Radical Womanhood

Helping Hands in Kiburara, Uganda

The Practical Issues for Godly Women series continues the Proverbs 31:20 theme with this mission trip report. I offer it to encourage more people to consider the rewards of short-term mission trips and volunteer vacations. It's one thing to send money. It's another thing to go, to uproot your life for a period, and to make a dignified, personal connection with those who fall into the category of poor and needy.

Earlier this month, my church sent a team of single adults on a short-term mission trip to Kiburara Gospel Centre in a remote section of Uganda. They went to help Pastor Moses and his church with a number of outreach events. The area is quite isolated, at least a ten-hour drive from the nearest city. Disease is rampant due to contaminated drinking water and HIV/AIDS. Despite these conditions, Pastor Moses began his church about ten years ago in this small village of 600 people and he has taught his people to know and deeply love God. What follows is a moving report from my friend, Aida Alam. She went on this trip with her fiancé, Michael (the one plugged by my pastors for his creative engagement proposal). I appreciated the fact that in a short engagement season, Michael and Aida kept their commitment to this trip. There's nothing like going on a mission trip a month before your wedding to keep the right perspective and kill any "Bridezilla" tendencies! Here's what she wrote:

I want to share a few highlights from the trip you and ask you to continue praying for this country that has left a lasting impression on my spirit and has broken my heart with the suffering and evil that is manifested there.  Even now as I write in the comfortable and sterile suburbs of D.C., my heart is literally choked up with images of what we have all seen as a team.  Pictures of the children in the rags that we would see them in almost every day, rags that were probably the best pieces of clothing that they owned.  Boys wearing girls' clothing because that was all they had.  Children carrying heavy plastic containers of disease, malaria-ridden water on their heads, then drinking from that water because they would get so thirsty on the way home.  A society devastated by disease and death.

We reached Uganda after an extended 8 to 10 hour flight to London, a few hours of layover in London, another 8 to 10 hour flight to Entebbe, Uganda, followed by a 10 to 12 hour bus ride to a remote village in Western Uganda called Kiburara.  After we arrived, I finally understood how remote it was and why I could never find it on Google maps.  We reached Kiburara about 11 p.m. Uganda time and the people of the church there, Kiburara Gospel Centre, as well as a ton of children, sat in the darkness to greet our bus. The immediate love that God gave to all of us for these people was overwhelming.

The next morning, we worshiped with the church and we were introduced to the congregation there.  We were moved by the palpable joy and gladness of the believers there who were living in utter poverty.  I don't know if suffering was all they knew, but what I could tell immediately was that nothing, NOTHING, these believers faced (HIV, starvation, disease, etc.) compared with the joy of knowing Christ and knowing the gospel.  I think one of the moments that left me utterly undone was when they had an  offering and people in the congregation lined up to give. The joy in their faces was so apparent, even as they gave out of nothing. I saw a lady give two pears, which were probably among the few things she had to eat during that week.

We spent the next day getting to know some of the people in the church and even participated in the baptisms with them. Then we went to a prison and shared the gospel with the inmates.  It was a such a powerful moment to see these men, whose clothing was less than rags--if you can imagine that--and who were in despair and hopelessness, raise their hands to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. 

The next few days we spent serving in the youth camp, where we participated in HIV/AIDs training with the kids.  By this time it was obvious that the excess number of children was because most of the adults had probably died from HIV/AIDS-related infections. It broke my heart when the program director told the children (and these are literally children, ages five and up) that they should not have sex for a soda or a piece of cake. That is right: for a soda. (If you could glimpse the poverty that these children live in, you would understand the tremendous luxury of soda when you haven't eaten for weeks). They have a huge campaign right now against what they call "sugar mammies" and "sugar daddies," those who offer kids gifts to have sex with them. More than half of the village we were in had HIV, as well as the church.  After going there, now I understand why their poverty drives girls and women to prostitute themselves for food and gifts. The Ugandans are such beautiful people and it just completely breaks my heart to see the faces of innocent children who suffer the consequences of promiscuity and sin. The youth camp was a highlight for me, especially when the women on our team were able to talk to the girls at the camp about sexual purity and how accountability with other believers and Scripture memory can help.

