Testimony - Not Relying on Beautiful Appearance, I Enhanced Performance at Work
By Xiaoyu
This is an age when people compete over who has a pretty face and rely on physical attractiveness to make a living. Many people believe that only by relying on beautiful appearance will they have a promising career. Therefore, when many of university graduates who just walk out of an ivory tower enter a new stage in their lives, they don’t hurriedly master a range of skills to fit into society.
Instead, they first choose to put their money into improving their appearance, such as going to the beauty parlor to have minor plastic surgery, buying some designer clothes to adorn themselves, and so on. I was also a member of them. In order to have an attractive appearance, I lost weight at the expense of my health and adorned myself with expensive cosmetics and clothes — it could be said I was drifting along. It was under the guidance of God’s words that I finally saw clearly how to be a human who has character and dignity and how to truly boost my performance figures.
Envying My Colleague Who Has a Beautiful Appearance
My name is Xiaoyu. I am 30 years old this year and working as a sales clerk in a chain store. There are only two sales clerks in our shop and we take alternating shifts. That is to say, after a day’s work, I will take a day off. Who sells more products can get a high commission, and naturally, her salary is high. My colleague, a city woman, is good at make-up and wears fashionable clothes. She, wearing long curly blond hair and a pair of high-heeled shoes with working clothes, looks very beautiful.
One time, a customer chatted with me: “There are things you don’t know. A young girl who worked here before had a pock-marked face and looked very ugly. I felt ill at ease when I saw her face, let alone heard her introduce goods. Who was willing to buy goods from her? In the end, because of her poor sales due to lack of connections, she quitted her job.” I was deeply influenced by the words of the customer and believed that appearance was very important. Especially, seeing that my colleague’s business was better than mine, I was even more certain about it and thought: No wonder her business is brisk. She is pretty and good at make-up, and wears fashionable clothes. She closely follows the latest trends, so customers surely like her. Then, looking at my sales that fell far short of hers, I couldn’t help but feel envious and thought: She has pretty appearance. I also can improve my appearance by making up.
Losing Weight and Adorning Myself
I thought if I wanted to become beautiful, I first should have a good figure. Therefore, I bought some diet pills that cost over 1,000 yuan on the internet. I began to take these pills and then I got slim. But, because I stopped having proper meals every day but only ate a little gruel, and in addition, I didn’t sleep well under the great pressure of work, I was a bit dazed. I always felt dizzy and listless while at work and began having night sweats, so that I was spiritless. I was very clear in my heart that, because I blindly lost weight, I suffered from deficiency of vital energy and blood due to kidney deficiency. I was afraid that if I continued to take pills, my kidney would be damaged and my life might be lost. I had no choice but to stop taking diet pills.
Then, I put my heart into how to dress and make up. In the past, I had used children’s skin-care products. Now, in order to improve my appearance, I kept my husband in the dark and spent almost 2,000 yuan buying some cosmetics in a beauty parlor. I was afraid that my husband said I spent money recklessly after knowing it, so I chose to pay for these cosmetics in installments. In addition, I went to a beauty parlor for a beauty treatment and a full-body massage every week. Subsequently, I bought various nice clothes. In the past, a piece of my clothing cost about 100 yuan; now, a piece of clothing cost several hundred yuan. Although I hesitated to spend much money buying clothes, when I thought that I would become beautiful and that customers would surround me after I dressed up, I gritted my teeth and bought them. After adorning myself, I was prettier than before and had great self-confidence in dealing with my work.
Using Beauty to Attract Customers
Once, a customer came to my shop to buy things. As soon as he entered the room, he looked at me with a smile; I immediately smiled back and walked toward him. When we chatted, he asked me: “Are you married?” I said with a smile: “Yes, I even have a big child.” He said in astonishment: “You seem younger than you are, so I thought you are a young girl.” Then, he actively asked me for my WeChat account number and said that he would consult me about something he didn’t understand when buying medicines in the future. When we chatted, I knew that he had several health care cards and that he always used these cards to buy medicines. I thought: Those people who pay for their medicines by card are relatively generous. If he can buy medicines from me in the future, my performance will be improved, and at the same time, I will receive a high salary. It seems that it is helpful for me to have a beautiful appearance.
