The Israelite matriarch Rachel is renowned for her beauty. She was the younger daughter of a man named Laban, and the woman Jacob hustled for seven years to marry—only to double down for another seven years after Laban tricked him into wedding Rachel’s sister Leah instead. It’s a wild story. But when we first meet Rachel in the book of Genesis, before we learn about her beauty, we read about her vocation. Rachel was a shepherdess.
Read MoreI love a strong female lead as much as the next gal. But I confess that lately I’ve started to zone out whenever the elf queen, secret agent, or hero assassin begins kicking down doors and taking names. Incredible fight choreographers and highly specialized stunt women make scenes like this possible. Strong role models are valuable for young girls. It’s just that leading armies and defying supervillains isn’t a complete picture of bravery…Read the full article at the Gospel Coalition.
Read MoreA period is a monthly reminder that our bodies were designed to create life. Are you ready to talk about it with your daughters? For all my fellow mamas, aunties, and big sisters, I offer three themes to get the conversation started about body changes and the path to womanhood.
Read MoreI’m SO done. And somehow I can’t get enough of it all. Every day I wake up wondering if this will be the last day I ever carry a child.
Read MoreWhen you think about God’s deliverance, do you think about childbirth? Do you envision the hands of an experienced midwife, gently massaging new life into this world with poise and wisdom?
Read MoreGod could have used any number of analogies when describing how His people were to relate to Him and to one another. But instead of a corporate hierarchy or military ranks, the most common metaphor used throughout the Bible is family. God uses marital language again and again to help us understand our relationship to Him. And our relationship to fellow Christians? We are mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, people united into a new kind of spiritual family.
Read MoreToday we reach the final trait that I want to explore in the mothering metaphor. We’ve looked at the ways in which all women are included in the maternal tasks of nourishing and housing life, but in order to dive into the idea of nurturing life, we have to take a step back.
Read MoreRepost from Cornerstone WLA. As we've walked through some of the famous Old Testament stories in our summer sermon series at Cornerstone, I am struck by the power of story to help us better understand God and ourselves.
Read MoreHousing another human is my least favorite part of mothering. It’s true, some women describe pregnancy as the time in life when they felt most beautiful. The symptoms of carrying a child can vary so widely from woman to woman that some will find they pale in comparison with the mysterious wonder of the life blooming inside. I delight in hearing these experiences. I rejoice for these women. But I am not one of them.
Read MoreI have good news for those of you who really don’t vibe with all this earth mama imagery. The point of the mothering metaphor is not for us to go all Moon Goddess, track our cycles to maximize our inner seasons, and homemake everything from soap to lightbulbs.
Read MoreAntiquity paints a robust image of mothering. If you consider the goddesses of old, mother earth, creation stories, artifacts of global cultures, and more, the pattern is undeniable. Giving birth—the creation of life—is so intrinsic to the feminine experience that for much of history it has been difficult to separate the two.
Read MoreIf you have been following for any length of time, you know this question is not new for me. Over the last several years, I’ve danced around it—from Hannah to Esther to Woman Wisdom, I have taken a deep dive into the experiences of different women in the Bible. I’ve pondered work and childbirth, motherhood and marriage. I made friends with Feminism and re-read Piper and Grudem. I managed not to rage-throw any books.
Read More
