Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your own husbands, so that if any of them who do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.  Your beauty should not come from outward adornment …… Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.  1 Peter 3:1-4. (NIV)

If you are a Christian wife, I want to encourage you to allow your beauty to shine from within.

We all want to have a beautiful physical appearance.  We all want our husbands to find us desirable and to see us as beautiful.  But, let’s not stop with nurturing the unique physical beauty we each possess.

Let’s also nurture the “unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.”

God’s word tells us that even the unbelieving husband will be won to Christ, without words, when he sees the pure and reverent behavior of his wife.  I want to emphasize the “without words” part of this scripture.

Too often, as women, we want to talk about everything that crosses our minds.  But sometimes we just need to be quiet.

You may think this is contradictory to all that we are taught about healthy communication in marriage.  But I have learned that it is best not to bring up an issue until you have first prayed about it, poured your heart out to God, and given it to Him.

Wait until you have clear direction from God’s word, until you see what you need to learn from the situation and how you can grow through it.  At times, that direction may be to simply “let go” and let God fight your battles for you.

Let Him change the person or the situation as only He can.

Then, as a Christian wife, you will continue to dazzle your husband with your beauty … with the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.”