After that, I had many WeChat friends and more and more people showed great care for me, and what’s more, some of male customers sent ambiguous messages to me. I felt upset in my heart when seeing these messages, but in order not to lose my customers, I replied perfunctorily. When I was free and thought of my behavior, I detested myself very much. However, at the thought of the real society today where having connections means having money, I believed that, if I didn’t do business this way, there would be no way for me to continue working. Compared with others’ ostentatious behavior, my behavior was relatively good. I comforted myself in this way.
An Unexpected Incident Broke My Peaceful Life
One day, an unexpected incident happened. A young couple came to my shop and bought ten boxes of medicines at one time. At that moment, I was secretly pleased, thinking: After I sell these medicines, I will get a high commission. However, when I prepared to leave work, my colleague suddenly called me: “Something’s wrong. That young couple who bought medicines from you this afternoon lives near my house. That guy is a local bully. He said that you sold wrong pills to them and that he would go to our shop and quarrel with you.” Hearing the words of my colleague, my heart pounded for a moment and I hurriedly explained it to my colleague on the phone and wanted her to conciliate the customers. Unexpectedly, the customers didn’t care what she said and were still unrelenting. At that time, I was very angry and felt deeply wronged. I thought: They clearly got the name of medicine wrong but now, they still make trouble out of nothing. I have promised to exchange these medicines, while they still want to come and quarrel with me. If they make a fuss in our shop, it will damage the name of our shop. What will my boss think of me? What will these businessmen around us think of me? I will lose my face completely and cannot continue to work here.
Just when I was anxious and had no way to go, I thought of God. I prayed to God in silence: “Oh God! Faced with this issue, I am very afraid and have no idea what to do. Today, You permit this environment to come upon me, but I don’t understand what Your will is. May You guide and lead me.” Later on, I saw God’s words say: “If you believe in the dominion of God, then you must believe that the things that happen every day, be they good or bad, don’t happen accidentally. It is not that someone doesn’t get on with you or opposes you on purpose; it is actually all arranged and orchestrated by God. What does God orchestrate these things for? It is not to reveal your shortcomings for everyone to see or to expose you; exposing you is not the final aim. The aim is to perfect you and save you.” From God’s words, I knew: No matter whether the things I encounter every day are externally good or bad, God’s will is always good and in order to perfect and save me. God uses this environment to allow me to understand the truth and know my own deficiencies and shortcomings. While trying to figure out God’s words, my heart suddenly brightened: The thing I encountered today doesn’t accidentally happen, and there is God’s good will behind it. I cannot judge whether it is right or not. I first should accept from God and obey this environment, and then I should seek for the truths that I should enter into and learn the lesson.
Having Discernment About the Evil Trends
After that, I constantly prayed to and sought God, and continued reading God’s word, wanting to understand that God used this thing to help me know which aspect of my corrupt dispositions. I read in the word of God: “One after another, all these trends carry an evil influence that continually degenerates man, that lowers their morals and their quality of character more and more, to the extent that we can even say the majority of people now have no integrity, no humanity, neither do they have any conscience, much less any reason. So what are these trends? You cannot see these trends with the naked eye. When the wind of a trend blows through, perhaps only a small number of people will become the trendsetters. They start off doing this kind of thing, accepting this kind of idea or this kind of perspective. The majority of people, however, in the midst of their unawareness, will still be continually infected, assimilated and attracted by this kind of trend, until they all unknowingly and involuntarily accept it, and are all submerged in and controlled by it. For man who is not of sound body and mind, who never knows what is truth, who cannot tell the difference between positive and negative things, these kinds of trends one after another make them all willingly accept these trends, the life view, the life philosophies and values that come from Satan. They accept what Satan tells them on how to approach life and the way to live that Satan ‘bestows’ on them. They have not the strength, neither do they have the ability, much less the awareness to resist.”
