The million dollar question is, "Who is this Kingdom Woman?" Let me see if I can help you with that. As I continue to read, Kingdom Woman by Dr. Tony Evans and Chrystal Evans Hurst, I want to know more and more about this Kingdom Woman. From the introduction of the book alone, you learn:
- She was created to RULE & advance the God's Kingdom and His glory
- She was put here to reflect God's image
- She positions herself under and operates according to the rule of God over every area of her life
- She desires to be the woman God created her to be
- She is a strong help comparable to that of God the Father
- She is a companion & a collaborator in the dominion mandate
- Her worth is far above any treasure
- She is significant, valuable, worth more than jewels
- She fears the Lord and guards her values
- She is treated with dignity~as a treasure
- She conquers the enemy's attempts to mess with her life and lives of people she love
Some of us are ready to be this woman and some of us are not. Some of us embrace each one of these characteristics of a Kingdom Woman and some of us will run in the opposite direction. Being and becoming a Kingdom Woman is most definitely a journey~not to be travelled by the weak at heart.
My journey began a few years ago AND I still have not arrived. I embrace being a work in progress~I know God is still doing His work in me. I am of age where I'm taking everything in life more serious and I am wanting all that God has for it. Lately, it has been my mantra that Man was not meant to live alone. While single, I thoroughly enjoyed the single life. I can honestly say that I did single life and did it well~with little to no regrets. Now, I am content with being a help-mate in the making as I know my role and I am one that truly embraces it. To be completely honest, NO WOMAN wants to provide for a home alone. I have not met a woman that thoroughly enjoys living paycheck to paycheck or shall I say, "surviving the struggle". It comes a time in any woman's life where living, being, and doing life alone is not as fun as it once was. The fact that God has designed the perfect person for you, who will arrive at the perfect season in your life~he, too, will embrace you as his help meet~his companion, his collaborator in the rule of the covenant. Meaning he'll know his role as well as accept yours.
Do we honestly know our worth, our value? Do we know who and whose we are? Do we embrace our worth? Unlike a car, our value does not depreciate. No matter the trials and tribulations, the cards of life you were dealt~no matter the circumstance or situation. There is still worth and value to your being. You ARE who & what God says you are. My future mother in laws calls me "stuck on myself" every chance she get it. I love it. And my response is, "If I don't love me, who will". We are to be treasured. We are to treasure ourselves. We are to be cherished and respected; loved and embraced, comforted, tenderly touched and spoken to with a kind, yet gentle voice. It doesn't matter what others think as long as you know you are significant! Jesus paid the price for me~therefore my value doesn't hold a dollar-figure. It is priceless. I am who I am-I am one of kind and unique. God broke the mold when He made me. For He knew the world couldn't handle two of me. The same applies to you. There is one you~and you~and you! My granny used to say that I danced to the beat of a different drummer. AND I did. I never wanted to be like anyone else, I've always been my own person~being me, just who I am. Even when I lived in the world and was of the world, I still maintained my own uniqueness.
Do you fear the Lord and guard your values? Believe in His Word? Trust in Him? Have faith in Him? Of course you do. Have you laid your all on the line and said, "Here I am Lord, use me as only you know how"? Or what about that gut-wrenching cry, "Why, Lord" when things are going wrong or you're stuck in your valley? Fearing the Lord is most importantly, giving your all to Him~being transparent in your eyes to Him as if He can't already see thru you. Have you thought lately about your worth and value? About what you mean to you? Not necessarily what or how others view or think about you...but a deep thought about YOU and who YOU are and what YOU do and how YOU matter to YOU??? Your values. I can tell you all day about my values and how nothing on this Earth matter to me more than-God, my family, and my friendships. I mean my true friendships-I am talking the ones that truly know me-you know the ones that grew up with, who knows your secrets and you can't un-friend them for fear of your deepest secrets being exposed to the public. Yeah, those types of friendships~they mean something to me.
