Looking to Him

Hello again, ladies!

Thanks for coming back to the Radiant Blog! I hope you’re doing well this Marvelous Monday…the day after Christmas! I also pray that you experienced Jesus in the middle of it all!

Today I would like to take just a few minutes to explain the name of this blog to you. It’s really a story that goes back several years. I was beginning a new small group ministry that was to include two separate groups of women. One group was based out of my church but open to women throughout Birmingham. The other group was part of my work in prison ministry. I had been working with a group of incarcerated females here in Birmingham who were already believers and loved studying Scripture. As I prayed about a name for the ministry, I felt strongly burdened for women - both in the church and in prison - who struggle with a sense of shame. I was overwhelmed with a desire to help those women learn more about who they are in Christ and help them get rid of any shame that was holding them back.

As I continued to pray, the Lord led me to Psalm 34:5 as the basis for the ministry He was giving me a heart for. That verse says, “Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.” We spent a few months studying the Bible together to learn more about what it means to “look to Him,” and how to become the radiant, unashamed women we were created to be. We named the two groups “Radiant Inside” (our incarcerated sisters) and “Radiant Outside” (us church ladies). 

So what does it mean to “look to Him?” The main Truth embedded in this phrase is simply that those who are radiant are those who are trusting God in some way. Looking to Him could involve relying on Him for provision. Or it could involve depending on Him for protection. Looking to Him can even mean trusting Him to work in the lives of your loved ones. By looking to Him we entrust every single part of our lives to God. It is trusting that nothing is too difficult for Him. The more we trust Him, the more we will obey Him. The more we trust and obey, the more we will become more like Him. We can literally mirror His godliness to the world around us! Ladies, that’s actually our purpose on this earth! No matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done; no matter what has happened or what has been done to you…you can reflect the image of God to the world around you. You can be radiant! 

Friends, try to take time to meditate on this today. Imagine yourself looking to Him and the Light of His Glory reflecting off of your own face. While meditating, maybe you could ask Him to show you new ways to “look to Him” in your everyday life. Perhaps you can surrender a need or desire to Him. Or perhaps as you look to Him, you will be challenged to trust Him even if you don’t receive the thing you desire. The more we look to Him the more we find that He is enough. 

As you look to Him, you will be aligning your life around Jesus, who is the Center. He is in the middle of it all…with you!

Looking to Him,

Tina

P.S. Next time, I will introduce you to the focus of our blogging adventures together for the next leg of the journey…