Will the Real Women Please Step Down!

                                                

I know a little about Feminism. I grew up with a feminist mindset. Every time church would let out before noon, I and my best friend in junior high would run to the group of boys. And not because we were boy crazy... We played football with them and tackled every one of those boys on the opposite team who was running for the touchdown. I played basketball with all the guys and was great at defense. I always competed with the tallest or strongest boys, and would have never ever, in a million years, be caught in the color pink. I even organized a game we all played on the weekends - boys against girls every time. The game was called "war". The guys loved it! I think the other girls just liked being chased around. But not me, I was one of the boys - firing a machine gun in my imagination and tackling down the enemy, bringing home hostages... And the guys knew exactly what made me mad - mentioning the fact that I was a girl, implying weakness.  I've never liked feeling or appearing weak. It's still my downfall. Sometimes the military still seems like just the thing for me (oh, I hadn't mentioned that yet!). I'm not against women in the military, I'm just trying to make a point about my own life. By the time I turned twelve, I was really into the tough Avril Lavigne and Superchick type of personality and started skateboarding, painting the fingernails black, wearing heavy eye makeup, dreaming about my first tattoo and face piercing, and all in all totally turned away from everything I'd ever heard about God. My friends spoke the same words as the music I listened to - follow your heart, do your own thing, don't let anyone hold you back, this YOUR life.With that said, you can imagine the rebellion in my heart against my parents and spiritual authority. And I wanted to be equal with the guys and not this soft, puny little flower blowing in the wind. I wanted respect. But I wanted the wrong kind, and it did NOT satisfy.

I got deeper and deeper in this search to be anything but feminine (stay with me), turning backwards the one thing God made me to be (the weaker vessel), and now after almost four years of being born again, my past is like a bad dream that I just can't believe really happened. Thankfully, by God's grace and because of Jesus, I will never ever EVER have to answer for those sins...for that past.

After I became a child of God, and got turned upside down and inside out (glory to God), I still struggled with that feminist mindset. Dreams of a good, money-making business job or being the head of a corporation sounded wonderful...respect, power...you get the picture. Even the political field brought interest, for my voice would be heard. I've never liked feeling or appearing as a "good girl". Never liked being thought of as a pushover. It's still my weakness.

I say all that to say this: I am one of many young women taught (and deceived) by society today in the area of a woman's rights, a woman's duties, and woman's position in the world. Men were made for greatness, and women were made for gentleness. Men were made to fight, women were made to heal. Men were made for chivalry, women for chastity. Men and women were made for two different kind of strengths. This is a difference that I believe women rejected before men ever forgot. But there is one thing that we are all equal in - the weakness that makes us all HUMAN BEINGS. Pride. Ladies, it is worth it to be a woman and to act like one. It is worth it to let the men go and fight while you are productive at home and wait for them to return. It's worth it to sacrifice the power and "respect" that all women crave, for the wonderful job of raising strong kids. There's nothing weak about being the weaker vessel. There's nothing puny or soft about submitting. It takes a tough lady to yield to a man. "...and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." Genesis 3:16.  Since the first sin, it's been our weakness as women. Pride - wanting to be equal with men, desiring to feel just as important. When we ask our men, "Where would men be without women?" shame on them for answering, "In the garden of Eden." But shame on us for popping the question in the first place. We no longer respect men, and therefore they no longer respect us. And it's turned into this vicious cycle where no one recognizes anymore the sick mentality that women have adopted. It's everywhere, it's the norm. But what's important is to see that if we women are tired of sissy men, we need to stop being manly women. It's not hard to figure out what femininity looks like opposed to masculinity. And feminine is not weak, it is Proverbs 31. A strong, capable woman with a plan. She is gracious and successful at home, she is in shape and is an encourager. She speaks out for those unable to help themselves, and reaches her hands out to the poor. She fears the Lord and her identity is in Him. She is a unique individual and is not a pushover, yet does not push others around and is not overbearing. She serves others and she makes a better man out of her husband by being a good woman. He is able to trust her. He and the children praise and respect her. She is powerful in the graceful disguise of the "weaker vessel". She is a warrior in prayer. Remember, we never battle against flesh and blood. It all starts on the spiritual side of things. You ask, "What if the sissy men stay sissies?" Uh, I doubt it. Who are you putting your trust in? Bottom line: kill pride. Hate fear, love faith.

Will the real women please step down? You won't regret it here on earth, and you sure won't regret it in Heaven.