Set-Apart Feminity

I am currently reading a book called Set-Apart Femininity by Leslie Ludy. I've never been one for all those "girly" self-help books. I actually thought them to be a little over the top. However, as I was at the bookstore this past weekend, it caught my eye. After reading just a little bit of it, I know it was God who directed me to this book. It's not easy to read because it challenges women to truly live in a radical way that look beyond our culture's measure of beauty to what God's perfect plan for femininity is. It's so much easier to build our lives around the pursuit of worldly applause and selfish pleasure and just "sprinkle" Christ in somewhere on the side than to radically pour our lives in sacrificial devotion to Him. It's always been this struggle for me: perfection. It seems to dominate every area of my life~ the way I view myself, my relationships, and how I view God's love. I was told by a very close friend that I demand perfection from myself and that spills into my relationships: I demand perfection from those too. I had never thought about that before, but I have begun to see how true that really is. And then with God, it's as if I have to earn His acceptance. I know this is not true, in theory, but it is hard to make myself actually accept that. And yet the more I try to make myself "worthy", the farther away from perfection I feel. My efforts are wasted.
I think I have realized that I am a 'Christian' woman, but not a set-apart woman. Set-apart femininity exudes a beauty that is not of this world: it's the spectacular radiance of a woman completely transformed by the Author of all things lovely and pure. It's the idea that I am no longer going to conform to the world's measure of beauty, an almost unattainable goal, but to Christ's. Realizing that His creation is perfect and His plan for femininity is flawless. It's so much easier to say than do.