I am Woman

Let me confess right off the bat that womanhood is a mystery to me.  I can honestly say that after 53 years of being a woman, I am still figuring it out. That being said, I do know a couple of things for sure and thought I would pass them on. We deal in a world that thinks what we FEEL is truth. Well, that is simply not so. Truth is absolute; like 2+2=4.  Even if I wished it equaled 100,  well, it does not. So, it is with womanhood. There are some absolute truths to be known about being a woman.

1.  I am a woman. I have woman parts. I use them accordingly. I am a woman. I can wish to be a man. I can act like a man. I can talk like a man. But, I cannot be a man. This seems crazy to me. But it appears this absolute truth must be affirmed. I was created a woman. I will be a woman until I die. Absolute truth. Genesis 1:27; 5:2.

2. I am created with the same equality as a man. I think and act and feel. I have ability to reason and think logically. I can figure things out and solve problems.  I also am equal in position and importance to God as a man is. He loves me just as equally as he does my husband. Cliff is no more precious to God than me. I am not clawing for a place in God’s thought or care. He is faithful to his people equally.

3. I am different from my husband. I am different in that we have different bodies. Mine was created to give life and nurture it. His was created to provide for life and protect it. He is physically stronger than me but he is called to use his strength to protect me. And why would I be angry about that?  Why would I resent that?  When did it become politically correct for women to resent a man’s care and provision. It certainly does not mean I am incapable of caring for myself. It does mean that God loved me enough to provide protection for me. That is sweetness, but according to the world it defines me as unequal to a man. Since when?  I am not woman hear me roar in numbers too big to ignore. I am just a woman. My husband is just a man. Created by God and loved by God. Equal.

4. I am created in equality with my husband but I am different than him in roles.  And that is ok.  It is good. It does not define me as weaker or lesser. But it does help to define me. In my marriage, I am a helpmate. I am my husband’s helper. He leads and I follow. He plans and I help execute. Now I have a wise husband so, often he asks me what I think and we plan together. Often, he uses my strengths and tells me to do what I do best and gives me freedom to do it well. He is smart like that. But his role is one of leadership. Mine is one of submission. And this is an absolute truth. The Bible says so (Ephesians 5) and I believe the Bible.  There is no other truth. So, we have different roles and we also have different gifts. He is excellent at fixing stuff and at thinking things through in steps. I am excellent at getting things done quickly and seeing the big picture. We put those things together and we work pretty well together. Same but different. Good design.  God’s design.

What happened then?  What is the war between the sexes about?  Well, it is a created war. It was created by women who felt a need to be the same as a man. They were not content to be the same before God.  They were not content to be created in perfect equality as far as being  loved by God and having the same access to God as man. They wanted to be men. They wanted to do what men do. They wanted to be followed and submitted to.  This did not just start with women’s lib. It actually started way before that. Genesis 3. It started there. Eve took the fruit. She ate it. She gave it to her husband. She was not content with perfection. She was not content to know the creator of perfection. She wanted to be Him. So, she listened to the lies of the serpent and ate.

Women, I would venture to say we are still listening to the lies of the serpent. We are not content to be women. We are not content for men to be men. We want more. We want to design our own pictures. And, just to be quite `rank`, we have screwed it up.  In fact, it is so messed up that it seems un-fixable. It seems hopeless. Women in homes fight against their husbands with no regrets or sorrows. Men refuse to lead and love their wives sacrificially. Women demand to do whatever they want even if their bodies are not designed for it. Women dress like men and walk like men and call themselves men even though science agrees that it is biologically impossible to change your gender. We are screwed up. What do we do now??

I submit that we pray. We pray earnestly for God to change the hearts of the church. The world will never see truth until we are living truth and not just talking about it. So, what does that mean? Well, I definitely need to think about my attitude towards my husband. I need to think on how I speak to him. I need to pray about loving him with honor and respect. And I need to live that to the glory of God. And I need to teach my daughters and granddaughters what a privilege it is to be a woman.  I need to remind them that womanhood is not in opposition to manhood. It complements it. It works together with it to achieve all the glory of God in a magnificent design that we could never have imagined.

I pray I do that well. I fall short so often. But I know another absolute truth. God is strong in my weakness (2 Cor.  12:9-11).  His grace is sufficient for me on the days I forget the sweetness of my creation. I am a woman. Glory to God. What a gift from God.