Something I have found myself being passionate about, is the encouragement of our community of women. When it comes to the women around us; are we encouraging them to step into their God-given role, or are we actually encouraging them to walk away from it?
I touched on this topic in this blog post here, where I wrote about mothers/wives and our perspective on that, but now I want to talk more about how we can go about encouraging others when it comes to our role, design and purpose as women.
Roles, Design, Purpose:
As always, I encourage you to read much further, but these are a few great places to dig in to when it comes to understanding our role and design as a woman.
Women are struggling. Our sinful nature affects us and how we choose to do things more than we might like to think. This of course, has been happening since the beginning; since Adam and Eve had sinned against the Lord.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say…?” Read Genesis 3
Instead of encouraging the women we hear that are considering stepping into their role of a helpmate, wife, mother, homemaker, caregiver, etc etc. who are considering to commit themselves to a husband who will provide for them and care for the family they make together; we discourage it because it “takes freedom away.”
When will we start setting an example for women, when will we start lifting others up, and speaking the truth when we see another faltering against temptations to sin? We are not perfect people and we will still make sinful mistakes, but if we are truly, actively holding fast to Christ there will be no room for our sinful nature to root itself down into things any longer. (1 Corinthians 10:13 and 2 Corinthians 5:17)
Bare Fruitful Conversations, and Sow Seeds:
If we love Christ, we love people, and if we have the love of Christ for people, we will speak the Truth to them.
We also need to be aware and discerning of the conversations that we have, too. Have fruitful conversations, and learn when to step away from a conversation that is becoming fruitless, and no longer beneficial for anyone. We must keep things truthful, and our emotions controlled. If our temper is flaring, then we are at risk of having an emotionally controlled conversation leaving the other person with a bad taste in their mouth. If it’s His will to do so, the Lord could work through anyone to soften the heart of another! So, we must stay obedient to Him and be the salt and light of the Earth (Matthew 5:13-16 and Ephesians 5:8-14).
Lastly:
If you are considering to step into your God-given role as a woman, my encouragement to you is to go read scripture, and seek community amongst like-minded, Godly women if you haven’t already. It can be 2 or 20, it doesn’t matter how many! Just try to find those who can point you to Christ (not lead you away from Him), pray for you when necessary, and encourage you to be the woman God has intended all women to be. Being made male and female, and in the Image of God, is no small thing. This is why it is so important to understand our design as a woman and our design as people! Reading Genesis is a good place to start.
Women, and men all have a God-given role, design, and purpose in life; don’t let the world distort it. To finish this off by going back to my main points; don’t allow the world’s opinions, and fear-driving tactics to scare you away from many joys that are found in being a helpmate, a wife, a mother, a caregiver, a homemaker, etc.
Similar to what I talked about in my previous blog; Don’t be so scared of the potential struggles you might endure, that you miss the joys you will endure through these things!
Among the Evergreens 