The camps would take place in the morning, then we would have open air evangelistic crusades in the villages until about 7 p.m.  I shared my testimony on the last night of the crusade, after wrestling with much fear of man about public speaking.  But once I got up there I was overwhelmed with wanting to give them the greatest treasure I had received, the free gift of salvation that Christ offers.  It was so moving because that last day about 25 kids (mostly boys) came forward to accept Christ.  I am praying that God would bear much fruit in their lives!

I hope you will join me in praying that the seeds that were planted there would bear much fruit, not only in Western Uganda but the continent of Africa.  Pray with me that God would protect the children and that He would continue to strengthen the believers and that every soul in that village would come to know Christ.  And please continue to thank God for allowing us to share in his sufferings for the good of the gospel.  At times I was almost in despair at how the Enemy has assaulted this continent. But I am ever grateful for the day when His kingdom will come and put an end to all suffering.

This past Sunday, the Uganda team gave a report to my church. My pastors are currently praying about the logistics for building an uncontaminated well in Kiburara for our brothers and sisters there. I am trusting that God will guide us favorably in this endeavor and that we will have the joy of providing clean water for that town as an ongoing and practical demonstration of the love of Christ.

(Except for the top photo of Aida, the remaining photos were all taken by Chavia Groveman. Her beautiful collection from the trip is archived on her website. She's selling these photos to help defray the cost of her mission trip.)

Introducing ... C.J. Mahaney's Blog

Okay, this is really stretching the Practical Issues for Godly Women series. But I'm glad to announce that my boss, C.J. Mahaney, has debuted his blog, C.J.'s view from the cheap seats. I understand from inside sources that in just a few days, we will be prepared for discussing the Super Bowl in great detail. And I'm sure that must fall somehow into practical issues for godly women. Maybe in the category of How Not to Embarrass Your Man -- as in a certain blogger who needed to be told the Super Bowl is this coming Sunday. :)

UPDATE: All weak sports humor aside, this blog is developing into a wonderful resource--just as I expected. Please note the extraordinarily rich list of resources recommended in Thursday's post, Cross-Centered Books. These books are densely-packed gems (I've only read parts of some of them myself) but C.J.'s commentary on them is edifying in itself. Make sure to add this blog to your daily reading!

A Crisis of Elder-Care

This week, in the Practical Issues for Godly Women series, we are looking at what it means for Christian women to fulfill the Proverbs 31:20 verse, "She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy." The reason I'm starting with this topic is that this is applicable to all women in all seasons of life. Married or single, parents or not, young or old -- we are equally able to apply this verse. Even women with physical, financial or other limitations will find that God puts people in their path to encourage, to pray for, and to bless. Just this past week, a friend of mine with limited health and income told me that God has given her a ministry to the drivers of the handicapped transportation program that she uses. She was so excited to discover that even while she needed help, she could be a means of grace, a blessing, to someone else!

I'm starting by looking at issues surrounding the elderly. I believe that our nation's graying demographics and under-funded retirement system are going to create a crisis of elder-care in the coming years. I also believe it is a timely opportunity for the church to reflect the Bible's priority of caring for the elderly--especially the charge to women to care for the widows among her own family. "If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the church not be burdened, so that it may care for those who are truly widows" (1 Timothy 5:16).

From all that I've read, it appears that we are not prepared for the growing population of senior citizens in our nation (and in other nations, as well). I don't believe our traditional supply-and-demand economy is going to rise to the occasion very well, either. Caring for those on limited incomes with growing medical needs is a challenging business model. I'm not saying it can't be done or even done well, but it requires a motivation beyond pure profit. Over the past year, I've watched with interest as a nearby church built an 89-apartment senior housing facility on its grounds. My hope is that many other churches will follow suit.

In the meantime, here are some articles The Washington Post published on Sunday about the need to enrich Americans' later years. I believe they are worth your prayerful consideration.

The New Alone

Not long ago, I had dinner with a friend whose mother had recently remarried, to a man who had never had any children. Though she was happy for her mother, my friend also found herself bothered by a thought she couldn't shake. If her mother were to die before the new husband, she wondered, would she herself be expected to care for this man she barely knew?

My friend isn't alone in her uncertainty. Because of profound changes in how Americans organize and sustain -- and often break up -- our families, our nation will soon confront a never-before-seen shift in how we die and whom we'll have around us when we do. And the likelihood is that on every level, we will be dying much more alone.

