Made to Be Seen
Faith, Fashion & Finding Your Creative Side
For most of my life, I have been a neutral girl. Give me creams, blacks, whites, browns and a beautiful classic piece, and I'm happy. But lately, something has been changing.
I've been playing more.
A pop of pink here. Leopard print there. Florals. Mixing patterns I normally wouldn't put together. Trying something on and thinking, This shouldn't work...but somehow it does. 😂 And I've realized that getting dressed can be another little place where creativity shows up in our lives.
Sometimes as Christian women, we become so focused on who we're supposed to be for everyone else that we forget to ask a very simple question: What makes me come alive?
There is nothing shallow about feeling beautiful. There is a difference between making beauty our identity and simply enjoying the beauty God created. Psalm 139:14 says, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” We can know that our worth comes from God while still enjoying fashion, flowers, lipstick, beautiful spaces, creativity and the little things that make us feel feminine and alive.
Esther Wasn't Afraid of Beauty
I think about Esther. Scripture doesn't pretend that her outward appearance didn't exist. Esther 2:7 describes her as beautiful, and later we see her go through months of beauty preparations before appearing before the king.
But Esther's beauty wasn't the deepest thing about her.
There was courage underneath it.
She was beautiful and brave. Feminine and influential. When the defining moment came, it wasn't her appearance that changed a nation—it was her character, wisdom, faith and willingness to act.
Ruth gives us another picture of womanhood. Her beauty is reflected in loyalty, humility and courage as she enters an entirely new season of life. In Ruth 3:3, Naomi even tells her to wash, put on perfume and get dressed before going to Boaz.
These women weren't one-dimensional.
And neither are we.
Maybe It's Time to Play Again
Somewhere in adulthood, many of us stop playing. Everything becomes practical. What works for work? What works for church? What hides this? What minimizes that? What will people think?
And creativity slowly gets replaced by rules.
Lately, I've been enjoying breaking a few of my own fashion rules. I'm still me. I'm probably never abandoning my neutrals. But now there might be leopard print beside them. There might be pink. There might be florals. There might even be two patterns together simply because I looked in the mirror and thought, Oh, this is fun.
The leopard-print CURVX look I'm wearing in this post is part of that experimentation for me—taking something a little bolder and making it my own.
Love the look? You can purchase the CURVX leopard-print outfit here.
Sometimes the invitation really can be that simple: have some fun discovering yourself.
Try the outfit. Paint the picture. Plant the flowers. Change your hair. Decorate the room. Take the class. Write something. Cook something new. Pick up the camera.
And here's something I've been learning: creativity doesn't have to become a business.
It doesn't need a strategy, monetization plan or measurable outcome. Sometimes something can simply bring you joy.
Exodus 35 tells us that God filled people with skill, ability and knowledge for artistic craftsmanship. Creativity isn't foreign to God. We serve the ultimate Creator. And because we were made in His image, perhaps our desire to make, arrange, style, imagine and create tells us something beautiful about Him—and something about ourselves.
Who Are You Becoming?
Maybe you're in a season where you're rediscovering yourself.
Not reinventing yourself for other people.
Discovering yourself with God.
What colors make you smile? What makes you feel beautiful? What did you love doing before life became so serious? What have you always wanted to try? What part of your personality haven't you expressed in years?
And perhaps most importantly: What makes you feel most like you?
First Peter 3:3–4 reminds us that our beauty isn't ultimately found in outward adornment, but in the person of the heart. Scripture redirects the source of our worth without requiring us to reject beauty altogether.
Our clothes don't make us worthy. Our bodies don't make us worthy. Our accomplishments don't make us worthy.
God already settled our worth.
And perhaps knowing that gives us even more freedom to play.
So wear the leopard print.
Add the pink.
Mix the patterns.
Or wear beige from head to toe if that's what makes you feel fabulous.
Because this isn't really about clothes. It's about giving ourselves permission to discover the women God created underneath all of the responsibilities, expectations and roles we've accumulated.
Maybe becoming isn't always serious.
Sometimes becoming looks like standing in front of your closet, holding two completely different prints and thinking:
Why not?
Wear them. Create something. Try something new. Go live.
And somewhere along the way, you might just discover another beautiful piece of yourself.
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