I Am A Woman

What is a woman?
I am a woman.


When I was a little girl, I never would have imagined that the use of that phrase could possibly cause controversy.


I am a woman.
I am incredibly thankful I am a woman.


Not because I am better than a man.
Not because I want to shove that sentence in someone’s face.

I am thankful because that is who God made me to be~
and I embrace it.


Through various movements of the last century, women have been inundated with two requisites. The first~Women are powerful. The second~Just being a woman isn’t enough.
We need to “be more” and “do more” so that we can prove we “are more”.
The world is constantly screaming “more” in the face of femininity.
The concept contradicts itself.


I have nothing to prove.
I am a woman.


Femininity has gone through all the stages.
From the genuine love of being a homemaker to~
“I am equal to and even better than man”, to “there is no such thing as a woman”. Wives, mothers and homemakers have been made to feel less than, looked down upon and even ignorant.


Definitely not powerful.


This morning as I prayed, my own mother came to mind. I pictured her doing “all the things”. Her arm halfway in a turkey on Thanksgiving morning. The ironing board out every Tuesday and the vacuum and mop every Friday. The home cooked meals, the date nights with my dad, the stories read to me before I went to bed each night.


She loved every minute of it.
I loved every minute of it.
And I wept.


Not because my mom was weak, brainwashed by society at the time, or even ignorant~


But because my mom was powerful.
She gave me the precious gift of a childhood that kids only dream of. She instilled in me a deep gratitude and love of everyday life, the feeling of comfort, security and love. The desire to pass that on to everyone I meet. She had an impact on my life in a thousand different ways. An impact that enables me to say today~


I am blessed to be a woman.
I am blessed to be a wife.
I am blessed to be a mother.


Over and over in scripture God gives us examples of powerful women. Today I read about two. One was a judge. One was a housewife. God used BOTH for His glory. His power was evident in the soft hand of a woman.


Woman and man.
Male and female.
I am a woman.


Any earthly accomplishments or possessions I have at the end of this life will only be wood hay and stubble. I cannot take my accomplishments and possessions with me when I die.


But oh the power in spreading light through darkness, kindness instead of hatred, finding joy in every moment, loving your husband and raising little souls for God’s kingdom. Little souls that will impact the world for a future we may never see.


Souls that can share the light of Jesus.
A light that this dark world desperately needs.


There is power in that. It doesn’t come from the reserve of an accomplished female who checks off all the boxes this world deems necessary to claim the pronoun “she” today.


The power comes from Christ within us.
And with that power we can change the world.


I am a woman.
If I choose, I will dance around the house in my skirts and high heels. I will cook meals and bake goodies with my grandchildren. I will clean my home and be thankful for the million little things God blesses me with on a daily basis. I will love on my husband. I will minister to other women, write blog posts, share God’s word, comfort and love in only a way a woman can do. I will be powerful and I will pass that power of Christ on to the next generation. I will embrace womanhood and shout it from the rooftops, with absolutely no shame.


I don’t have to choose my pronoun because God has chosen it for me from the beginning of time.


I am a woman,
And I praise God for it.


SCRIPTURE READING:
John 15:16
Jeremiah 1:5
Romans 8:4
Psalms 139:13-18
Judges 4