This World, Your Bridal Chamber
Every bride seeks to appear beautiful in the eyes of her groom. But it's often an involved process, an expensive and a long process. In the ancient Hebrew marriage, the bride and groom would stay separated for a year. The groom would prepare a place for the bride. And the bride would prepare herself for the groom. Her mission was to get ready and make herself beautiful. Now anyone who has witnessed a woman making herself beautiful knows things often get worse before they get better. A woman covered with facial cream is not very beautiful. Sometimes, looking uglier is a necessary part of becoming more beautiful. If you're born again, you're the bride, and now is the time of your preparation. That's why you and Messiah are separated, because this is the time given you to prepare for marriage, to become beautiful in His eyes. If you're looking at yourself, your heart, your attitude, your spirituality... it can be pretty ugly... but don't be discouraged. For it's in seeing her lack of beauty that the bride becomes beautiful in the Lord. This is the time of your preparation. You have to become beautiful.
From Message #405 - The Sound of The Bridegroom
Today, in every situation, look to see it as Heaven's bridal chamber. Seek to see in everything, the good and the bad, the purposes of God to make you grow into His image.
