As we grow, though, we tend to settle into a persona. We wear the same type of wardrobe every day, do our hair just a few ways, and have rote ways we respond to those around us. Gone are the days we can pull on a princess dress and feel as though we actually are a princess.
With some effort, we may be able to change the way we look, dress, and behave. There is no makeover that can actually transform a girl into a real princess, though. At least, that’s what we often tell ourselves.
A Spiritual Makeover for Your Daughter
Making over your hair or wardrobe is one thing. A spiritual makeover is something entirely different. Your daughter (and mine–and you, and me) needs a spiritual makeover, not a superficial one.
What’s a spiritual makeover for your daughter look like? In short, it involves justification, then progressive sanctification. It’s the change brought about by God when he calls your daughter to himself, converts her, and then changes her over time to become more like him.
As parents, we can help guide and shape our children as they grow, but only Jesus can truly change our kids. Your daughter can only become a true princess through the washing of the blood of Christ, and by adoption into the family of God.
How to Have a Bible Makeover by Catherine MacKenzie
Catherine MacKenzie has written a great book for girls ages 8-11 (and a little younger if you read it aloud to them). How to Have a Bible Makeover (Christian Focus 4 Kids, 2017) is a part of her neat Bible series for girls (see below).
How to Have a Bible Makeover talks about the phenomenon of makeovers in our culture, and about how they tend to be fleeting. Girls who receive a makeover tend to return to the way they cared for themselves before the makeover.
But a Bible makeover, or spiritual makeover, is different. When your daughter receives a Bible makeover from Jesus, that’s not a change she can bring about herself. (It’s also not one you can bring about!) When Jesus makes her over, your daughter will be changed from the inside out.
In conversational language, Catherine MacKenzie discusses the ways your daughter will be changed by a Bible makeover, and the eternal consequences of that change.
Catherine Mackenzie’s new How to Be a Bible Beauty (Christian Focus 4 Kids, 2015) is a great resource to help girls understand the biblical standard of beauty. It’s also a fun read.
Ms. Mackenzie highlights the lives of eight biblical women: Rebekah, Leah, Ruth, Martha and Mary, the woman who anoints Jesus with perfume (in the Synoptic Gospel accounts she is not named), Dorcas, and the woman of Proverbs 31 (an allegory of the biblical standard of wisdom and beauty which Ms. Mackenzie uses to help girls understand the application in their own lives). Rebekah gets two chapters, one which discusses her work ethic and response to God’s calling, and one that covers her rebellion against God.
Each chapter begins with a fun multiple choice quiz, explains the life of the woman being highlighted, then moves into application. There is a section on Beauty Tips which covers a biblical concept relating to beauty and includes related Scripture verses to read. There is also a section on Godly Beauty, which helps girls apply the concept being covered. This begins with a verse, and includes an application and passages to look up. Think About Jesus shows the manner in which Christ displayed the type of beauty being examined. There are more verses to look up in this section.
The book is 117 pages with a larger text, plenty of white space, and pen and ink drawings in each short chapter. This would be a great read aloud for girls ages 5-8, and a good devotional or fun read for independent readers up until about age 11.
Find A Bible Makeover and Catherine MacKenzie’s Other Beauty Books
How to Have a Bible Makeover
How to be a Bible PrincessHow to be a Bible Beauty
Your Daughter: A Spiritual Warrior?
The advent of more female-centric fighter and superhero films has led to a discussion among Christians (at least if Twitter can be considered a discussion) about whether or not women should ever be portrayed as warriors.
Catherine MacKenzie discusses Ephesians 6:13-18 in a chapter of How to Have a Bible Makeover:
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints… (ESV)
The Bible does talk about fighting the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12), and about wearing spiritual armor. While I don’t believe that fighting in hand-to-hand combat is the proper role for our daughters (or for us as Christian women), we are called to a different kind of warfare. We fight for the cause of Christ through prayer, the reading of Scripture, living righteous lives, and sharing the gospel.
Any true spiritual makeover will involve your daughter becoming more of a warrior for Christ. She won’t be a warrior like Wonder Woman. She’ll be a praying, loving woman abiding in Christ. I love this chapter, and the way Catherine MacKenzie handled it.
A Spiritual Makeover for Your Daughter Comes Through a Bible Makeover
My daughter, and yours, can only have a true spiritual makeover by having a Bible makeover. She needs to know what’s in the Bible, and she must apply it to her life. She can only do that through true spiritual conversion.
Bible Resources for Your Kids
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Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible
You want your kids to learn and love the Bible.
You want to teach the Bible…
As parents, we deeply desire the best for our kids. We look for the right schools, we make them eat right and exercise, and we get them involved in extracurricular activities. We take our job as parents seriously.
But are we also putting our time and energy into
teaching them the Bible? Giving them the life-changing, soul-nourishing words of Scripture is not only doable, it’s an essential part of parenting kids for Jesus. And the good news is, studying God’s Word as a family doesn’t have to be difficult!
2 Timothy 2:15, ESV, says:
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,
a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Our job, as parents who love Jesus, is to help our kids become approved workers, unashamed and rightly handling the word of truth.
The good news? Teaching the Bible isn’t hard. Your family can learn the Bible together.
…and you can!
A Crash Course in Teaching the Bible to Your Kids
Danika Cooley’s book, Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible, will give you the tools and confidence to study the Bible as a family. It will help you identify and overcome your objections and fears, give you a crash course in what the Bible is all about and how to teach it, and provide the guidance you need to set up a family Bible study habit.
You will finish this book feeling encouraged and empowered to initiate and strengthen your child’s relationship with the Lord through His Word.
Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible will equip you with everything you need to know to teach the Bible to your kids!
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