This is the one that I love-CONQUERS THE ENEMY'S ATTACKS.
At some point, we've all been under attack by the enemy. We've been to the point where we have to laugh to keep from crying. Where you are to the point of giving up but can't because some "body", some "thing", some "one" is depending on you to make it happen for them. They/It is waiting on you to come thru for them. Yet, you have to wonder everyday in this valley (or enemy's attacks) when is enough, enough. It just seems to keep coming one after the other after the other after the other. Your mantra has become, "Satan, get thee behind me", you're constantly pulling knives out of your back, your praise is bigger and louder than your bark-you've just got to praise your way thru & you're at the throne of mercy every.single.day-after day begging, pleading, and bargaining with God-If you release me from this....I will do that....AND the end is nowhere in sight. You're tired of defending yourself to lies and deceit, malice and backbiting. You've had enough of those hazardous-to-your-health issues; spirit killers. That baggage of generational ruins just keeps appearing at your doorstep. BUT, HOWEVER, AND THEN...you've fought the good fight, through it ALL you stood. NOW, you can take a deep breath and you feel & walk in the spirit of victory.
This, my friend, is how you know you are on your way to Kingdom-ship.
#KingdomWoman knows her value & worth; she is not defeated.
Join me on this journey...
My, oh my! How we all strive to be women after God's own heart. In that striving, do we strive to be Kingdom Women? Okay, so everyone that knows me, know that on any given day you can find me wrapped up with Kindle Fire enjoying a good read. And anybody who knows me, know how I love me some Priscilla Shirer. So, when I saw on Dr. Tony Evans website or somewhere that his other daughter, Chrystal, was writing a response to the Kingdom Man....wait, Priscilla has a sister that writes. Ain't nobody told me that??? Anywho, I HAD, yes, HAD to get on the waiting list. Is there a waiting list? Where can I sign up? Who has the sign up sheet? Can somebody, anybody, everybody put my name on the list? I immediately started following the entire Evans family on Twitter~I desperately needed to know the day the book dropped. IF it's Dr. Tony Evans' daughter, Priscilla Shirer's sister, it HAS to be good. It dropped and I was the first one in Lifeway when they opened. It dropped on Kindle~no waiting for it here, I pre-purchased it, so it automatically downloaded.
As I was reading Kingdom Woman, I was interrupted with a post that stated there was a month-long study of the book coming up. Well, lo and behold, I posted this on my FaceBook page and halted my reading because I wants to be a part of the study. The study dropped on Wednesday, September 4th and I am all in. Again, I set my alarm clock, was up at 5:00 a.m. stalking Chrystal's blog and my e-mail updates, Twitter up on the phone and FaceBook up on the laptop and e-mail open on the Kindle. Yes, it was that serious.
So, here we are in the first week of the Kingdom Woman Study and I can't get enough of it. So, I decided to journal-blog about it. Here goes....
While we live in a society where every woman's dream is to be the Mrs. It doesn't matter how messed up we are, how much baggage we carry, how many generational ruins we tote in our oversized Michael Kors bags; we still desire to be the Mrs. AND we spend our time making the Mr. the man we want him to be INSTEAD of concentrating on what God has in store for us. Instead of spending time becoming THE Kingdom Woman that God has designed us to be. We can't be fit for the Mr. if we aren't fit for the Kingdom. We have to spend time in the midst of our mess getting ourselves fit-mentally, spiritually, emotionally, financially, & physically-for the Kingdom. What Kingdom? I am glad you asked. God's Kingdom.