Reduced birth rates, widespread divorce, single-parent childbearing, remarriage and what we might call "re-divorce" are poised to usher in an era of uncertain obligation and complicated grief for the many adults confronting the aging and dying of their divorced parents, stepparents and ex-stepparents. And compared with the generations before them, these dying parents and parent figures will be far less likely to find comfort and help in the nearby presence of grown daughters and sons.

[Continue reading "The New Alone"...]

A Hidden Crime

Bette Davis once said old age ain't for sissies. She was right.

As though declining health, impending mortality and other challenges weren't hard enough, too often old age is also plagued by abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Science has extended our lives dramatically: In 1900, Americans' average life expectancy was 47. By 2000, it was 77, and it's still rising. But our energy and resources have been disproportionately focused on living longer rather than living better -- a phenomenon called " the longevity paradox."

Consider the travails of the late socialite and philanthropist Brooke Astor. Even her fortune couldn't protect her. Modern medicine helped her live to 105, but her friends and grandson assert that she languished with Alzheimer's on a reeking couch, subsisting on pureed peas and oatmeal because her son didn't pay for adequate care; the Manhattan district attorney has indicted him on charges of grand larceny for pilfering her assets.

Eight years of working on issues involving abuse of the elderly at the Department of Justice taught me that while Astor's life may have been uncommon, her alleged plight in old age was not. Estimates of the prevalence of elder abuse vary wildly, but by some reports there could be up to 5 million cases a year, with 84 percent going unreported. All other factors being equal, victims of even relatively minor mistreatment are three times more likely to die prematurely than those who are not victimized.

Furthermore, our nation is in the midst of three seismic demographic shifts that will put seniors at even greater risk for mistreatment. Older people are living longer, until they're frailer and more vulnerable. They are increasingly alone in old age, given that families are smaller and more geographically and emotionally dispersed. And the pool of potential caregivers is aging and shrinking. We need 30,000 geriatricians: We have only 9,000.

[Continue reading "A Hidden Crime"]

I'd be interested to find out what various churches are doing to serve this growing need. If you are involved in elder-care, please leave a comment. The comments function is open for this post but it is moderated.

'Is Homemaking the Only Priority?'

This week, I'm kicking off a series titled, "Practical Issues for Godly Women." Not a very zippy title, but it's straight-forward.

This series was developed because of a question I received from a young woman in her mid-20s. Rebecca asked: "I understand homemaking is to be a priority for women, but is homemaking to be the only priority/purpose/what-have-you for a woman?"

I'm glad she asked because the short answer is: of course not. Our greatest priority and purpose is to be a worshiper of God. But our worship should be expressed in all of life, so even mundane tasks can be done for the glory of God. A godly woman's life actually encompasses a broad range of activities performed with a specific focus. It's the people you carry in your heart that drive the purpose of homemaking.

Check out the epitome of feminine wisdom, the Proverbs 31 woman—she did outreach, she ran a business (profitably!), she was hospitable, she was a homemaker and mother, and her godly character ensured that her husband was respected in the gates (meaning, in community leadership). Her focus was not the house itself, but the people living in that house and those outside who were connected to them through the community. This idea continues in the New Testament. In the book of Acts, we see that the home was where the early church gathered. Therefore, a godly woman's focus is all the people who could be found under her roof--both members of the household and members of Christ's body. But what that looks like for each woman varies according to her season of life, marital status, family needs, time, training, and gifting.

As we consider this, we also need to understand how the history of the home shapes our assumptions about it. After the Industrial Revolution, the home became a place of consumption, as opposed to a place of production. In antiquity, the spheres of public governing and home-based production were quite dependent on each other. Managing the home meant women were running small businesses (unless they were wealthy, and then their estates were quite a production!). But now, home is the place where we store our stuff. It's no wonder that many women lack a vision for the purpose of homemaking in our consumer-driven society. Consumer marketing was in its glory days back in the late '50s and early '60s as our nation recovered from the triple whammy of World Wars I and II and the Great Depression. Peace and prosperity were measured by all the new stuff you could buy then. And to some degree, her rebellion against consumerism led Betty Friedan to kick off the women's liberation movement in the '60s. (See? All things on this blog seem do come around to my book research.) Buying more and more stuff and spending your days cleaning, storing, and arranging your stuff is not the purpose of any woman's life.

So in this series, we will look at some of the practical issues in a godly woman's life in serving her family and the family of God. We start with a topic that is relevant to every woman from Proverbs 31:20, "She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy." That's the theme for this week...

