All Things Skin, Wellness & Faith
All Things Skin, Wellness & Faith
BREADCRUMBS OF FAITH DEVOTIONAL 29: Authenticity Throughout Every Step
This episode of All Things Skin Wellness and Faith ( Breadcrumb Devotional) promises to guide you through the intricacies of faith and tradition.
Together we'll explore how to maintain authenticity and spiritual integrity during the festive season. We discuss the importance of steering clear of traditions that conflict with Christian values.
As we prepare to usher in 2025, there's a call to reflect on truthfulness and authenticity in our lives. Inspired by biblical teachings, this episode invites you to engage in spiritual housekeeping, ensuring that our actions resonate with God's word.
Hey, there, you're tuned into another episode of All Things Skin Wellness and Faith, a podcast where you'll learn simple ways to implement skincare and wellness techniques from a holistic approach. On this podcast, we'll explore practical ways to address skin health and overall holistic spiritual well-being, while deepening your faith. I'm your host, natasha Diaz, a licensed holistic esthetician, day spa owner and a faithful believer and follower of Christ, and it's time to get ready to get encouraged and empowered as we dive into all things skin wellness and faith. Good day unto you. This is Natasha again from All Things Skin Wellness and Faith, coming back to you with another episode of Breadcrumbs of Faith. And as we embark on the new year, I want to first say I hope you guys all had a wonderful, wonderful Christmas season. I also want to apologize for my voice, excuse me, which is just a little bit raspy because at this time I am recording and coming to you guys early in the wee hours of the morning, just about 5 am, I believe. Yep, just about 5 am and just a little bit hoarse in my voice, so excuse me one second. I'm actually going to grab a quick drink and hope that that takes care of it, but if not, we shall continue, because the Lord has given me a message to um deliver to you guys. And I wanted to actually do it. Deliver to you guys. And I wanted to actually do it yesterday.
Speaker 1:But with Christmas being on Wednesday, the week really got busy. I got tied up. Like I said, christmas being in the middle of the week, I took a day off the day after to try and get some rest and kind of just hang out and chill with the family, and then I was thrown right back into work yesterday. So while I was jotting down everything that he was downloading unto me, I did not get a chance to record and I wanted to be obedient, because this message was actually delivered to me on Christmas Day in my prayer time. I had just seen a lot of things and a lot of things were highlighted to me through the Holy Spirit and I was like, hmm, lord, is that what you want me to bring to the people? And he, in fact it's word. Yeah, I feel it's a really good word. At least it's the word of the Lord. So I'm sure that it is a good word, and the subject that I'm diving into today is just being authentic.
Speaker 1:Looking at Christmas and all that it entails there is so much hoopla around Christmas. I mean, the holidays can get really, really tricky If you're a die-hard devoted Christian, if you are deep into your faith and have done your research. There are so many holidays that have pagan backgrounds and pagan influences on them that we celebrate as Christians, and for a while this was a topic for me that my husband and I we kind of got caught up in, like, you know, easter. If you do your research on Easter, you'll find out what that really means. And then if you go into Halloween, we're certainly not celebrating that one. I mean, it's pretty obvious where that comes from, but Christmas is another one of them that lands on that list, and this is not exactly what that subject is on, because I've actually, you know, heard from my pastor, you know how to look at these things and how to not go down a rabbit hole no pun intended with Easter, but not to go down a rabbit hole and, you know, get caught up in these things. But it is something you know to be aware of and you can do those, your research on those holidays, and I always say, when it comes to anything other than Halloween, like I absolutely believe that Christians should not in no way. You know, celebrate Halloween. That's just a big no-go. There's tons of scripture and everything to back that up and the Lord has put a message on my heart. I'm not going to backtrack. I actually didn't record about that this year. He didn't put it on my heart for me to do this year. He had me minister a little bit differently this year as far as Halloween. But yeah, if you do your research, you'll find out a lot on these different holidays and I say the best things for you to do is just to go before the Lord and see what he says.
