A Biblical Woman's Manifesto (and launching A Dare to Love Yourself)

**A video recording of this post can be found HERE.

As a woman living in the 21st century I will live as though I have a thousand daughters, even though I have none, because every girl is my daughter and when she sees me, or engages with me, she's looking to me for how to live. So I will live, I will smile, I will laugh, I will speak, and I will pray as though her heart and soul depend on it.

As a woman living in the 21st century I will not judge myself based on numbers. My worth will not be determined by my weight, by my height, by my social security number, by my Blog followers or Google followers or by Facebook and Twitter. Only one number will ever matter to me, that is, the number One, who is God, who is my biggest fan, and all I will care about is whether or not I bring him glory.

As a woman living in the 21st century I will not depend on makeup or clothes to improve my self-esteem. If I am looking tired, I will take a nap, not put on foundation. If I am feeling sad, I won't buy a new outfit, but I will bow down and pray and ask the Holy Spirit to mend these broken ways in me and comfort me and be my closest confidant. I do not need to purchase or accessorize; I need to recognize my emotional and spiritual needs, and allow my creator to recreate me, daily.

As a woman living in the 21st century I will not allow Hollywood or Dreamworks or YouTube or PlayBoy or any form of social media to define what it means to be a woman. I will define what it means to be a woman for myself and for my one thousand daughters. And maybe that means wearing cowboy boots and jeans or maybe it means running barefoot through a meadow or maybe it means cross-stitching naked. Whatever. I will be, whoever I will be, and no amount of social pressure will change that.

As a woman living in the 21st century I will not be defined by my relationship with men, but rather, by my relationship with ONE man, Jesus Christ, and because of him, I will not be afraid of a relationship 'status' because there is no such thing. Rather, there is relationship, pure and simple. And I will embrace mine with my husband fully,  because it does not define me... Jesus defines me. My husband is my companion, not my competitor. His love is a gift, not a threat, and his role is defined by God alone, not by theology or doctrine or Homer Simpson.

As a woman living in the 21st century I will embrace motherhood and children fully, allowing them to grow and to flourish and to excel in whatever ways they want to. I will believe in them as not just physical or mental beings, but as spiritual and emotional ones, and their success in my eyes will not be rated by extra-curricular activities, but by the intimacy of their prayers and the poignancy of our conversations over the dinner-table.

As a woman living in the 21st century, I will wake each morning believing I am loved, knowing I am valuable, and celebrating my worth, not because of anything I have done other than the fact that I've believed in the only one who will ever give anyone worth: Jesus Christ.

Glory, hallelujah.

 Announcing: A Dare to Love Yourself

*For the next few Mondays, I'm going to be doing a synchroblog (a link-up), leading up to the launch of my new book, Mom in the Mirror. (releasing Mother's Day 2013).. we'll be kicking it off NEXT Monday, February 25th, and the goal will be to link up a post related to learning to LOVE yourself... are you in?

It's a dare, friends. It's A DARE TO LOVE YOURSELF. Starting now.

*linking with Laura, Ann, Jen, Heather and Michelle

Want some Imperfect Prose in your inbox? Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Find me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn or Etsy