Any Woman

I love it when God blows me away with the reality of His love, or with the certainty of forgiveness, or with glimpses of eternity. I love it when, because of His infinite patience, sometimes I finally "get it" that He is absolutely in control and will never leave me nor forsake me. I love those high and lofty moments that make me think, "This is what heaven will be like!"

Um . . . This won't be that kind of message. Today, God has really dropped a different kind of message into my heart. Definitely not warm and fuzzy, but girls, sometimes we've gotta hear it. (Tell me I'm not the only one.)

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Any woman can hold a grudge. Any . . . woman. Any woman can be an angry shrew. Any woman can hold another in distain and go through the motions of everyday life, bitter on the inside, "dutiful" on the outside. Any woman can build a wall around herself so as not become vulnerable . . . again. Any woman can concentrate on how 'right' she (actually) is, along with how 'taken for granted' she is, day after day. Any woman can mask discontent with busyness and a fake smile. Any woman can wear her disappointments like sparkling, shiny jewelry around her neck. Any woman can carry a mental, "How I've been wronged" list as ammunition against those who would suggest forgiveness. Any woman can quote scripture that she does not live. Any woman at all. Any woman.

It takes no special training. In fact, our flesh is well equipped with everything necessary to pull off the entire paragraph above without breaking a sweat. We come fully loaded with an aptitude toward jealousy, anger, bitterness, self-righteousness, self pity, and an everlovin' bucket full of "All of the reasons I have a right to pout."


To be honest, there have been way too many times that I have deserved the title "Queen of Mean" - skillfully displaying all of the above traits with abandon. My fearful heart was the cause of my behavior. But a bruised and battered heart will act like that, too. So will a confused heart. And, over time, habits of behavior form, to protect those damaged hearts, and we become . . . any woman.


But you know, don't you, that we aren't called to be 'any woman' - we are called to be God's woman. God's woman refuses to accept the enemy's description of her situation. She flows in forgiveness, because unforgiveness would place a barrier between her and her God. She doesn't operate in anger, because she recognizes that THAT is a trait of her enemy. She isn't wiped out by life's disappointments because she trusts God to be in control. She is reasonably comfortable with her limitations because she knows that God is aware of them too. God's woman does not hold a grudge - she knows that THAT will never reflect her Savior's image. She is intimately connected to THE Source - Who directs her life. God's woman has learned that bitterness doesn't produce beauty, but vulnerability, in Christ, does.

'Any woman' will continually move farther and farther from her divine destiny.

God's woman will rock her world simply by choosing to reflect the Savior rather than her flesh.

"Let not your beauty be [merely] external adorning, but let it be the inward adorning and beauty of the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible and unfading charm of a gentle and peaceful spirit, which [is not anxious or wrought up, but] is very precious in the sight of God" (1 Peter 3:3-4 Amp)


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A couple of months ago, I attended a women's conference where Holly Wagner spoke. She made a statement that sticks with me still. She was speaking about the beginning of our Christian walk when the road is wide and full of people. Then, it becomes narrow, and less populated as 'runners' drop out of the race. She said:

"As the road narrows, the crowd thins out. (Not as many chicks still walkin' the walk.) And though there aren't as many women, the caliber of woman you meet there, on the narrow road, will take your breath away!" (Holly Wagner - paraphrase)

Does our walk take anyone's breath away, Lord? Are we willing to give up our "rights" at the foot of the cross, and allow you to break us, mold us, into Your image? Have we allowed Christ to fill us, so that we finish this race as God's woman? Or are we full of . . . us? Of all the things we've ever wanted to be, Lord - "Any woman" - is not one of them.

Have Your way, Lord. . . Have Your way.




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