Speaker 1:You know, if you feel like you know, okay, you know, this is absolutely not for me. You know, I'm not going to have a Christmas tree because it has pagan roots. Yada, yada yada. Jesus wasn't actually born on that day. You know, if that's where the Lord leads you, that's where he leads you. So I just want to cover this foreground for a little bit because, while I am aware you know that the actual day, december 25th, does have some pagan ties to it, some of the traditions that we have in place do have some pagan ties. The Christmas tree, etc. In place do have some pagan ties. The Christmas tree, et cetera. That is not exactly the focus Now.
Speaker 1:When it comes to things like Santa Claus, that is a whole different subject for me. For me, I am aware of the roots of Christmas and for me, christmas is a day. It's not the day that Christ was born, but it is the day that we celebrate Christ. So when you celebrate Halloween, you're not celebrating anything to do with Christ. You are celebrating full on the kingdom of darkness. When you celebrate Easter, as it is in its secular form, you are celebrating pagan rituals outright, because that is what the Easter bunny and the Easter eggs, that is where all of that comes from fertility gods. When Christians celebrate Easter, we are celebrating resurrection, the resurrection of Christ. So to separate those two, I really think, means a lot, but there is no separation when it comes to something like Halloween. And while that's not the focus of this morning or this morning, it's morning for me, sorry about that While it's not the focus of today's episode, I just want to throw that out there just in case there's anyone out there that's like oh well, you know, you say you don't celebrate Halloween, but you celebrate Christmas and you celebrate Easter, and that's pagan. That is the difference between those free holidays.
Speaker 1:Anyways, what we're talking about today to get back on task I digressed a little bit, excuse me on task. I digressed a little bit, excuse me was being authentic and while I was just looking into, you know, the celebration of Christmas and I know that a lot of people with their kids will do the whole Santa thing, and my family and I, like I said, we separate this holiday. We make sure that everything that we do around this holiday is surrounding the birth of Jesus. I know we've all seen those cliche sayings and it's not really cliche, but it's a lot that goes forth and there's a lot of t-shirts and different Christmas decorations and such that say Jesus is the reason for the season. But it is absolutely true and that is what I want to touch on today. I mean, I know I'm going back a little bit because we're already past Christmas and this is probably something that I should have mentioned before Christmas. But, like I said, I get the downloads from the Lord. He tells me what he wants me to put out there and that's what I do.
Speaker 1:So, while this episode is a little bit Christmas focused, it's information that you can use for years to come. It's food for thought, or it's an episode for thought, scripture for thought, however you want to play on it, but it's information that I think that will give you something to think about, something to pray about and certainly something to utilize for next year. And even if you don't have children, if you don't have children yourself, then you may have grandchildren, you may have nieces, you may have nephews. I'm sure there's some way that this topic and this episode can be beneficial and there's someone that you can pass it on to that they can pray about and see, you know, where the Lord brings them if they believe. It's just something to you know, take into consideration.
Speaker 1:And as I was reflecting on Christmas Day, I was just kind of looking at, you know, scrolling through my social media, just seeing, you know, the majority of my friends on my social media are believers, are Christians, and just seeing you know different things. You know and this is not to come down or to bash anyone, because we are certainly all in different areas of our walk. We all believe and learn different things throughout our walk. I know, certainly, you know there was a time as a Christian that I did celebrate Halloween and I wasn't where. But as we grow in Christ. You know he takes us deeper. Veils and coverings are removed from our eyes and we are to continuously keep growing.
Speaker 1:So this is more so, this information is more so from the point of keeping you growing, keeping you sharp. The Bible says iron sharpens iron in Proverbs. So this is just to sharpen you up in a little bit in an area where you may not be sharp, or to just give you a little insight and to give you a deeper look on something that you may not already be aware of, because we can't know everything all the time. What I know today I didn't know yesterday, and what I know today per se, I will certainly know more tomorrow or the week after or the month after or the year after.
