Testimony from Susan

I will try to keep this short. I think I could write a book!

My dad was saved in an IFB church when I was 6 years old. Two years later,
he was called to preach and made plans to go off to Bible college. The church
where the college was located also had a Christian school, which he planned to place
me in. The school had a dress code which included dresses for girls, so I would be
wearing dresses to school all day and dresses to church (this was 34 years ago, so
everyone wore dresses to church then). He explained to me that, since I'd be
wearing dresses most of the time anyway, it only made sense for me to wear them
all the time. He and my mother had been learning about dresses only for ladies and
had come to the conclusion that it was right and that I should wear dresses also. I
submitted to that with no problem.

I don't remember ever hating wearing dresses; it was just how our family
lived. As a teen, there were moments of discomfort when I felt odd, but not
overwhelmingly so. My dh and his family had the same conviction, so after we
married, I still wore dresses only. It was just how we lived.

There came a point about 10 years ago, that I had a friend who was a Baptist
preacher's daughter. She had been raised to wear only dresses, but after she
married she had grown away from that. She began talking to me, questioning my
"conviction," so I talked to Wes about it. I finally talked him into letting me wear
pants just around the house. He said only at home, and no jeans, only slacks. I wore
them about 3 times, and felt so out of place that I decided I'd study this thing out
for myself.

I used a concordance and my Bible and a book or two (I think maybe Cathy
Corle's book was one I read), and the things that made wearing dresses my
personal conviction were the modesty of dresses and separation from the world.

Women are to dress in modest apparel. Modest means not extreme or bold,
and not morally loose. Those can apply to pants, yes; but when I have on a pair of
pants, I don't feel that my body is covered. Pants are form-fitting, thus exposing
my body. That's just how I feel. The illustration that Cathy Corle uses is two
pictures of the same woman. The first one has her in a nice dress. She asked a
group of ladies what they noticed about this woman, and they answered her face.
Then she showed them the picture of the same woman in a pair of jeans and asked
what they noticed. They said their eyes were immediately drawn to the crotch
area! That drove home to me that clothes can emphasize the body or the face; I'd
rather have folks, especially men, notice my face and not my body. Again, this is my
feeling.

The other thing that convinced me was the doctrine of separation from the
world. The fashion of the world is to wear pants (patterned after men's clothing).
This wasn't the case until about 100 years ago, when actresses began wearing pant
suits that resembled men's suits. Before that, women almost universally wore
dresses (I remember my Granny saying that she wore her brother's overalls to
pick cotton to keep her legs from getting all scratched up). So the fashion of the
world became women wearing pants. I felt that, to be separate from the world, I
needed to dress differently than the world. I also needed to be feminine and
distinctively female; there should be a noticeable difference between my clothes
and a man's clothes. The difference in our culture is that women wear dresses and
men wear pants, so I believe it's right for me to wear dresses.

Several years ago, my pastor gave some principles for Christian dress.
They're very helpful, and they can be applied to male or female, pants or dresses.

 1. Modesty - does this clothing cover me adequately? I Tim. 2:9

 2. Not worldly - does this clothing reflect the current trends of
Hollywood and TV? I John 2:15
 3. Difference - does this clothing easily show there's a difference
between me and the opposite gender? Deut. 22:5
 4. Unoffensive - does this clothing offend a brother or sister in
Christ? As a woman, will this cause my brother to stumble or think
lustfully about me? Rom 14:7-8,12-13 I Cor. 10:23; 8:13
 5. Glorifies God - does this clothing glorify God, or does it call
attention to me and glorify me? I Cor. 10:31

As for this beign a matter between a wife, husband, and God:

A saved man will encourage his wife to do what God is laying on her heart.
Several ladies have mentioned how their husbands didn't see the need for dresses
only, but supported them in wearing them because the ladies felt that is what God
wanted them to do. With an unsaved husband, the dress issue can be a witness to
her husband in one of two ways: if he doesn't mind her wearing dresses only, it can
be a witness of her changed life; if he doesn't want her to wear dresses only, her
submission to him in this area will be a witness to him (especially if she makes sure
to wear what pleases him when they are at home, even if she wears dresses all the
rest of the time).

This issue is just like any other that families have to make a decision about.
If your heart is open to do whatever God wants you to, and you study scriptures
related to it and come to a different conclusion than others, you've done what you
need to to follow God's leading. We have freedom in Christ to follow Him as He
leads us to. I don't know why some people develop certain convictions and others
don't. How people dress is not a salvation issue; it's a separation issue. It's not my
job to win them over to my way of thinking on separation - it's the Holy Spirit's
job to teach them how God wants them to live. If they ask why I believe
something, I'll tell them; otherwise, I stay quiet.