Pondering God’s words, I thought of a word “Having a beautiful appearance means having a high pay; having connections means having money,” which is said by more and more people nowadays. Is this not precisely the evil trend that Satan raises? Through the wind of a trend, Satan makes us be under the imperceptible influence of environment and unconsciously accept its thoughts. As a result, we believe that as long as we have good looks, we can attract others’ attention. We want to use beautiful appearance to win others’ favor; we use beauty to entice customers into spending money, so that we can get considerable income. Wasn’t I influenced and corrupted by evil trends? In order to receive high salary, I wanted to use beauty to catch others’ eyes; in order to improve my appearance, I lost weight at the cost of my health and spent lots of money buying expensive cosmetics and clothes to dress myself up. I used my beauty to satisfy my demand for money, and I had to deal with customers courteously but insincerely and reply to some ambiguous messages against my conscience. I gave up the standards of being a person and became more and more depraved. How could I possess the likeness that a believer in God should have?
Afterward, I read another passage of God’s word: “If you are a Christian, then shouldn’t you have Christian decency? If you don’t, then you’re not worthy to be a follower of God; you are not a follower of God and God does not acknowledge you. … You are a follower of God, you are a believer in God, and you are a member of God’s family. You must regard yourself as a member of God’s family, a follower of God, a good soldier of Christ in all things, and you must measure yourself by the standards of the saints.” Every word of God struck my conscience, and I was deeply ashamed and remorseful in my heart. What a believer in God lives out should exalt God and testify to God, and his words and behavior, the way he conducts himself in society, should be in accordance with God’s demands. Only by living this way can a person have dignity and integrity and reach the standard of a Christian. However, what I lived out had not the slightest likeness of a believer in God. I conducted myself not according to the truth of God’s words and completely followed Satan’s evil trends. For the sake of my own interests, I betrayed my own conscience and personality, using appearance to entice customers. I didn’t have any dignity of being a person but became a captive and laughingstock of Satan.
When I wanted to let go of philosophies of life and to be a person in accordance with God’s demands, I saw God’s deeds. I had never expected that man, that local bully who had intended to come to my shop and quarrel with me, didn’t come. Only his wife came and exchanged those medicines, and didn’t say anything. I couldn’t stop thanking God in my heart because I knew that all of this was God’s design and arrangement. After that, I often attended gatherings together with my brothers and sisters and tried my best to fulfill my duties in my church. I delivered my business into the hands of God. If my business was good, I thanked God; if it wasn’t good, I also obeyed God’s arrangement. When introducing medicines to customers, I treated them with honesty instead of relying on appearance to attract them. I no longer spent my money on luxury cosmetics but I dressed plainly and properly when I was at work. I didn’t rack my brains to improve my appearance any more. After practicing this way, I felt very peaceful and relaxed in my heart.
Only by Practicing the Truth Can We Obtain God’s Blessings
In this way, I thought I had changed. That was until one day when I unwittingly told my colleague that so-and-so bought some products in conversation with her. Then she contacted the customer by WeChat and started vying with me for business. I thought to myself: The customer buys products for his lover and he likes beautiful women. My colleague is not only pretty but also good at make-up. If they chat by WeChat, does this mean that I will lose my big business? Won’t my performance figures decline? At the thought of this, I was upset and I didn’t know what to do. Then I silently prayed to God: “Oh God, because my colleague vies with me for business, I am very upset. But I don’t want to rely on Satan’s life philosophies to live. No matter how many my performance figures are, I’m willing to act in accordance with Your words. May You help and guide me.”
Later on, the brothers and sisters fellowshiped with me, saying: “Only God is the sovereign of all existence, and all people, events, and things are arranged by God. Whether the business is good or not is also determined by God. In this society, no matter what business a person is in, if he departs from God, he is merely stuck in a rut. Only those people who sincerely rely on God and live by His word can live under His blessings.” After understanding these, I was unwilling to make money in dependence on means and my physical attractiveness, and only willing to practice the word of God in the things I encounter and to be an honest person with an open and upright heart.
When I no longer lived by Satan’s philosophies and rules, but looked to and relied on God in all things and treated my work carefully and could be an honest person dutifully, I had never imagined that my business was unexpectedly brisk. Some customers said that I was honest and that they didn’t buy things until I was at work. My turnover was higher than my colleague’s. My boss was also very surprised and said: “Your appearance is unremarkable, and you never pull stunts. I didn’t imagine you have great potential.” At the end of 2017, unexpectedly, I was awarded “Outstanding Newcomer” and “Progress in Stores,” and what’s more, I received a bonus. I was deeply aware that all of this was God’s blessing for me, rather than being attainable by my own ability.
Source from: Internet
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