Faith is the
Founder and CEO of Beautiful Faces, where she invests her time in encouraging
and uplifting women to know their true worth, beauty and identity in Christ
& around society. She blogs at Beautiful Faces Ministries.
'What does it mean
to you to be a woman of God in the 21st Century?’
Being uniquely me,
dwelling on the reality of my Heavenly Fathers unconditional love and true
acceptance; for through this revelation is where I find how to be a true woman
of God.
What do I mean?
As
women we are all made individually, from our skin complexion, hair type, the
way we smile, walk, dress and speak. We do have similarities in obvious things
but most of the time the differences between us outweighs the similarities.
How? We can see this through the ways we may handle situations, communicate or
relate to each other based on our various upbringings, values and personal
understanding of life.
Therefore,
each lady will see the 21st century in the way she knows best and
this is how she is truly trying to survive against stereotypes, criticisms, family
and friends pressures and past guilts, but most of all present happenings
within and outside of the church.
So as
a woman I have to get back to basics and see where my focus is, to be able to function
correctly and freely as a woman of God. I say ‘correctly’ based on not allowing
myself to lower my standards just to be accepted amongst a certain group of
individuals, neither compromising my faith or values based on a promotion or
losing hope because of the crisis or chaos that happens around me.
Being
a woman of God for me becomes a daily action, it’s me saying I choose to include Christ in my daily
living, which then renews my mind against the stereotypes and the media’s concept of how a women ‘should be’.
Please
don’t get me wrong, there are some good media out there that helps to build women’s
self esteem and natural beauty – for example, the Dove Real Beauty campaign. I
don’t see each person who watches these say that Dove is trying to brain wash them
into seeing themselves as beautiful. Dove uses the common approach that most
people respond to and that’s hearing what other people have to say: Take a look at this video!
In
addition to this, I must say I do like how Oscar Wilde & Luis Afonso
explains our individualities: ‘Be Yourself,
everyone else is already taken’; ‘Be yourself you
were born an original, don’t die a copy’... How true are these quotes?
A
woman of God, for me, goes beyond comparing herself to other woman - especially the
Proverbs 31 woman (if you haven’t read it then click here).
I
hear of so many people striving to be this lady, but who tend to forget that
she is not them and neither are they her. As women of God we are to see this
beauty in others, admire and take pointers on how she & others portray
being a woman, but I don’t think we
should miss out on being ourselves and approaching life as we best know how.
Guaranteed,
the way the Proverbs 31 lady might have read her Bible, prayed, did her
devotions and even her hair could possibly be different from how you and I do
so today, but that doesn’t make her or us any less of a woman of God or in society.
In my
opinion all it states is that yes, we can see that she has great credentials,
but use this as a mere template to shape and transform your life to becoming a
better lady. One who not only is selfless and helps look after others
especially her family, but also knows how to be responsible, keep things in
order, whilst using her mouth to profess
that which is wise & faithful whilst walking with integrity.
So to
conclude, Being a women of God in the 21st century for me is being oneself. It is about knowing your
value, depending and knowing what GOD has already said about you and is still
saying about you, despite what others think or say (especially the negative
folks) because lets be honest, in life you will realise 1) You can’t always please everyone no matter how many adjustments you
try to make to yourself and 2) If
you can’t see the fact that God loves you just the way you are, and made you
fearfully and wonderfully (Psalm 139:14), then how are you to love yourself,
let alone to love others?
Being
a woman of God is stating that you have your weak points, you may doubt yourself
at times, have insecurities flying around and don’t always come out with the
right things to say. You even might dress differently from what sister A or B
looks likes. But the thing that rests your heart is the FACT that through your weaknesses
God becomes your strength. In your
fears and worries, God becomes your peace. In your shame and past mistakes, God
becomes your forgiveness, refuge and Grace. But above all, God continues to
shape us day by day to become the best women we can be.
So, why
not have this attitude: ‘I don’t care what people think about me,
as long as God is pleased with me, then I will be just fine!
Keep
being beautifully you ladies. God knows your heart, He knows your thoughts and
He knows you better than you know yourself. So keep trusting and relying on Him
to teach you new things that will turn your ashes into beauty.
God is love and He loves you.
Faith Dore
Colossians 3:12
Therefore, as God’s chosen people,
holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness and patience.
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