Praying for the Right Things

Driving down the road yesterday, I caught a bit of John MacArthur's daily radio show. The broadcast was called "Praying for the Right Things (Part 1)." It was a perfect message to hear in light of yesterday's post on women boldly praying. I tuned in during the middle of the broadcast. Dr. MacArthur was talking about how Jesus--who not only knew how everything would turn out, but was actually in charge of making it happen--still prayed during His life here on this earth. If Jesus prayed, then how much more should we pray?!

Dr. MacArthur followed that by saying: "We cannot, then, believe in the sovereignty of God, we cannot just believe in the teaching of the Word of God, if it somehow strips us of the passion to pray. Prayer then is a heart longing to unite with the holy purposes of God for their accomplishment. . . .Prayer is the act in which I line up with the purposes of God and through which He works those purposes to fulfillment. Prayer moves God, God moves His people, who move in response. So that's the resource and whatever you may believe about the sovereignty of God, no matter how firm your confidence that He is in charge of everything, it cannot diminish your prayer life."

Then Dr. MacArthur looked at 2 Thessalonians 1:11 and what Paul wrote about prayer: "To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power."

"Those three things are magnificent things. Worthiness? That has to do with spiritual character--that the Lord would make you the kind of person you ought to be. Fulfillment? That God would then fulfill in your life circumstances every holy longing. And then, finally, that whatever service you do will be done with power...That's the right stuff to pray for," he said.

I highly recommend listening to the entire message.

May God fulfill in your life circumstances every holy longing!

Women Praying Boldly

My friend, Candice Watters, has a new book out with the intriguing title, Get Married: What Women Can Do to Help It Happen (Moody). She kindly sent me a copy, but all my fun reading has to wait until I pass my own book-writing deadline.

In the meantime, she has an excerpt running on Boundless this week, titled "Marriage: An Idol?" One line is especially intriguing: "Where we most often sin in our desire for marriage is not in worshiping marriage itself, but in doubting God's ability to bring it about." That line rang true. Whenever I talk to either single men or women, many express a kind of "hope fatigue" and resignation on this issue, with a strong current of unbelief toward God. Or they express doubt God could provide a spouse whom they would truly enjoy and find attractive. (As if there are all these couples around who married people they found unattractive and boring!)

As a result of her book, Candice has started a "Women Praying Boldly" community site. I applaud her emphasis on prayer. As I wrote back in 2006 on this blog, several friends and I did the same thing -- we formed an online group and fasted and prayed the first of every month, asking God to bless the men in our church and to bring husbands to us. And God provided many husbands! In fact, another woman from this group just got engaged a few weeks ago. That puts our group at five married (two with new babies already) and two engaged, out of a total of 15 women who ranged from early 20s to late 40s (and the brides were from both ends of the spectrum)! Unfortunately, the group lost steam after a bit--maybe I should start it up again!

To those of you who are married, I saw that Candice addresses how married couples are a valuable resource for single women. I encourage you to strongly consider this, because I agree with Candice that the God who designed marriage is still in the matchmaking business today -- and that those already married can be used by God as wonderful mentors and networkers for singles. I've often said that many marriages I know started with a married couple asking a single man, "So have you ever considered [insert here name of woman he's always hanging out with, but never seeming to notice]?" Sometimes it takes a gentle nudge to change focus.

 

'I Was Adopted, Not Aborted'

The Holocaust. Rwanda. Darfur. Three terrible examples of horrific slaughter with millions of lives lost. The reasons are almost inexplicable--one day a group of people decided that another group did not deserve to live.

In our own nation, we have lost millions in the same way. One group has decided it has the right to terminate the life of another. We have a generation that is missing 48 million people, killed before they could be born. But alive, they most definitely were. That argument is fully supported by medical science.

Whenever the topic of abortion is defended, only the interests of one half of one side are addressed: the mother's. (Paternal interests are often dismissed, too.) But in the 35 years since Roe v. Wade, a generation has come to maturity who can speak to the loss from the other side.

Four of those young adults are marching today in D.C. They were each adopted, two from Russia, one from Romania, and one from D.C. I interviewed their adoptive mother for my book. We'll call her Marty Terrill. (Because some of the stories in my book are quite sensitive, I've decided to change all the names of those I interviewed for the sake of privacy.)