Let us talk about the woman's role. In the Intro of Kingdom Woman, Chrystal writes, "Both men and women have been created equally in the image of God. While within that equality lie distinct and different roles, there is no difference in equality of being, value, or dignity between the genders. Both bear the responsibility of honoring the image in which they have been made. A woman made in the image of God should never settle for being treated as anything less than an image-bearer of the one true King....Just as men, women were created to rule"
I especially love ...A woman made in the image of God should never settle for being treated as anything less than an image of the one true King....That sentence right there is the starting point of our transformation into Kingdom Women. Wait, let me pause for a minute. To understand the Kingdom Woman, we have to read and understand the Kingdom Man (by Dr. Tony Evans). Yes, I read it, and yes I am a book nerd. Okay, picking back up where I left off. Women have, for years, settled. Not necessarily for a relationship, but in life. Not meaning that we've given up, but we've settled. Let's start with college-we'll settle for an Associate's Degree because it's a degree and it'll get me into the workforce or I'll settle for a Bachelor's because it meets the minimum requirements for the job. In the workplace-we'll settle for a position because it's a job and it pays the bills. In the church-we'll settle for being a member (even though we're called to preach) because the Pastor doesn't believe in women in his pulpit. (Isn't the pulpit in the church & the church is the house of the Lord? I'm just asking) In the home-we'll settle with the decisions that the mate makes because he is the king of the castle.
Think long and hard, in settling, is this all that God has for you? Is this all that the ONE true KING has for you? Of course not. Are you being treated anything less-less than-not equal to what God has for you? Are you treating yourself less than? Are you allowing others to treat you less than? Is life treating you less than? God created for us purpose. For a plan. For will. For determination. God created us to STAND, for such a time as this. We were created to rise above. Not to settle. We have come to a point where everything is just "ok", when in reality, everything is not just "ok". If we're created in the image of the ONE true King, then what does that make us? Take your time, think about it, don't worry, I'll wait.
I always tell my fiancé how my grandmother never really earned a real income outside of the home as my grandfather took care of the home financially. He would work a 9-5 and he owned a cleaning service that cleaned/waxed/buffed the floors in a few of the local drug stores. My grandmother would cook, clean, and take care of the home. Every other week she would clean houses for two or three families across the mountain. The pay was good, but it was "under the table". She would use that money to buy groceries and her Sunday suits from Lane Bryant and Pizitz. Now, mind you, on the days that my grandmother went to work, she would still cook us breakfast before we left for school AND she would be home before we arrived from school and dinner would be on the stove-DONE. To this very day, I don't know how she did it, but it was done. She never complained, my grandfather never complained about what she cooked, how she cleaned, how much money she spent, or why she did anything. He brought home the bacon and entrusted her to feed the family with it. He never treated her less than the woman she was-his mate, his spouse, his wife, his baby mama, and everybody's madear, but my grandma!
The days of this type of respect in the home & if you think about it, in life, no longer exists. Because women decided to settle. Why? I'm glad you asked. Because we shouldn't have to demand to be treated better or equal-it should be a given. (I suggest every woman with a man, husband, boyfriend, baby daddy, etc. or even every woman, read Kingdom Man-yes, WOMEN should read it too). Society has lowered its standards, therefore it has become a trickle-down effect. It's not our fault, it's what we were taught. BUT, now that we know better, we should strive to do and want better. We don't have to settle, we shouldn't have to settle. We were created in the image of the ONE true KING.
I've heard many woman say that are better than the situation they are in, but they stay-as in won't leave. So, are you really better than the situation. Staying is a choice. Staying for the kids but settling for less than; staying for the money, but settling for less than; staying for the sex, but settling for less than; staying for stability, but settling for less than. In my sanctified imagination, and this is just my imagination, why not stay for love and be treated as such. You know love, the word that equates to respect, honor, trust and loyalty.
Chrystal quotes Abraham Lincoln, "Nothing stamped with the Divine image and likeness was sent in the world to be trodden on". I must agree with Abraham and Chrystal. What are your thoughts?
My question is, "What are you settling for/with and why?" and "Is settling 'of the Kingdom'" Inquiring minds - like me- want to know.
Join me, as I continue on my Kingdom Woman Journey.
Who is this Kingdom Woman? She is not a settler!!!
