Silk: Unbridled Beauty

This silk was inspired by the first three colors in the rainbow silk, Promised Blessings, that appears in this week’s Dyed4you Art release Heir of Promise. This one has personal meaning to me because I have a beautiful wide infinity scarf in this style. It also was made into wings in a gradient version (read the testimony). Both are beautiful.  I hope the word, pictures and videos all minister to you. 🙂

The name of this silk is Unbridled Beauty. The colors in it are:

• Dark red representing the depths of God’s love and worth dying for 
• Fuchsia representing passion
• Coral representing deep things of the heart
• Silver shimmer representing breath of life

The scriptures that go with it are:

• Psalm 45:11 (GW) The king longs for your beauty. He is your Lord. Worship him.
• Song of Solomon 2:2 (VOICE) Him: Like a lily among thorns, that is what she is; my dear is a captivating beauty among the young women.
• Song of Songs 4:1 (TPT) Listen, my dearest darling, you are so beautiful—you are beauty itself to me! Your eyes glisten with love, like gentle doves behind your veil. What devotion I see each time I gaze upon you. You are like a sacrifice ready to be offered.
• Song of Solomon 1:7-8 (NIV) Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your friends? Friends: If you do not know, most beautiful of women, follow the tracks of the sheep and graze your young goats by the tents of the shepherds.

Merriam-Webster defines “unbridled” as “not controlled or limited : done, felt, or expressed in a free and uncontrolled way.” Unbridled beauty speaks to both the limitless beauty of His love for you as well as the boundless beauty He finds when He looks at you. He brought to mind the maxim “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” This most certainly holds true in the sense that regardless of your feelings about yourself or even others’ feelings about you, none of that changes or affects the beauty He sees as He looks at you. So great is His love for you. Absolutely nothing and no one can distort His view.

A vision from Elisa Eaton of Waiting in the Wings is connected to this.

I was sitting on a white horse with the armies of God and we were coming down a street in what looked like Old City Jerusalem: I perceived very clearly, Yeshua on a horse just in front of me. He turned around and His gaze pierced me with a fiery love. If one could contain the look of love from every newly married couple that ever lived, they would see that look contained in our Heavenly Bridegroom’s eyes! In that moment, I didn’t have to wonder if I was loved. I didn’t have to wonder if I was wanted. I could not for one-second doubt who I was. He stared at me as though I were the most beautiful creature to ever exist, and I knew that this was His heartbeat of perfect fidelity for His Bride.

Yeshua did not utter a word. He did not have to. I was completely melted by His gaze and by the fact that He could be so captivated by me. In fact, His gaze was so intense that I wanted Him to look away! But He would not.

I suddenly heard the song “When the Saints Go Marching In”. I knew what was on the heart of heaven. It is time. It is time because the Bride of Christ, His hidden weapon in the earth, has made herself ready. It is time for the saints to go marching in. It is time for the King’s armies, heavenly and earthly, to get on their horses and go into the final battle!

“May I have your attention?” someone at the front of the army announced. I did not know who spoke for my eyes were still locked upon the King. “The lights in the firmament are coming. Let the show begin!”

The crowd on the streets began to cheer. “Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest!” They began waving palm branches in excitement.

The Lord eventually turned back to face the front as someone was speaking to him. I actually felt relieved that He was not staring at me anymore; with the intensity of His gaze I could scarcely think of anything else! But this thought had scarcely passed through my mind when Yeshua reached back and fiercely grabbed my hand. A wordless knowing passed between us. I knew in that moment that His eyes are never, ever off of me. Our Eternal King is not like man; His Beloved Bride never escapes His attention nor is she off of His thoughts. The All-Consuming Fire never cools or varies in the temperature of His love for us.

As I soaked in the revelation of His love, Yeshua pulled at my hand to draw me closer, and He kissed it.

“Your imperial license,” someone said to me. They handed me what looked like a driver’s license.

“Your license to drive,” Yeshua explained.

At the time, I was feeling very embarrassed by my feelings for Him. There wasn’t anything unholy in what I felt; it was the pure love of a Bride for her Bridegroom, the one she had been specifically made for. His perfect love and unmarred desire for His Bride was stirring up something within me. This was so hard for me to process. At times, my experience with the Lord’s Presence seems to bypass my rational mind, and He calls to mind the sensations of young love. I am human and certainly understand what it means to be in love, in a “whirlwind” romance. I know that feeling when you are so enamored with someone that everything around you feels like a Disney romance. Leave it up to the King of Kings to show that nothing can surpass the love that He has for His Bride. Everything pales in comparison to His fiery love, so much so that the Words of the Bible truly reflect the greatest romance ever told.

I already knew that it’s not enough to have head knowledge of being Christ’s Bride. This heavenly romance is a blueprint for everything we are called to live on earth below. Yet here I was still embarrassed to be feeling this way about our King. However, there was something far greater happening here. At that moment, His love was kindling something within me. It was activating a power that I had not known had been laying dormant within me. And I knew that it was that miracle-working power that can change the world—the power of perfect love.

