When my family made the decision to make a drastic change in the way we dress. I knew is was the right thing to do. However, after two teenage girls laughed at the way I dressed, I lost confidence in myself. It felt like every person I passed was judging me because of the way I dressed. I stopped wearing bright colors and did what I could to keep from drawing attention to myself (mostly by wearing dark plain outfits). It was exhausting.
It was when we went to a Family Camp, that God changed my heart. Being around other girls with great hearts for God and modesty, I realized that this was God's set apart plan for my life, regardless of what other people thought. I was paying more attention to man's thoughts of me, then what the Father thought of me. Now, I am fixing my thoughts on Him (2 Corinthians 10:5). I am confident in His plan for my life, without a doubt in my heart and mind! (Jeremiah 29:11)
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My name is Emma and I am 12 years old. A lot of girls today spend hours in front of the mirror everyday. "Does my hair look ok?...Do these clothes go together, or do they clash?" Putting your hair in a French braid and dressing in pretty clothes isn't a bad thing. It is a bad thing when you become obsessed with fashion; when you begin to spend more time curling your hair than you spend with your family. We live in a very worldly culture that tries to lead people away from God, and that is not a good thing. Sometimes we get so caught up in our outward appearance that we forget that our inner beauty is also important. God made me a very strong-willed person, which is a good thing, but oftentimes I have to remember to behave modestly as well, meaning I need to be a gentle and quiet young woman - quick to love and slow to become angry. Sometimes I find myself bossing my younger siblings around, slamming things around, and being disrespectful to my parents. This is not modest behavior, and I need to remind myself that God cares about the beauty of the heart. As a young woman of God we need to be dressing how God would want us to dress both inwardly and outwardly, because when we clothe ourselves in modesty, our inner beauty will shine for everyone to see.
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My name is Sophia and I am 12 years old. My family and I, have made a lot of changes in the last few years regarding modesty. I used to wear regular clothes, not giving it much thought. As I got older, I noticed that certain clothing affected my thoughts and my attitude. My appearance began to take over. I was often looking in the mirror, looking to see how my pants fit. My heart was immodest. Then God revealed something incredible to my family and I. We began to pray about dressing modestly, and soon after, we made the decision to dress with modest clothing. We often get strange looks from people, and that was a struggle, but, with Gods help, we learned to accept the fact that we were different. But, I still struggled with something. My heart was STILL immodest. I wanted to be modest on the inside, not just the outside. So I did some Bible research, and found Philippians 4:8. It reads, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things." After I read this verse, something inside me changed. I began praying harder, and God continues to make incredible progress. I hope you have learned from my testimony. God bless you!
And there you have it! After reading this now, though, I would make a few small changes... I'll try to rewrite it on the same subject.
My name is Emma and I am 14 years old. A lot of girls spend hours in front of the mirror everyday, fussing with make up, their hair, their clothes, their nails, pretty much anything that has to do with the "beauty" world. There have been times when I myself have spent more than I need to say in front of my mirror, furiously trying to get my hair in just the right place... Or spend more than 15 minutes putting an outfit together... And what did I gain from that? One nice outfit and hair style that I'll probably never be able to duplicate. For me, waste of time.
I'm not saying that people shouldn't take time to look nice. On the contrary! I think looking nice is just as important as dressing modestly! I understand that people have different kinds of nice... Some peoples "nice" might be my pajamas, while others might be a long jean skirt with a pretty top. Personally, even if it's just me and my family for the day, I want to look as nice as possible for them! I wouldn't wear pajamas all day just because I was with my family. I probably wouldn't wear sweat pants, either, considering I don't wear pants at all and when I do it's to go sledding, and Noah very disappointedly says, "Why aren't you wearing your princess clothes?" I once saw a quote that said, "When I made the choice to stay at home with my family instead of having a career, I made it my priority to look as nice as I could for my family, like I would at a job. My family is my job." That's how I feel. I want to respect my family by dressing nicely, like I would if I was working for someone else. Would you go to your job wearing a pair of jeans with holes in the knees and a grungy, stained t-shirt? If you wouldn't do that, then you probably shouldn't be wearing that when you're just around your family.
I know that some people will say that dressing modestly doesn't really matter, because it's not really about the outward appearance, it's about the heart. This is true to some extent. If I'm walking down the street and see someone who is wearing very immodest clothing (according to my family's standards) I wouldn't walk up to them to try to strike up a conversation. I have nothing against people not dressing modestly, but I wouldn't even guess that this girl was even a Christian because of the way she dressed. If I did happen to fall into a conversation with her and found out that she had a real heart for God, I would never have guessed and would have been surprised. God does examine the heart, but to the other people around her, you can't tell! I hope this makes sense.
What I'm trying to say is that just because modesty is a heart issue doesn't mean that we can wear whatever clothes we want. You might have a sweet and gentle spirit, but your clothes might say otherwise. For me, I try as hard as I can to show who I belong to by the way I dress. Your outward appearance should mirror your heart. If they don't match up, there's a problem.
If you have any questions, please feel free to comment and let me know! As I said before, I have nothing against people who don't feel that it's necessary to dress modestly. I also understand that people have different modesty standards. Please don't hesitate to ask me for clarification if there was anything confusing in this! Thanks so much for taking the time to read!
Emma
I know that some people will say that dressing modestly doesn't really matter, because it's not really about the outward appearance, it's about the heart. This is true to some extent. If I'm walking down the street and see someone who is wearing very immodest clothing (according to my family's standards) I wouldn't walk up to them to try to strike up a conversation. I have nothing against people not dressing modestly, but I wouldn't even guess that this girl was even a Christian because of the way she dressed. If I did happen to fall into a conversation with her and found out that she had a real heart for God, I would never have guessed and would have been surprised. God does examine the heart, but to the other people around her, you can't tell! I hope this makes sense.
What I'm trying to say is that just because modesty is a heart issue doesn't mean that we can wear whatever clothes we want. You might have a sweet and gentle spirit, but your clothes might say otherwise. For me, I try as hard as I can to show who I belong to by the way I dress. Your outward appearance should mirror your heart. If they don't match up, there's a problem.
If you have any questions, please feel free to comment and let me know! As I said before, I have nothing against people who don't feel that it's necessary to dress modestly. I also understand that people have different modesty standards. Please don't hesitate to ask me for clarification if there was anything confusing in this! Thanks so much for taking the time to read!
Emma
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