Lucas Terrill was adopted from Romania. His birth mother was in her fifth month of pregnancy, about to get an abortion. But one night, she had a dream in which she was told, "Don't abort the boy." She didn't know the sex of her child, but the dream sobered her enough that she immediately canceled the abortion and decided to give him up for adoption.

Lucas was two years old in 1992 when Marty took him to his first March for Life in Washington, D.C. "As we walked, we encountered a whole section of pro-abortion feminists," Marty recalls. "They were angry and antagonistic about the rally. So I stepped up, holding Lucas and said, 'I adopted him. Look at him! He could have been aborted.' I assumed they were be affected by this cute little boy, but it didn't affect them one bit. They shouted expletives in return. I was horrified by their reaction."

Lucas and his siblings have attended every March for Life since then, carrying signs saying, "I was adopted, not aborted." Often they are applauded. Sometimes they are jeered. In one recent march, Marty was confronted by a group of self-proclaimed atheists who yelled at her for bringing her children, accusing her of forcing them to come and carry these signs. Lucas immediately stepped up and corrected them, saying he wanted to come: "I believe in this. My life was spared! I definitely want to be here."

Then he witnessed to them, sharing the good news of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.

"I think for my kids it's very meaningful to be in this march," Marty says. "They've seen the pictures of the babies who were aborted. They are very aware of how they were spared. So we all want to stand up for other children in the same situation, where their mothers could choose to kill them instead of allowing them to live. I always say to my kids, 'Your moms were poor and didn't have the money to take care of you. They could have aborted you, but they didn't. You can thank your birth moms that they went through labor and gave you birth.'

"Every one of my adopted kids could have been aborted. But their birth mothers all chose life and gave me the chance to adopt them. God says we need to stand up for life. The Bible says we are to cry out for those who can't cry out for themselves--and that's what we're doing."

UPDATE: The headline in The Washington Post's report the next day concurs with this perspective, "A Youthful Throng Marches Against Abortion." Quote from a 17-year-old from Dallas: "This is the social justice issue of our era, and I want to do something about it."

(Photos: The Washington Post)

Strike Two . . .

Huh?

That's been the collective reaction of the Janeites who have joined me to watch this newest series on PBS. It does not sit well to see Jane Austen's novels so tarted up.

Last night's adaptation of Northanger Abbey on PBS was written by Andrew Davies. Oddly, he's also written some of my favorite filmed novels, including Middlemarch, The Way We Live Now, and the best Pride and Prejudice (the 1995 version starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth). It puzzled me as to why these current adaptations aren't in the vein of his other, outstanding work.

Perhaps it is because PBS needs a suitor. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer provides this insight:

[T]hese days, "Masterpiece Theatre" has much in common with several of Austen's favorite heroines. . .

This dash through Austen's oeuvre kicks off aggressive rebranding of "Masterpiece Theatre" as well. . . Member stations are hosting campaigns to feed Austenmania, and the service is even reaching out to youngsters via Facebook and iTunes.

At 37, the franchise is single and in search of a suitable match -- in the form of a corporate sponsor. Longtime partner ExxonMobil abandoned it in 2004, and no deep-pocketed suitors have stepped in to keep it in the style to which viewers have become accustomed. (The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Public Broadcasting Service are shouldering the load for now.)

I take comfort that other Gentle Readers are also offended by these new productions. One of the funniest reviews I read came from the AustenBlog, The Complete Jane Austen News Roundup: Are They All Horrid? Edition.

Trend-Spotting

Several things to pray about--and one for which we should thank God.

We start with the good news. One week before the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a new report published in The Washington Post says the abortion rate has dropped for the first time since 1976.

The number of abortions performed in the United States dropped to 1.2 million in 2005 -- the lowest level since 1976, according to a new report.

The number of abortions fell at least in part because the proportion of women ending their pregnancies with an abortion dropped 9 percent between 2000 and 2005, hitting the lowest level since 1975, according to a nationwide survey.

But even so, there is some sobering information about potential reasons for that trend, according to the Post.

At the same time, the long decline in the number of abortion providers appears to be stabilizing, partly a result of the availability of the French abortion pill RU-486, the report found, because some physicians who do not perform surgical abortions provide it to their patients.

I also read another piece analyzing a troubling trend. (HT: Albert Mohler)

The Coming American Matriarchy is about the rapid increase in American women's education and professional experience and the accompanying decrease in men's education and professional experience. It is by Jonathan Rauch for the libertarian publication, Reason Online. (It's interesting to note that the writer is not the conservative voice one would expect on this topic, but an openly gay writer who champions gay marriage as good public policy.) Though I cringed a bit at his tone toward women, I have to allow that this article raises some important points for future marriage trends and our nation's interaction with Muslim countries.

