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Monday, March 8, 2010

Glorifying the Lord with my womanhood...

Little over a year ago, the Lord convicted and inspired me onto the path of Biblical womanhood. My desire to grow in this and to glorify God with His purpose and will for me concerning my daughterhood and womanhood (and, if He should ever will for me to enjoy wifehood and motherhood) has never grown cold. Although I have experienced some very painful and challenging trials along this path, I count those hard times and struggles as nothing but His sovereign blessings. How fitting that He should place some of the most burning trials at the start of my pursuit towards true womanhood! Better the humbling fire of the Refiner than the small, self-righteous efforts of the human heart. He so wonderfully knows best how to sanctify His daughters so that He may be glorified by their womanhood - whether they are single or married, orphan or daughter, or young or old.
The Lord is always good and His steadfast love endures forever! Along this path He has constantly provided for me with Biblical teachings on this topic and has kept me away from much of evangelical feminism that is so prevalant in modern Christianity today. I wanted to post the blogs/ministries that have inspired and encouraged me ever since I began pursuing Biblical womanhood. The wonderful, Godly ladies who run these blogs are such beautiful models of Christ-honoring womanhood. Their teachings on submission, selflessness, humility, a gentle and quiet spirit, simple living, homemaking, courtship, marriage, family, wifehood, motherhood (loving and honoring husbands), daughterhood (loving and honoring fathers), and modesty have profoundly shaped my beliefs and views by leading me to the Scripture time and time again. Not to mention, through their blogs I have come to learn of other Christian authors, missionaries, and teachers who have deepened my faith as well. Some of those have been Elizabeth Prentiss, J.R. Miller, Amy Carmichael, Carolyn McCulley, and Nancy Wilson.
I thank the Lord for the ladies of these blogs. Their words and writings are edifying and Gospel-centered. They have been so fruitful in my life.

A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

Aspiring Homemaker




These were the two ministries that first pushed me forward. I praise the Lord and am ever grateful for Leslie Ludy's Set-Apart Femininity and the Botkin sister's So Much More.

Set-Apart Girl - Leslie Ludy

Visionary Daughters - Elizabeth and Anna Sofia Botkin

I feel like a little girl next to these examples of humble, selfless Biblical women who radiate the beautiful heart and spirit of 1 Peter 3 and Proverbs 31. However, I only began this pursuit a year ago after being deeply (and subtly) entrenched in a worldly-feministic mindset throughout my high school years and my first years at college. I remain a very humbled young woman seeking after the Lord's will, purpose and design for my femininity and relying fully upon His precious grace to sanctify me daily.

1 comments:

Nolan said...

Amen, Erika! I have learned so much about manhood from the Lord as you are describing in womanhood (and not the worldly definition). So rewarding and fascinating.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
(Genesis 1:27)

I often think about what it was like for people on the earth to meet Jesus. They were meeting a man for the first time, and what it truly is to be a man!

I'm in awe by how much the Lord changes us in such a short period of time, and then to hear how he continues to sanctify His children in the long years spent walking in Grace. Just a glimpse of the depth of the Glory!

May He bless your walk in Grace!