who are we?
this month we’ve been challenged as a team of women
working with someone who made it clear
that he believes
women are below
(and in some ways less than)
men
we have been questioned and invalidated
and maybe because of that
questioned ourselves.
we are w o m e n of God
taken from the rib of man;
but we are the backbone of the earth
creating & shaping & f o r m i n g
we laugh without fear of the future
(and we love you anyway)
our hearts are bigger than the distance in between us –
so i asked the women in my life – my teammates,
what does it mean to be a women of God?
tori: when it comes to a relationship with the Lord, or anything in the church, that’s the problem with the church, it oppresses women and people, both men and women, from having a genuine relationship with the Lord because they are so concerned with submitting themselves to ‘church’ standards, it’s not about submitting yourself to church or religious standards and earthly things, people just can’t get that through their thick heads. everyone likes to put people in a box: men, women, they have to act like this and think like that and people can’t acknowledge there’s a little thing called individuality – stop putting people in boxes. they preach inclusivity, then put your money where your mouth is, to me, God loves everyone, men and women, no one is loved more than one another, He loves us all the same among God’s children.
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cristina: women are blessed and highly favored by the Lord
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jenny: who God says women are? He says i am unique to how He made me. i am a prized jewel and worthy of so much. i am a princess in His beautiful kingdom. proverbs 31: 10 -31
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wendy: to me, being a woman of God means… living into the identity He has called me into, while also pursuing the desires He has put in my heart. i guess this adheres to any Christian, really, man or woman. but i guess, specifically, i think being a Christian woman means using the nurturing love, kindness, and gentleness He has put specifically in women to help others, men included. this may include: stewardship, leadership, or simply caring for the needs of others. proverbs 31
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carolyn: to be a woman of God means stepping out of the broken curse that bound us humans and into the freedom Christ bought for me. what curse? death, shame, and a mediator-ed communication and relationship with God. there were 2 curses placed on woman, one bound her physically, and the effects still affect us. the second was that the sin of males would oppress women and the woman would desire her original status again… for the acknowledgement of her created in the image of Godness and dominion over the world alongside the man.
for man was created first and the woman sinned first man following was bound over fallen into sin after the woman was. the promise to break the curse was that through woman, man would rise to reverse the curse. and at the resurrection, mary magdeline was the first of creation to receive the good news and mandated to bring it to her brothers – just as eve turned and gave the man in the garden that which brought the curse… for me to be a woman of God means i am standing as a daughter of God. i receive the gifts and the calling meant for me since before the creation of the world!
what does that look like? it looks like me walking in full communion with God, hearing from God, growing in my relationship with God and asking for encouragement and counsel and accountability from the body of Christ. it means acknowledging Gods calling and gifting on my life and walking in obedience to Him by using them wherever and however He commands/asks/calls me to. it means great patience with everyone who would oppose my obedience to God, and kindness to them. it calls me to sometimes hide my giftings in order not to cause another to fall. it calls me to cry out to Jesus more and more as my own weaknesses, inclinations, desires, and prejudices sometimes claw at what Gods called me to or who He says i am and what He wants me to do in that regard.
who does God say we are as women? God is clear that He made male and female both in His image. it is perhaps different, but not ever indicated to be inequal. God himself is 3 yet 1; different, yet equal. God calls us all to turn to Him in our equal broken nature and be restored, justified, and sanctified in Jesus. whatever gifts Hes given us He calls us to use them for the good of the body, He calls male and female to obey authority, submit to rulers, and obey Him across the line whatever He asks – when He asks us to do something. Jesus calls us to learn from Him, follow Him, and love others like Him. there are many examples of how God showed His intimate knowledge and love for and of women and how He did not treat them any different than He did the other people in His life. there were a group of woman, little spoken of by the church in general, that also followed him along with the disciples, who cared for his needs. i am proud that God says his heart and care for people is that of a woman – a faithful woman who can not forget her children. one who longs to gather those who are his…. i believe God says that we as woman are made in His image and HIS!
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jaclyn:in p r o g r e s s – but woman was formed from man and now all human beings come from a woman and i think it comes down to just being people of God – i think God loves women, i think there is so much beauty in the way Jesus treated women in a time where they did not have much status. men and women are created differently, but that does not mean we have different worth – there is no limit to what either can do or have a calling for – He asks us to follow Him just the same, we are all created in His image and seeks a personal and unique relationship with all of us.
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(but you know what,
maybe it’s a little crazy writing an essay
telling You who we think we are
You see as as you want to us
in the simplest terms:
Yours. )
sincerely,
the breakfast club
<3