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Invite Others to Jesus

January 27, 2012 by giventhetime

The “heart of a woman” invites.  A woman who is authentic and reveals her feminine, beautiful heart invites others to share in a life of passion and joy.  Oh yes, being that woman is a risk.  Exposing my true heart and inviting others to share with me in that authentic place is based on hope.  The hope comes from a sincere desire to draw others to the love and grace of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I have learned I best offer my authentic self by asking good questions and bringing forth the truths and wisdom God has given me.  Each of those truths or pieces of insight is like a glimpse into His heart.  Through being real and authentic, I passionately reveal God’s irresistible appeal because, ultimately, my role is to invite others to know God.  To experience Him as I have—all His grace, His mercy and His forgiveness.  Phil 2:12-13 challenges me to “work out” my salvation and this is where I most have to work—I have to be fully woman.  I can no longer hide the real me if I want to invite others to find His healing touch or experience the love He has showered on me.

Oh, yes, I want to continue to be useful and serve my Lord.  But, in this journey we call life, most of all, I want to offer God my heart so that He might use it to show others His beauty, His joy and the precious gift of His presence through the Holy Spirit that fulfills and invites peace.

Oh, Father God, to offer my heart is to allow You to draw others through beauty and gentleness rather than through aggressive demands.  Keep me soft today Lord God that others might see Your gentleness, Your desire for laughter and love.  Never more has this cynical, critical world needed the touch of my woman’s heart.  Take it Lord God.  I entrust it to Your safe keeping.  When I extend my feminine beauty toward others, keep me authentic and kind so that others see Your irresistible appeal.  I love you Lord.  Amen.

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Authenticity Reveals God’s Love

January 26, 2012 by giventhetime

So, if feminine is more than soft, frilly, lacy, silky trappings but is truly about authenticity, how do I allow my heart to be exposed to a world that often wants to trample all over that part of me?  How do I live out there where others can see and experience me in that way?

It is only as I become intimately connected with my Lord God that I find the safety and security to open that part of me and allow Him to use it to add value to others.  Beauty adds richness to the mundane.  Like a rich, dark chocolate exploding on the tongue or the perfume that flows naturally from a rose, God urges me to release that part of me that He has made beautiful.

God breathed life into us (Genesis 2).  God made woman as His final crowning glory to set forth before the world His beauty.  The heart of woman is beauty.  Women were meant to invite and draw people with our woman’s heart to God’s captivating glory.  (Isa 55:1-2, and Song of Solomon 4:9-15). 

The world is hungry for what we offer as women—beauty.  It is no secret that the beauty of flowers, smells, sunsets, sunrises—in fact, all of creation sets forth God’s beauty and goodness.  God has planned for women to be the ones to share that beauty with the world.  Author Simone Weil wrote, “The beauty of the world is almost the only way by which we can allow God to penetrate us. ..Beauty captivates the senses in order to obtain permission to pass straight through to the soul.  The soul’s inclination to love beauty is the trap God most frequently uses in order to win it.”  God has given this gift of beauty to women.  We bear the image of God.

Most of the shame and guilt we have experienced as women is because of the conflict between this God-given beauty and the messages the Enemy tries to contain us with.  Yet, when we fail to accept how beautifully we are made and reflect that beauty to our world, we allow the Enemy to deprive us of an opportunity to draw others to our Beautiful Creator God.  The only thing standing in the path to keep us from experiencing all of the abundance of joy God wants us to find in our beauty (John 15:11) is our doubts and fears about being authentic.  It is where we become most vulnerable.  Solution—drawing intimately into the arms of Jesus and allowing His love to enfold us and surround us.

 

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Feminine Heart

January 25, 2012 by giventhetime

Feminine? Does that mean soft? Is feminine always equated with sexy? Temptress? When do I feel feminine?  When do I feel it is okay to be soft, nurturing, gentle?

Discovering my heart is critical.  After all, if I don’t know my heart, I can’t give it to the Lord God for His benefit.  Neither can I give it to anyone else.  I can’t give what I don’t know I am giving.  I wouldn’t even know if I truly gave it if I don’t know my heart.  So, what does it mean to have the “heart of a woman” and be spiritually transparent to share my feminine heart with those around me?

The dictionary defines feminine as a “set of attributes or characteristics that either gender may exhibit.”  So what does feminine look like to you?  After much searching and analysis of those individuals I consider feminine, I concluded that for me the characteristics are: kindness—genuine caring for others; positive encouragement for the dreams, goals and desires of others; gentleness—not harsh in their language or masculine in their style, mannerisms, walking or talking.  The phrase “talking like a truck driver” comes to mind as something that is not feminine in my mental image.

Feminine is that woman who pursues and encompasses in her life the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5), as well as being willing to be passionate about life and fully present to those she interacts with in life.  (Note:  please share your comments about what you view as feminine and what it means to share your woman’s heart—all of us can benefit from your journey). 

Out of history, Annie Oakley, Dolly Madison, Martha Washington, Molly Pitcher, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana, Mother Theresa, Julie Andrews, Sojourner Truth, Jacqueline Onassis, Ella Fitzgerald, Beverly Sills make me think of feminine.  None were milk-toast or weak women.  None shrunk back from fully being passionate about their values or beliefs.  Yet, none resorted to harsh, abrasive conduct to communicate those beliefs.  All were activists who did so while being fully women.  Passionate women with very different styles and personal characteristics yet, they all model femininity.

