true beauty Archives - Sharla Fritz

The Secret to Unfading Beauty

Sharla June 4, 2015

“Hey mom, can I buy this mascara?”

“Can I get this lip gloss? I’ll use my own money. Pleeeease?”

“Will you ever let me wear makeup?

When I was thirteen, these were the questions I pestered my mother with constantly. After reading teen magazines, I was convinced that makeup was what I needed to be beautiful. Just a little mascara, a bit of blush, and a dab of lip gloss and I would be able to look like the models on the glossy pages I read over and over. A few cosmetics were all I needed to make everyone at school like me—to make me like me.

Plenty of products

Judging by the thousands of beauty products available, I’m not the only one who has ever had those thoughts. During a quick trip to the drug store today, I stopped to browse in the makeup aisle. I was astounded by the number of mascaras available for sale. Under the Maybelline sign alone I counted twelve different colorful tubes of the stuff. Almay had five. Cover Girl had thirteen. In all, I found 73 unique products guaranteed to enhance my eyelashes!

That doesn’t even take into account all of the other items offered in the cosmetic aisle. We can buy products to make our cheeks appear rosier, our eyebrows darker, and our lips shinier. Thousands of choices are available to buff up our appearance—our physical beauty.

True beauty is inside

When I looked up and down all the aisles of the store, I couldn’t find any products to help me enhance my inner beauty. I didn’t see any gels or lotions to help me develop a beautiful heart. Which is sad, because that’s the kind of beauty God wants us to have…..

To continue reading, click here to see the rest of the article at Fervr.

Do you have a daughter or granddaughter celebrating a graduation or confirmation this spring? Consider blessing her with a copy of Divine Makeover!

For When You Feel Ordinary

Sharla January 20, 2015

I took a step back and looked at the bride. She was radiant in her white gown. A smile lit up her face when she saw her reflection in the mirrors all around the room. Her beauty was obvious.

During my college years I worked at a bridal salon each summer. I got to work with stunning bridal gowns, lovely bridesmaids’ dresses, and gorgeous formals. I could run my fingers over smooth satin and intricate lace. I was able to see the latest designs covered with sequins and pearls. Each dress was a work of art.

But what made the job especially interesting was to see the transformation of the girls who came in to try on the dresses. Since it was summertime, most of them came in to the store wearing shorts, flip-flops, and a tee shirt. Not particularly glamorous.

When a girl arrived for her fitting, I showed her to a room covered with mirrors and brought in her dress. I slipped the dress over her head. From the smiles visible in every mirror, I could tell she felt like a princess. In just a few minutes, she was transformed from an ordinary girl in summer shorts to a dazzling beauty in a stunning gown.

The Holy Spirit does something like that for us in our hearts. Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, we are born with dirty hearts. We are hopeless and helpless. But when we first receive the gift of faith, the Holy Spirit begins our divine makeover. He starts by clothing us in Christ.

Galatians 3:26-27 says:

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

What does it mean to put on Christ? When we put on clothes, they cover our bodies. When people look at us they see the outfit, not our skin. When we put on Christ, He is the one that others see. In God’s eyes we are no longer ordinary girls, we are princesses in His kingdom. We are radically changed.

Putting on Christ is not just playing dress-up. The Holy Spirit changes us from the inside out. A beautiful gown may make you look like a princess, but when you are clothed with Christ, you truly are a princess—a child of the King.

This post was adapted from my new book for teen girls:Divine Makeover: God Makes You Beautiful Check it out!

The One Mirror Where You Will Always Look Beautiful

Sharla May 1, 2014

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” Do you remember those words spoken by the evil queen in the Snow White fairy tale? Every time the queen approached the mirror, she fully expected the mirror to reply, “You, O queen, are the fairest of them all.” And watch out if this wasn’t the answer she received! If the mirror mentioned anyone else, the poor girl was quickly done away with so the next day the queen could receive the reply she wanted from her mirror.

Who wouldn’t want a mirror that gave a daily dose of compliments? We all long to be attractive and sought after. We all want to be told that we’re beautiful.

The bathroom mirror might not always give us the answer we want when we ask ourselves the question, “Am I beautiful?” After all, bad hair days, bad skin days, bad everything days happen now and then.

But there is a mirror that will always tell us we are beautiful—in Christ. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, we always look lovely in God’s looking glass. Our heavenly Father sees us not as we are with our mammoth mistakes, our messy sins, our major bedhead. He sees us as we will be—perfect.

The Bible tells us:

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

In God’s eyes we’re already beautiful because He sees us dressed in the robes of Christ’s purity. He watches your makeover progress, but at the same time sees you in your final photo shoot. God can already envision the reveal.

When we have trouble seeing past the flawed image in our bathroom mirror, we need to look at God’s mirror—His Word. In it God tells us over and over how much He loves us. When media, self-doubt, or even my friends leave me feeling unloved and unlovely, I can look in God’s miraculous mirror to see who I am in His eyes.

Here is how God sees you!

You can download and print this poster in a 5X7 or 8X10 size for yourself.

Find God’s Mirror here.

This post was adapted from my new book for teens and young women:

Divine Makeover: God Makes You Beautiful.

Perhaps you have been looking for a resource for your youth group or a study to do with your daughter. Or maybe you need a confirmation or graduation gift for a lovely young woman.

Check out Divine Makeover at CPH and Amazon.