In honor of Women’s History Month, I’d like to write about how I’ve grown to understand and accept God’s wonderful intention in creating women distinctly and purposefully, and how this has impacted my relationship with God. As a young girl, I didn’t feel particularly confident in my identity. As I’ve reflected, I think this was because the ideas and beliefs about what it means to be a woman, what roles a woman should or should not play, and how women are supposed to act varied depending on the source. It felt like at school, at church, at home, in the media, I was influenced, oftentimes in different ways, about how being a girl defines me. It was confusing to me as a young girl, and I thought that my girlhood should not be such a huge defining aspect of who I am. I think I was frustrated by these differences, comparisons to male counterparts, and how all this affected the way people treated me. It felt unfair and, honestly, made me feel inferior, so I subconsciously adopted the belief that these differences don’t matter and I’m just me.
However, as I have grown older and more mature, I’ve developed a more balanced sense of what it means to be a girl and a woman. As I have grown closer to God and understood how and why He created both woman and man, I have begun to embrace my womanhood in a way I believe is more in line with God’s intent, and now, rather than being confused or frustrated, I feel more comfortable in my skin, my identity, and in my abilities.
Men and women are clearly different, and our differences and the implications of such have been a point of contention in secular culture and church culture. But one thing we definitely have in common is that we are bearers of God’s image. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.” Really sitting with this verse was very important for me to understand that God created us in His likeness, as a sort of reflection of Him, both male and female. It also means we each are created with inherent dignity, no matter what the world tells us. Because we bear the image of God, we are empowered and thus, we are called to carry His light into the world.
I am a bearer of God’s image, and I am a woman, and I am uniquely me, and these are all what God created me to be. Psalms 139:13-14 says, “For you formed my inward parts, you covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” I love this verse because it expresses how special we are to God and how He was intentional when He created us. This verse helped me accept myself and all aspects of myself. There is nothing “less than” about the way God created me and each of us. We are all created to glorify God, and as women, God created us with characteristics that allow us to do so in distinct ways.
In all, what helped me understand my identity as a child of God and as a woman was to look upward at who God says I am, rather than around at what everyone else says I am or should be. As women, we are often bombarded with differing messaging and expectations that can confuse our sense of identity and our perception of what we can and cannot do in this world. I still have to be intentional with this, and leaning on the Word of God is what helps me do that. In whatever role we have been given by God, whether it be as a wife, mother, sister, friend, God has blessed us with abilities, and our job is to identify what God has gifted to us and use these gifts to glorify His name and help those around us. As 1 Peter 4:10 says, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
I hope this is encouraging for any woman who shares this experience. I pray that God continues to remind us of our value and worth as women and of our identity, which is rooted in Him, and who He created us to be. Happy Women’s History Month!