Revelation 19:7,8 (VOICE) Multitude (in unison): Praise the Lord! For the Lord our God, the All Powerful, reigns supreme. Now is the time for joy and happiness. He deserves all the glory we can give Him. For the wedding feast has begun; the marriage of the Lamb to His bride has commenced, and His bride has prepared herself for this glorious day. She had been given the finest linens to wear, linens bright and pure, woven from the righteous deeds of the saints.

A Prophetic Nugget from our Dyed4you Ministries blog is connected to this. It is called “Unquenchable Thirst for You.”

Psalm 45:11 (VOICE) Because the king yearns for your beauty, humble yourself before him, for he is now your lord.

Beloved, My eyes are fixed on you, I cannot get enough. My thirst for you is unquenchable. I will never grow tired of you or find you commonplace or dull. You are magnificent. My pearl of great price. The apple of My eye. The center of My world.

You are never a bother or an inconvenience. Everything that matters to you, matters to Me because YOU matter to Me. You are irreplaceable, priceless, My heart’s desire. I cannot get enough. There’s no need to temper your thoughts or affections, I want it all. I long for you in a way that will never be sated. You are everything to Me.

The lyrics from The Beautiful Band’s song “If You Don’t Know” are connected to this.

If you don’t know who you are, and you don’t know where to go | Most beautiful, most beautiful | If you don’t know who you are, and don’t know where to go, just follow | Cause I always, always, always answer | I always show you’re always mine, I’m always yours | Just follow My eyes, they’re always on you, just follow My voice | I always call you beautiful, most beautiful| If you just need to hear it again, I’ll be a voice, I’ll be your friend | I always call you beautiful, most beautiful, most beautiful.

Another Prophetic Nugget from our Dyed4you Ministries blog is connected to this. It is called “My Choice and My Acceptance.”

Genesis 29:30 (VOICE) Then Jacob also slept with Rachel, and he clearly loved Rachel more than Leah…

Beloved, man’s choice and My choice often don’t align. Refuse to look to the acceptance of man to gauge your worth. Focus on Me and receive My attentions. Allow My fervor and favor to feed your heart and shape your understanding of who you are – for you are loved more deeply than you can begin to know.

Man does not see or judge as I do. My judgment is perfect. My approval is all you need. Honor and favor come from Me alone. Refuse the temptation to court the fickle favor of man for it will come and go – changing like a breeze – but Mine is steadfast forevermore.

Genesis 25:28 (VOICE) Esau was Isaac’s favorite because he was fond of good meat, but Jacob was Rebekah’s favorite.

It has been prayed over and anointed with the Scent of Heaven’s Leah oil from the Women Arise series.

A portion of a post called “Tender Eyes (Genesis 29:17)” from MeghanW.com is connected to this.

…when you look at all the pieces together it all points one direction: God favored Leah. We have to remember that just because a person favors one over another doesn’t mean GOD favors them too. Case in point: Isaac favored Esau over Jacob (Genesis 25:28), but we know that Jacob was God’s choice.

So let’s consider some of the evidence available beginning with Genesis 29:17 (ESV) “Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.”

Some of the ways the Blue Letter Bible defines this word tender, the Hebrew word rak (H7401), are: “tender, soft, delicate, weak.” When we look at the other contexts this word is used in, they are NOT negative. They speak to gentleness and tenderness, soft-heartedness – again, none of these in a negative context. It turns out being “tender eyed” is actually an idiom that means a gentle, loving and caring person; which completely makes sense given the meaning and implied meanings based on context of usage,

According to the book of Jubilee, Leah was attractive too. Here’s how the sisters were described, “Leah’s eyes were weak, but her form was very handsome; but Rachel had beautiful eyes and a beautiful and very handsome form.

Further, according to the book of Jasher, Leah and Rachel were twins just like Esau and Jacob were twins. And according to the Talmud, there was a saying that inferred the two sets of twins would marry one another, but when Leah discovered what kind of man Esau was (he was described as wicked), she cried so much because she wanted to marry Jacob (he was described as wholesome) that her eyelashes fell out. This also could explain why she didn’t say anything to him to tip him off as he was marrying the sister he didn’t choose…

So for all we know, the girls could’ve even been identical twins and STILL had a dramatic difference in appearance (if they were identical twins, it would also make more sense how Jacob could marry the wrong one). Keep in mind these are near relatives to Sarah who was still so beautiful in old age that Abraham was passing her off as his sister rather than his wife so he wouldn’t be killed by a king wanting her for himself (Genesis 20:1-18)!

Ok so all of this seems to point to the fact that Leah was attractive and a sweet person, but not necessarily favored by God, so let’s consider a few more points:

• 6 of Jacob’s 12 sons came from Leah
• King David is descended from Leah
• The Messiah is descended from Leah

I’ve always wondered why with Rachel being the chosen/loved wife that Jesus is not descended from her. These pieces coming together this morning were like a puzzle clicking into place.