Speaker 1:So we are always growing and we are growing in Christ, but with the whole Santa thing, I think my family and I excuse me, I'm sorry again my family and I, we never really participated in the whole Santa thing, and now I see deeper. Before we were just like. I think maybe we're a little bit selfish about it because we were just like you know. Oh, we are the ones, you know, that work hard for this money and we are not going to give credit to some fictitious character and things like that. But this year I think the Holy Spirit has really highlighted to me the dangers and I don't know the bad things that come with Santa. And while a lot of Christians are just like you know, oh, it's just innocent, you know, it's just something fun, it's fun for the kids. I've even had people tell me that you know that I was being mean, for not you know, allowing my kids to celebrate Santa and biblically it was just highlighted to me today, I think biblically I was just looking at this is robbing God of his glory.
Speaker 1:Because if we are Christians, if we are to shed the light, the Bible says our family is our first ministry. Even my pastor, as you know, recently spoken about this. You are to minister to your family first and foremost, and I think Christmas is such an opportunity where we, as believers, we should be at least focusing on the fact that Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus. But I think it becomes confusing when you are celebrating Jesus and celebrating Santa at the same time. First of all, we know that the Lord is our provider. The Bible says Jehovah Jireh, that is the name for God, the provider, and so I think that by celebrating Santa, it is a time that you can really rob your family of a really good teaching that is involved around the birth of Jesus.
Speaker 1:I think that if you are explaining to your kids and that you are telling your children you know we celebrate Christmas for the birth of Jesus, but you know Santa's going to come down the chimney and bring you all these gifts out the middle of nowhere and to make a list and write a list. First of all, that's far from true. So you're actually you're outright lying to your children and you're deceiving them. And secondly, my actually second, which is my first point, is that you're robbing your children of an opportunity to understand how good the Lord is. I mean, certainly not everyone you know struggles financially around Christmas time. You know, maybe it's not a struggle for you, and if it's not a struggle for you, that's great. You know kudos for that, but it's still an opportunity to minister to your children to say the Lord provides, the Lord provides this money.
Speaker 1:And so, therefore, as we go out and celebrate Christ, we go out and we bring gifts, and you can relate it all the way back to the Bible, to when the free wise men came and they bought the frankincense, the myrrh and the gold and they bought the gifts to celebrate the birth of Jesus and so that you are not raising your children in a kind of selfish, almost greedy type of way where you're just like, oh, you just make a list, you just send it to this guy you know up in the North Pole. And then he kind of way where you're just like oh, you just make a list, you just send it to this guy you know up in the North Pole, and then he kind of, if you're naughty or nice, depending on if you're naughty or nice, he delivers these things to you. No, god is good to us. The Lord is good to us regardless. There are plenty not plenty of times that we are sinners, because we are always sinners. But even though we sin and we sin on a regular basis, hopefully, not knowingly, and hopefully we're living a repentant lifestyle. But the truth is that we are all sinners and even though we are all sinners, he still bestows these gifts upon us. He still allows us to have the money to make the money to go out and, to, you know, purchase the gifts for the family in celebration of the birth of his son. So to celebrate and to say that you know there is a man that you know doesn't. I don't know, there's a story behind St Nicholas and he does exist. I don't know the whole story behind that and that's not what I'm here to go into. But basically to say that Santa Claus is coming down the chimney or he's coming however way he comes half the houses and I mean not half the houses, but the majority of houses don't even have a chimney. I mean, I know I do live in a single family home, but we don't have a chimney. So I mean just to leave out milk and cookies and do all these things that we do to celebrate a lie or a myth? I believe I was convicted by the whole thing. I don't celebrate it, but just looking at it I was just like wow, we are outright hopefully teaching our children the things of the Lord.
Speaker 1:And the Bible says thou shall not lie. Okay, that's things of the Lord. And the Bible says thou shalt not lie Okay, that's one of the commandments not to lie. Proverbs 12, 22 tells us that the Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in those who tell the truth. So if you are celebrating Santa, then you are lying to your children. So ultimately, according to the scripture right here, what does it say? It says the Lord detests the liar and he delights in those who tell the truth.
