You're listening to the Water into Wine podcast hosted by Grace Valentine.

Hello, everybody and welcome back to another edition.

I'm your host, Grace Valentine. I'm excited and also not excited to talk about this topic because this is a topic that I think has been used to hurt a lot of Christian women or even women in general. But I think it's also important. And so for the record, as I talk about this, you're probably someone who accident in Cleveland's episode. You're like, wait, I don't want to hear about modesty. Ew. Like, you're going to say, don't wear a bikini. Ah, it's for the devil. But that is not what this episode's about. I think modesty is important, but I think sometimes it can even be an idol in the Christian world or something people use to point fingers at people and say they're not doing

this enough but then in the day it is also important it's important that whatever we do glorifies

God and that includes with what we wear anyway so I want to give y'all seven not annoying

or judgmental reminders about modesty because that's something that's important to me and I

want to first start off by telling you a story. So when I lived in

Orlando, I started getting into running during COVID. I had just been furloughed from my job. I was already feeling really low because they furloughed me. They laid me off. But they still want me to work for that. It was weird. They're like, do you still want to work though? I'm like, well, not that I'm, I don't become in ministry because I'm to get money, but like I feel like if I say yes,

I'm going to set, not that I'm, I don't become in ministry because I'm to get money, but like,

I feel like if I say yes, I'm going to set myself up for failure. And all that to say is I went on a run in the 98 degree weather outside. I was wearing a cropped workout top. It wasn't even a sports bra at that time. Like, now I'm running a sports bra, I'll be honest, but if it's really hot. hot and so it was a cropped workout top and shorts and one of my students saw me and posted like spotted grace valentine running and I shared it on instagram and then the job and the workplace I used a woman used that against me actually and said that I wasn't being modest on social media and I asked her what because at this point I am posting only quotes guys I had not posted in a bikini picture and like five years I was like what am I doing wrong to be a modest I I care so much I'm trying so hard and keep in mind I'm from south Louisiana so if you're from south Louisiana our standards are way different for modesty if anything I was the modest girl and I was like that modest girl and I was like, that means I showed a little bit of the booty. But other crazy, like there was worse. I mean, there's noodles and bourbon trees. So they had bigger fish to fry. And I'd be like, what did I do? And she used that, that something, a story post that was there for 24 hours. And I remember looking at her on Zoom because it was COVID and saying, if you thought it was so bad and detrimental, why didn't you swipe up right there? Why did you not just tell me that this was bad? And also, I was running in a crap workout time because it's 95 degrees outside. Like there was no ill intention. I had no makeup on. I was not looking hot. I remember thinking at first, if I'm going to go down, I wish I was going down looking hot and sexy. But obviously, that's not from the Lord. That was just my human mind thinking that. And so I remember being so frustrated. And all this, I will be honest, I think she was using it against me on purpose for her own malicious reasons. And I used to try to understand why she did that

because it was so hurtful. But I kind of realized I'll never understand it. And I think the truth is,

you should be modest. But I think the way we've discussed modesty is always wrong. Because I think

we're forgetting that it's a heart issue that then does show in your clothes for the

record. It does show in what you wear. It does show in what you do and how you drink and how you

behave. But then the clothes aren't the only way. And I think the reason I struggle with this

conversation is because I think so often we hear the terms dress modestly to protect the men,

protect the young boys. They're so at risk. And at the end of the day,

you know what? In our internet-driven world, these young men, if they are believers, they have to

be working on their heart every day to protect themselves. That you, one woman,

as a day, could you make them stumble? Yes yes but that's because their heart wasn't checked

because they have to be prepared in this world if i was raising a young son i would say don't depend on

these girls to dress modestly because here's the deal in this broken world there's for every one

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