It’s clear as we continue in chapter 29 that God’s heart is for Leah, but her heart is for her husband. Lets continue looking in Genesis 29 (VOICE).

v31 When the Eternal One saw how Leah was unloved, He made her fertile…
v32 …Because the Eternal One has been compassionate to me in my painful predicament, allowing me to bear this child, surely now my husband will love me.
v33 …she conceived again…Because the Eternal One has heard I am unloved…
v34 …she conceived for the third time…Surely now my husband will be more attached to me…
v35 …she conceived…This time I will praise the Eternal One!

Leah’s reaction to her first three sons all correspond to her husband and his lack of affection for her, but with her fourth son we see a shift: her heart is turned toward the Lord.  And God seems to underscore this response by pausing after Judah is born. And it’s no accident that David and the Messiah both come from Judah!… I think the key points here have been made and all point to God’s favor. We know God is responsible for Leah’s fertility because when Rachel complains to Jacob about her infertility in chapter 30, Jacob responds by saying, “Am I God? He’s the One responsible for you not getting pregnant, not me!”

So because Jacob wanted what HE wanted rather than the heart of the one God favored, he ended up dealing with a lot of strife because of his wives. This also though should encourage us because it’s a reminder that God can work through us even when we (possibly) don’t get it all exactly right or when our personal preferences override (perhaps) our willingness to follow His direction. This feels like a permissible vs. beneficial thing. He is bigger than we know! We can trust His will to be accomplished in and through us as long as we are willing. Thankfully we don’t have to be perfect, just willing….

A portion of another post called “Hope for the Unloved Wife” from MeghanW.com is connected to this.

 …in Leah’s story we see hope for our Heavenly Bridegroom to fill that place in our hearts. And ultimately, unloved or loved, human husbands will always let us down sometimes (just as we will them) because we’re all human and therefore imperfect.

The key here is in Leah’s focus. Let’s watch where her heart is as she has her first four sons.

Genesis 29:32-35 (VOICE, emphasis mine) Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben. Leah: Because the Eternal One has been compassionate to me in my painful predicament, allowing me to bear this child, surely now my husband will love me. In time, she conceived again and gave birth to another son. Leah: Because the Eternal One has heard I am unloved, He has given me this son too. So Leah named the second son Simeon. Then she conceived for the third time and gave birth to her third son. Leah: Surely now my husband will be more attached to me, because I have given him three sons. Leah named the third son Levi. And once again, she conceived and gave birth to her fourth son. Leah: This time I will praise the Eternal One! So Leah named this son Judah. After Judah, Leah didn’t have any more children for a while.

Her heart finally shifts from longing for her husband to fulfillment with the Eternal One. He is the only one who can truly fill the longing in our hearts anyway. I believe we put weighty expectations on our husbands because of all the happily ever after books and movies (etc) we ingest. I’m not knocking the stories (I’m an avid reader!), but I think we set expectations for our spouses they can’t help but fall short of.

As we remove expectations from our human husbands and refocus those expectations on God, I believe He will meet us there. And not in some theoretical pie in the sky pat answer way. I mean literally, His love will meet us in our point of need… He LONGS for you to look to Him to fulfill you like that and will happily overwhelm you with His love.

Father, I just ask that for each person who feels unloved to be wrapped in Your embrace. Help them to know how to open themselves to receive from You and to allow You to overtake them and fill them with Your love. May it be a deep manifestation – not “just enough” love they don’t hurt so much, but rather so much that it completely overwhelms them and changes them, transforming them like a caterpillar transforming to a beautiful butterfly – may Your love radiate from their countenance for nothing is so beautiful as a person who is deeply loved! May it not just fill them to overflowing, but may others around them be so aware of something “different” about them that THEY would be hungry for it too. May we change the world simply by being vessels of Your love – both to receive it and to share it. We thank You, Father, for the depths of Your love for us and that You pour it out on us so freely and without reserve. Who are we that You should love us so ardently, and yet You do! So we gratefully receive and suck it up like parched, dry land absorbs the fall of rain until it overflows with goodness and the flowery, verdant fruit of it bursts forth. May our lives reflect this beautiful gift and bring You glory.

We pray it blesses you!

NOTE: If you’re wondering why I’ve shared this silk letter, I explain on my personal blog in a post called God Speaking Through Silk why I began sharing these on my personal blog. Later, I felt led to share some on the Dyed4you Ministries blog as well. So I share some here and some there (you can find the ones there in the silk words category). To find out more about the words we birth – including how they are created and what is typically included – visit our About Our Silk Letters and Art Words page.

And though I don’t post these for the purpose of selling them, I know sometimes one will just grab you and you KNOW you’re supposed to have it. If that’s the case you can check on Dyed4you Readymade to see if I have one completed already or you can see what types of products I offer and request I make you one in this style.