Speaker 1:So I just think that as we celebrate the season and, like I said, yes, I'm aware the season has passed but as we celebrate, are we being authentic to the Lord? Are we robbing his kingdom for glory by celebrating something that is fictitious? That is not true. So I think that we just want to be concerned with that. I think it serves for a really good time to just examine ourselves in our walk, examine what it is that we are doing, what I'm seeing, and first of all, to make sure that we're not raising our children in a way that we're contradicting ourselves. Because if we tell our children that it's not okay to lie and then you go out and you tell this tiny little white lie, well then you've contradicted yourself and our children are watching us. Our children are imitating everything that we do.
Speaker 1:I mean Colossians 3, 23 and 24 says and whatever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not to men, and not to men from that. Oh, excuse me, I'm so sorry, I'm tongue twisted with this one, guys, let me start that over, because I'm not going to edit this out. I want to be authentic with you guys, but what it is and whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men. Know that everything you have is from the Lord and you will receive a reward and inheritance. Another translation of that says that the Lord is our master and the one that we serve. So if we are serving him, then we need to be serving him wholeheartedly. We need to be serving him in truth. We need to be serving him in every single action that we have. We need to be serving him at work, at the gas station, in the grocery store. You know, wherever we are, we are servants of the most high God. So that is what I'm saying today.
Speaker 1:As far as being authentic, do we want to make sure? Not do we want to make sure, but we want to make sure that what we're doing in front of our children is an example that the Lord would be pleased with. We want to make sure that every action that we do is something that he's pleased with, because we know that we're all going to go before him. We know that when the time comes that we're going to have to answer for every idle word. We're going to have to answer for every action. So this is just something for you to just kind of hone in on and think about it. Own and on and think about it. This is, like I said, what was brought up to me. It does seem like it's something so innocent, but this is how the devil comes in. The devil comes in with sneaking little, tiny little things, tiny little ways to get us to compromise in our walk. And this is just another one.
Speaker 1:And I think, as we go into 2025, I know for me, I'm examining myself and I want to clean up shop. The Bible says do not give the enemy a foothold. So, as I go from 2024 into 2025, I want to make sure that every T is crossed, every I is dotted. I want to make sure that my household, my ministry, my work, whatever way the Lord has me serving, that I'm on point and I'm in full alignment with him. And so, as we close up on this year, just three days away from 2025, I can't even believe it. I can't even believe it Like I can't. Even this year has just flown by for me. But I think that we should take these few days to really examine ourselves, to really examine our hearts.
Speaker 1:I know that New Year's brings a time of resolutions and a time of. You know, we want to lose weight and we want to go to the gym, and all those things are excellent and good goals to have, but, first and foremost, how are we going to get in deeper with the Lord? How are we going to make sure that we are more pleasing to him in these tiny little areas that go unseen, unnoticed, tiny little areas for the enemy to sneak in? So let's just clean up shop, like I said, let's do some spiritual housekeeping as we prepare for 2025. And let's go into the new year strong. All right, that's all I have for you guys.
Speaker 1:Like I said, I just want to apologize one more time for the little tongue twisters because it is early in the morning and also the dryness and the raspiness of my voice.
Speaker 1:But I really wanted to bring this to you guys and I felt that, you know, this was kind of the only time I had to do it. So I, to myself, want to be authentic and this is authentically me, five o'clock in the morning, you know, straight out of bed, pretty much in my prayer time, but wanting to bring to you the message as it was delivered unto me. All right guys, I pray that you are blessed. I thank you so much for tuning your ears into me. I hope that you show me a little bit of grace with this episode, because it is a little bit choppy. But it's not really about you know the aesthetics of the message. It's more so about the core of the message itself, and that's what I want to give to you. All right guys. Be blessed and be a blessing, and please tune in for the next episode. Happy New Year and God bless. Bye, bye.