It's official. I saw several well-dressed women wearing leggings. Then I saw a decorator on a popular talk show wearing a pair. I cautiously hoped leggings were back in style. And then I heard it in the news - - leggings are back in style and here to stay - - at least for awhile as trends so often do stick around and then leave only to come back into vogue years later. Retro is the latest craze and seems leggings depict all that was right about the eighties. I smiled. I planned to buy a pair soon.
Before I decided to invest in my first legging purchase (since 1988 that is) I read that full-footed leggings and stirrup styles are not the rave this season and should not be worn under any circumstances. No worries ladies - - leggings come in many acceptable lengths: capri, just below the knee, at mid-calf, as well as ankle leggings. And in many design styles from basic to lace to fish net. Armed with legging know-how I set out to find me a pair (or two).
Wait one second! I hesitated in the parking lot of my favorite Walmart,
Are leggings merely for preteens, tweens and younger girls? Me being a 40's something gal I questioned if I was able to sport these leg-loving tights? Can I pull off leggings at my age? Is there a cut-off age for legging wearers? I want to be age appropriate....
As I googled away on the notebook computer propped against the steering wheel, I learned leggings were officially declared appropriate for women of all ages and sizes and to be celebrated and purchased in big box stores, online, and in the fashion boutiques worldwide. Yes - it is a good time to be a woman. It is a great time to once again add leggings to the wardrobe. Oh but what shoes would one wear with such leg adornment? In search of a well-dressed mannequin, keys in hand I charged toward the doors of the Walmart. Into the world of leggings I would soon enter.
Style. It comes and goes. Not to put the kabosh on an enjoyable outing in search of great additions to your wardrobe - - but let's face it - fashion fluctuates. Here one day and gone the next only to appear two decades later if at all.
Spiritually Speaking
In contrast to the world of fashion, God's Word
never changes. In
Isaiah 43:18-19 God tells us to
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. These words spoken to the Israelites so long ago are just as applicable to followers of Christ today. God's Word never changes nor His love for His people.
I find this fact refreshing. I can wake up five mornings in a row feeling frustrated because I can't find anything to wear but every one of those five mornings God is delighting in me and even - yes - singing over me!! (
Zephaniah 3:17). I ask,
Oh God how can that be? Not having to wait long for his answer, He confirms his never-changing promise,
You are my daughter (Mark 5:25
) I will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5
). Now go start your day!
Okay God I answer. And my pity party comes to an abrupt halt. My Heavenly Father knows just what to say to get my priorities back in order.
Did I refer to myself as
God's daughter? Yes. I sure did. Here's why...
In
Mark 5:25-34 we read:
And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.
When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' " But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
Don't miss this. The garment He wore was not responsible for her acceptance. The garment was the symbol of her ability to be saved and healed. I remember vividly the very day I touched the hem of His garment and was healed. It was September 1, 1996. I remember what I wore - not because it was a fashion statement but a symbol of my salvation. What I wore soon paled in comparison to who I had become - God's daughter.
I confessed Jesus as my Lord and Saviour (
Romans 10:9-11) and then in obedience was baptized.
Garments
I wore a gown of white over my street clothes. I remember first putting that gown on. I felt silly because this gown was not stylish. However, upon coming up out of the waters of Baptism, I heard angels singing in Heaven and what I was wearing was forgotten. Because of Jesus, just like the woman in Mark 5, the angels rejoiced as God declared, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." I felt I was on Cloud 99 and nothing mattered but knowing I was different and I was no longer a slave to sin (
Romans 8) From then on I would honestly have worn a potato sack if God asked me to (not that I would want to of course and gratefully God has not asked me to lose my sense of style but you get the picture!) do so.
Romans 10:9-11
Will you touch the hem of his garment? Will your garments be washed in the blood today? No matter where you are right now or what you are doing at this very moment, seek the One that longs to call you "daughter".
Just so you don't miss this - here is what Romans 10:9-11 is challenging you to do:
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.
Confess, believe, and trust Him and you will know the permanence of your salvation - you will one day wear robes of white in the Heavenly Throne Room (where there will never be a day you can't find a thing to wear or have to google fashion trends to be accepted).
And who knows? God may just allow us to wear leggings under our robes made of heavenly fabric - ankle length of course and white lace just because we enjoyed them so much in the 80s and beyond.
Yes, styles come and go (clothing and other) but God's love and His promises are here to stay - forever and on into eternity.
Please email me at
christina@wordsofgrace.info if you have any questions about what it means to be saved. Of course you can ask me clothing style questions too. But I may just tell you to google your fashion styling question before entering your local Walmart. Or I may tell you to go in search of a well-dressed mannequin - who looks alot like you did in the 80's.
Style always comes back. God never leaves! Stick with Him and He will give you every answer to life's questions - fashion and other and so MUCH more....