So, where/when do I allow that feminine part of me to shine out?  When I read God’s Word—I remember I am the Daughter of the King of Kings; His little girl.  When I pray, I speak to Him as my Father, my brother and the Lover of my Soul and I am all woman.  When I play with a child.  When I remember I am God’s beloved.  When I cook and bake—I am nurturing, being a caring kind person reaching out with softness.  Feminine is where I am being most authentically me—the real me—where my heart is most exposed for others to see God’s grace that has set me free.  (Note: I intentionally left out a relationship with a man because that can become a role where we women get mixed messages between what is feminine and what is sexy or sensual—this is about being connected to the heart as a woman, not connected just in a relationship with another who affirms or denigrates us as women).

Lord God, I want my heart to be fully 100% surrendered to You so that when others look at my heart they see Your beauty, Your grace, Your love, Your joy, Your peace—all of the Fruit of the Spirit that flows out of a heart fully devoted to You.  Amen

 

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Finding My Heart as a Woman

January 24, 2012 by giventhetime

“Is it a new thought to you that your heart as a woman is the most important thing about you?  What does that mean to you?” These are questions that struck me as I started to re-read John and Stasi Eldredge’s book, Captivating.  (pg. 9).  I am challenged—what does my heart “as a woman” look like, feel like, desire, respond to, hope for…?

Perhaps like me, you too are challenged and wonder if you even know your heart.  I put my hand on my chest and feel my heart beat—but is that the same as my heart?  I can touch my wrist or neck and feel the blood rushing to and from my heart—but that isn’t my heart.  I can feel heaviness in my chest and sorrow when I learn sad news.  But is that really my heart?

Living in a man’s world professionally has pushed me to pursue effectiveness and competency, but in the midst of those situations have I forgotten what it means to be feminine and speak from my woman’s heart?  I have friends who live in a Victorian-oriented world of lacy, frilly, soft pastels and while I admire and enjoy that I come home to my more clean and simple decorating scheme.  I watch friends who wear lace, ruffles and dresses that certain promote their feminine assets without being sexy or tart, but then dress in my conservative, “professional”, business-oriented suits.

Where do I find the balance?  Where do I allow the soft part of myself to be revealed?  Do I even know what being feminine means?  Deborah (Judges 4) was a strong leader.  In fact, she leads men into battle as a judge.  Abigail (I Samuel 25) saved her husband and many others from destruction by operating from her woman’s nurturing, compassionate heart and yet, clearly she was a woman of strength to have lived with such a difficult man for years.

Please Lord God, show me I am captivating—not in the eyes of man, but in Your eyes.  Draw me to your chest, Lord.  Hold me close as Your little girl.  Hold me so tight that I know it is safe to unlock my heart and let the world see the beauty You have poured inside.  I ask, Lord, that You help me discover the joy of being fully woman—feminine for You.  Amen

 

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It is Hard to be a Woman

January 23, 2012 by giventhetime

I can echo the words of singer Tammy Wynette, “sometimes it’s hard to be a woman.”  My story is not unusual.  Most women throughout their lives have received mixed messages about femininity and womanhood.  From society there is actually very little guidance on what it means to become a woman and even less information offered on what a real woman is.  I mean, are those air-brushed models on magazine covers really examples of real women?  Are the twiggy, skinny, anorexic looking women on day time television or in movies really models for what real women look like?  Are the TV moms like Donna Reed true examples of the moms in our homes today?

A product of the Feminist Movement of the 1960s and the backlash of the 1970s “me” generation, who and what it was okay to show the world as a woman was confusing and distorted as I searched for meaning and a sense of self.  Hearing the words “submission” and “servant” equated with doormat fed my rebellious nature until I no longer could discern the world’s expectations from God’s truth.

In all the shouting from TV, radio, print media and comments from others, I lost what God wanted most from me—that is to share with the world my heart as a woman.  The heart is central to all of God’s messages of love.  “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”  (Proverbs 4:23).  Think about this verse—above all else.  The Message states it this way, “Keep vigilant, watch over your heart; for that’s where life starts.”

Discovering on that July morning that I didn’t let the world see my joy was disconcerting but led to me realizing that I didn’t even know my heart as a woman. (See previous post.)  I could operate on a daily basis with others as a mom, as a wife, as a daughter, as a sister, as a business owner, as a leader in a number of vital ministries, but to just speak to someone as a woman –wow! Not so much.  Because I had never taken time to get comfortable with myself as a woman; I didn’t have clue what it meant to share with the world my heart as a woman.  Yet, I recognized that when I looked at that part of me, it was where I was vulnerable and where joy reigned.

Oh, Lord God, it is my prayer as I open the side of my vulnerable heart and share this journey with these precious women reading this devotion, that You will open their hearts to find their wounds that need Your healing touch so they are more willing to share their hearts as women to a hurting world. 

 

God, I sense in my spirit that there are serious new steps You want each of us to take on this journey into discovering our hearts as women.  Steps that will take me closer to Your heart if I will only open myself to fully obey.  Open my mind and heart to fully hear Your voice.  Don’t let me miss what You have for me because I know it will be for my best and bring You Honor and Glory.  Give me eyes to see, ears to hear and, most of all, a heart to obey.  Amen

 

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