“With great power comes great responsibility.” – Uncle Ben, Spiderman

Okay – so living with a geek for the past 6 years has kind of rubbed off on me a little bit. But regardless of the source of the statement, I still think it holds a lot of truth.

We have all been given the ability to influence, whether for the good or detriment of those around us. I think this is particularly true for women. I think that women have been given the ability to influence, lead, and on the converse side, manipulate, in ways that men cannot. (I’m not insinuating women are greater than men – I also think the statement is true for men – they can lead and influence in ways that women were never meant to.)

Before I go any further, let me put out this little disclaimer: The following is not meant as a bash of women or men, but rather I’m trying to just put the facts out there to explain how the choices that we make as women do have a great effect on those that God has placed in our lives (specifically if you are married, the man that God has placed as the head of your household), and that we need to consider the circle of influence that God has given us when making choices that will either sew peace and righteousness, or chaos and confusion.

Examples of how women have chosen to use their power for harm:
There are so many Biblical examples portraying how women can influence men to second-guess what God has spoken or promised. One well-known example is Eve in the garden, choosing to personally question not only God’s command, but to question his intent as well. (“For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.” -2 Corinthians 2:11) And we know how it played out – Adam chose to follow Eve’s example, instead of standing firm in the leadership role He was placed in, and the rest is history. (Genesis 3)

Another example is Sarai, Abram’s wife. Not believing God’s promise that He would grant Abram a son, she chose to take matters into her own hands by offering up her slave instead, rationalizing that she could at least have a surrogate child this way (since God was obviously not following through with His end of the deal). (Genesis 16) And once again, you see man following a women’s suggestion – choosing also to disbelieve and question whether God meant what He said.

(On a side note – I find it rather funny that after Sarai’s slave, Hagar, gets pregnant, Sarai becomes upset because it’s not turning out the way she thought it would, and so she comes back to blame Abram about it! (Genesis 16:5) I have to be honest and say I can relate to the temptation to blame when something doesn’t turn out the way I planned. Anyone else want to admit to that one?)

I go into these examples because I believe it’s one way God has chosen to reveal the power a woman has been given in order to offer advice, wisdom, and discernment to others. Wives have the awesome ability to offer insight to their husbands, an incredible gift when that is given prayerfully and in humility, not trying to manipulate and control, but as God intended. And single women – you have the ability to encourage & offer that same gift to the people that God has placed in your life as well.

Examples of how women have chosen to use their power for good:
Look at Esther! Here is a woman that was placed in the role as queen in order to plead for the lives of the Israelites. She chose to accept the place of honor God had granted her, and with humility, advised her husband, the King, to show mercy. (Esther 7) Because of this, the people of God were saved.

And I’m sure the list could continue, but for the sake of this note becoming a novella, I will get to the conclusion.

The other day the Lord brought to mind Proverbs 14:1,
“A wise woman builds her home, but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.”

Whew -does that hit anyone else in the gut like it does me? It’s so true. I don’t know how many times I’ve set out to be encouraging and uplifting to my husband, and then end up tearing down those efforts with my nagging and nit-picking tendencies. And what about the times I don’t even recognize I’m doing this?

What if we recognized the power of our suggestions – that they will either bring light, clarity, and freedom, or deception, confusion, and bondage?

I pray that the Lord would reveal to us what we have been given the ability to do – to build His Kingdom by using our power for good – for choosing encouragement over criticism, humility over our need to be right, submission and trust over control – love over fear.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.“ Acts 1:8

“Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.“ – 2 Timothy 1:14

“for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.“ 2 Timothy 1:7

“because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.“ 1 Thessalonians 1:5a

I haven’t been posting in a while because it’s been a pretty busy season of my life where I feel I’m struggling to find my footing & even know how to process things myself, let alone attempt to bring others in the chaos.

But one of the positive things that has been happening is that I’ve been meeting with these two fabulous women on Monday nights. One of them has a heart for mentoring women, and has hand-picked me & another new mom in order to invest in us and offer some of the wisdom she’s gleaned from her life experiences.