Women's superior education will increase their earning power relative to men's, and on average they will be marrying down, educationally speaking. A third of today's college-bound 12-year-old girls can expect to "settle" for a mate without a university diploma. But women will not stop wanting to be hands-on moms.

For families, this will pose a dilemma. Women will have a comparative advantage at both parenting and breadwinning. Many women will want to take time off for child-rearing, but the cost of keeping a college-educated mom at home while a high-school-educated dad works will be high, often prohibitive. . . .

Some of these adjustments will have international dimensions. Goldin, Katz, and Kuziemko note, "Almost all countries in the OECD"—the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of advanced industrial countries—"now have more women than men in college and have had a growing gender gap among undergraduates that favors women." Yet much of the developing world, especially the Muslim world, remains predominantly patriarchal.

Many tradition-minded cultures in the Middle East, Africa, and parts of Asia already regard the Western economic and social model as emasculating. Radical Islam, in particular, abhors feminism. As the United States and Europe continue to feminize, will the anti-modern backlash, already deeply problematic in the Muslim world, intensify? As sex roles and expectations diverge, might hostility and misunderstanding mount between the West and the rest?

We need to pray about these concerns. As Rauch noted in his article, it's a "big mystery" why young men are falling behind. While our culture flails about in defining masculinity and helping young boys grow up to be successful young men, we in the church need to make sure we are pointing our sons, nephews, brothers, and friends to what Scripture says about manhood. And we Christian women need to encourage our men to live counter-culturally, too. And needless to say, the gap between the west and the Muslim world is alarming and should have us on our knees.

As I conclude this post, I want to clarify that I've written it as much as a reminder/rebuke to myself than anything else. These concerns are not regularly on my prayer list, as important as they are. Writing this entry has been a fresh reminder of how parochial my prayers can be. And with issues as entrenched as these topics, prayer really is our only hope. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12).

A Woman's Seasons

Susan Hunt wrote an excellent article on mentoring back in 2001, which is archived on Moody Magazine.com. Titled "A Woman's Seasons," this article explains why women are called by God in the Titus 2 passage to mentor other, younger women. Susan is a pastor’s wife, mother and grandmother, and director of Women’s Ministries for the Presbyterian Church in America. She is co-author with Peggy Hutcheson of Leadership for Women in the Church (Zondervan). Here's an excerpt from her article:

Let’s revisit Titus 2. This mandate is electrifying! Titus was pastoring a church on Crete in a pluralistic, decadent culture. Of all the things Paul could have told Titus to tell the women to do to combat that decadence, he bore down on the importance of older women encouraging and equipping younger women to live godly lives.

In recent years I have observed a troubling phenomenon. Many women of my generation have relinquished this high calling of nurturing younger women. Every where I go I meet young women who long for spiritual mothers.

My generation has abandoned this calling for many reasons. Some think they have nothing to offer. Some are intimidated by the intelligence and giftedness of the younger women. And some have decided this is the season to indulge themselves. I plead with my peers not to squander this season of your life. You have a perspective on life to share. Your sensibilities have been tempered by time. Your faith has been stretched and strengthened by your life-experiences.

I plead with the church to equip women for this ministry. God is gifting His church with incredible young women. They are a sacred trust; we must be good stewards. Many of them are first-generation Christians. Many are separated from their families because of the mobility of our society. We must teach them the truths of biblical womanhood. We must teach them how to pass on the faith to the next generation. The consequences of our accepting or abandoning this calling will reverberate through several generations.

Your mind may be buzzing with questions: Am I an older woman or a younger woman? How do I find Titus 2 relationships? How do I learn to live for God’s glory in every season and circumstance of life?

Every woman is both a younger and an older woman. There is someone who needs your life-perspective, and there is someone with a life-view that you need. How do you connect? The easiest way is when churches craft women’s ministries that teach women God’s truth about womanhood and that help enable nurturing relationships.

A woman’s life is not about just enduring diapers and the terrible twos, or the empty-nest, or a room in a nursing home. It is about valuing each season of life as an opportunity to honor the King of kings. It is about drinking deeply of grace and then reflecting that grace to others.

(HT: Justin Taylor)