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I have spent too much time in my life believing lies that I bought about women. I went on a search between two extremes: being withdrawn within myself, trying to embody the "christian woman" who is meek and tender, to being overly loud and everywhere, trying to show the world that I could be likable as well. Well, I wasn't satisfied with either. As I got older, I began to see that men were not what I was told they were in youth group. Every encounter proved to me that I was at fault with the way I was, and that I was too uptight, or that my expectations were too high. No guy would be able to live up to my standards. I was told that good men who love you will respect you. Good men will cherish you and hold you up to a Godly standard, yet whenever I dated I found something lacking.
Looking back, my hindsight is 20/20. I can see where all of my fatal flaws were, and I can see that what I experienced wasn't truly love, but at the time, I was blind to the lies Satan was feeding me. I read magazines, news articles, blogs and started to realize that I was failing as a woman. I was too sensitive, so I needed to toughen myself up. I was too needy, I needed to learn to take care of my problems on the inside. I was too prudish, I should learn to settle with life and take what it gives me. I tried so hard to make things work out, yet each time I was disappointed. What was wrong with me? Why couldn't they commit? Why is it, when a guy knows everything about me, he finds it lacking?
Well ladies I would just like to take a moment and share with you what I have learned the hard way.
Men are sinners, just like us. They make mistakes, they go down the wrong path, just like us. But while we are equal to them, we are soooooo different. Women are made to be man's other half, so is it any surprise when we are everything they are not? Through all the heartbreaks I experienced, and may yet experience, I have learned one crucial thing. There is nothing wrong with the way that I am. There is nothing wrong with the desire I feel to be loved and cared for. My sensitivity? Its a gift from God. My needs? Desires that were set in me dating all the way back to the Garden. My standards? The things I should have waited for. God made me beautiful and He wants me to use that beauty to glorify him. While I am still waiting for the 'one' I know that everything I have now is enough. God is so romantic and I am learning that day by day.
Feminism will tell you that you need to be able to compete with man. That we are equal and that we are not treated with respect we deserve. That we are being chained to the kitchen and that we are being forced to make sammiches for the rest our lives. NO! Not true. We ARE equal, but we are different, and its beautiful. Don't aspire to be like a man ladies, because we have something unique to offer this world. Single, dating or married we have a obligation to fulfill our calling as women. And no, I don't necessarily mean cooking dinner. We have an obligation to be women of beauty, women of character, and women of integrity, to show tenderness and mercy. That, my lovely friends, is a much higher calling than any other things feminism tells us to do. So know that there is nothing wrong with what you want. You are beautiful and loved for what you are.