I love it when others are willing to share what God has given them, especially when it comes in the form of investing time. Those are precious things to share, treasures from God and time.

The other woman is a new, but dear friend of mine that I’ve recently gotten to know better through our mutual new season of life, motherhood. Our kids are actually only 1 day apart.

(Have I mentioned yet that I love God’s timing? If not, I’m sure it will be the mantra for this post.)

So, we are studying a book called “The Great Lie” by Martha Kilpatrick. I knew nothing of this book, or should I say, booklet, before we ordered it online – other than two people had highly recommended it in the span of a two-week period, and so it caught my attention. But don’t let the size of the booklet fool you. It’s jam-packed full of thought-provoking statements and challenges. We’ve just barely waded in and feel pretty over our heads already. But in a good way.

The main emphasis of the book is about how Satan is bombarding us with a lie, a two part lie: God is not good and God is withholding good from us. Can you relate to that? Struggle with discontentment? Worry? Distrust? Want to control most of everything? Oh sorry….that’s just me.

Maybe you can relate, too.

I would share more, but in my excitement, I have a tendency of trying to spit out what I’m just barely internalizing personally and not giving myself enough time to really, truly let it soak in. I had a friend tell me in college that I needed to “chew my cud” a little bit longer. I tried not to take the cow reference personally. 🙂

Anyways, so I’ll spare you of any more commentary on the study. I do recommend you check it out, though!

So, onto the reason I did get on to share tonight.

Tonight the Lord led me to a couple of blog posts that were very timely and I believe contain some morsels that I need to chew on this evening. I don’t know how the Lord speaks to you, but often, for me, it’s about bringing multiple resources and references to my attention to really fill in the picture. Our God loves variety and I dig it as well.

Plus, it never hurts for God to continually re-emphasize what He’s saying to me – I guess I can be a little slow on the uptake sometimes.

So, in order to not get distracted and try to share about something that I’ve really just begun processing myself, I just wanted to pass along the encouragement I received!

Enjoy!

http://kellyneedham.wordpress.com/2010/08/01/what-are-you-waiting-on/

Faith in Difficult Times
http://kellyneedham.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/faith-in-difficult-times/

No Good Thing Does He Withhold (Part 2 of Faith in Difficult Times)
http://kellyneedham.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/no-good-thing-does-he-withhold/

Nothing is More Important (an excerpt from a 31 day series on Parenting)
http://joyfuljava.blogspot.com/2011/10/31-days-nothing-is-more-important.html

I ran across this video tonight in the search to find a new worship CD, and this was yet another confirmation of God’s faithfulness to meet me where I am. It’s been a rough season the past 6-8 weeks, with a lot going on and honestly just not having the time (or taking the time) to sort through all of it mentally or emotionally. Needless to say, I’ve been kind of a wreck (and God has extended grace to and through my husband to help me in the midst of it)!

Tonight, I felt as though this was an invitation for me to fall apart.
To let go and trust that God is big enough to handle my brokenness.
To cease striving to hold myself together.
To be reminded that He is with me in the midst of my brokenness, and that that is when I’m the most sensitive to His voice.

I guess when I stop telling myself that I’m fine, that I can pull myself together and quiet my inner pep talks, it’s then that I can hear Him speaking to me, reminding me that I need Him.

When I let go of my perfectionism, I can exchange my poor attempts for His strength.

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9

The video really spoke to me and I’m praying that this season can be redeemed and changed into a season of intimate revival in my relationship with Jesus. What Satan has meant for harm, God has always transformed for His purposes because I belong to Him. I do pray for the courage to hold on to Him when my life seems to be falling apart and to trust His heart when I don’t understand His ways.

I encourage you to take a minute to listen to the song first, and then watch the video of the story behind it. I couldn’t find it to add to my playlist, or I would have put that on the top of my list. I’m sure I’ll be listening to it a lot over the next few weeks.

Fall Apart by Josh Wilson

The Story Behind Fall Apart