This week, I have been really reflective on womanhood; what it means to be a woman of God and how to be the woman God intends for me to be. It began on Monday, when I had the pleasure of meeting with Becky Ellison, the associate director of Christian Women's Job Corps. In all that she said, Becky continually brought all of her plans and motives back to the Lord. It was neat to get a glimpse into a ministry that humbly seeks obedience to God in every single thing they do, while empowering local women through their programs which all have a spiritual foundation.
Later that evening, we had our last Accountability Group. "AG" are small groups set up by my local Christian sorority, Kappa Chi Alpha, to establish accountability and discipleship within our organization. I had the opportunity to lead one this semester, and felt so blessed to have in my group eight amazing women. For our last AG, we talked about what it means to be a woman of God. In the Bible, when God creates Eve he calls her an ezer kenegdo which is translated to mean “sustainer beside him.” Every other time this word is used throughout the Bible, it is used to describe God Himself- who is our Sustainer when we desperately need Him. What a cool picture this is! God describes woman as He describes Himself throughout Scripture! We talked about our favorite women of the Bible and within our lives, writing down the qualities we admired and what qualities we think make a woman a true woman of God.
When I think about how I personally consider a true woman of God, I think of a woman who is completely content. One who no matter what the circumstances, in times of joy and in times of hardship, is still joyful. I think of a woman who believes strongly in the power of prayer, who is in constant prayer throughout the day and sees God in everything. I think of a woman who humbly serves, who gives of herself without even giving it a second thought or having alternative motives. I see a woman whose love for Jesus is far deeper than emotion or circumstance, but is laid on a strong foundation of truth and grace.
With this reflection at the beginning of the week, I found it funny that in the remainder of my week I was surrounded by so many different women; women of different ages, different personalities, and different beliefs. Within them all, I saw a certain pattern. See, men who are reading this may not relate- but one overwhelming issue with women is body image. It's not a secret or anything to be ashamed of, college girls think they're the only ones facing this personal self-consciousness; but the truth is we all experience it to some extent. Women strive and strive for the perfect appearance or to reflect a certain image; we succumb ourselves to strict diets and work out plans, go broke in an attempt to put together the perfect outfit or keep up with trends, we continually adapt ourselves to fit a certain mold that we've been told we need to fit into.
But what for, what are our motives?
Are we trying to compete with other women? (We never win)
Are we simply doing it for ourselves? (We'll never find our identity that way)
Are we trying to please a man? (Would only last the first 30 minutes until he gets to know you)
Anyway you look at it, it's evident that women often put their value in things that are fleeting; whether its men, trends, or our physical bodies-- all are always changing and will one day deteriorate. So why do we waste so much of our time, money, and effort towards these things? We've been brain washed by the world and the devil who have told us to place our focus and value on stuff, and in the process we lose ourselves.
But God is calling us to daily run to Him- to find our identity in Him. And when we finally do we find and discover that we are worthy, righteous in His Spirit, called to be the Bride of Christ. In this discovery, God fills us with joy and peace that sustains all situations- and allows Him to form us into the same type of righteous women who we consider to be genuine women of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment