Back to the Basics

I never wanted to be a young woman who's personal library was filled with those cheesy books designed to help women cope with the relationship status (or lack of). It has been a major area of pride in my life where I told myself I didn't need those books. I even have boycotted one of those major books that any solid Christian woman would immediately recommend to young female believers. It wasn't until recently that God revealed to me my sin and my need for biblical truth especially in this area. But this specific area is just the tip of the iceberg of a major issue much bigger than myself.
Biblical femininity has been a topic and area of study that the Lord has laid on my heart for a while now. Anyone looking at our culture can see within one minute of watching TV or listening to the radio how extremely far women have deviated from the God-ordained role that biblical femininity was designed to be. It is for this reason and many others why it is so important for growing Christian women to study what the scriptures have to say about this issue, and we can begin to cultivate what is true and biblical when it comes to being a woman of God. It is only then, while studying and applying these truths to our own lives, that we can begin to dream of revolutionizing the modern Christian-woman in our churches, our workplaces, the college campus, the neighborhood, the list could go on and on. A dream that Paul wrote to Titus of the older women teaching the younger women in godliness and the pursuit of holiness. (Titus 2:3-4) If we as redeemed daughters are not getting truth from the authority of the Word, then that means the only place we are getting "truth" from is what we see and hear in television, music, sitcoms, reality shows, movies, etc. We have the responsibility, we must rise to the occasion.
So I turn from my pride and confess my need for assistance in this area as Psalm 32 encourages us to do. There are fabulous books available and one of the most recent I have read was so helpful to me I can't help myself to share the highlights.
Nancy Wilson's book "Why Isn't a Pretty Girl Like You married? and other useful comments" is highly recommended. Though I smarted at the title, I couldn't help but immediately recall how many times I've heard that, or something similar. This is not the book for the girl who want her ears to be tickled with hollow promises and false encouragement. She doesn't coddle you, she tells it to you straight, even if it may hit closer to home than you want it to.
In the first chapter, the same title as the book, one of the main points is about not being so sensitive to other's insensitive questions and comments. As a result of sin, we are so keen to take offense and quickly attribute motives and assume there was intent to harm us with such comments. This is not always the case. A great line Nancy put in there that I may use as a swing thought was "each comment has come with God's permission and view it as part of your sanctification. We must be gracious and learn to shake these off and to not sweat the small things.
There are so many great chapters that cover topics I've never even thought of or though little about. Things like what headship looks like for the unmarried woman, what a career may look like, beautifying your home, and so on. Many of these chapters address areas that are practically tabooed in our "Christian circles", and she does a great job of freeing you from possibly skewed perspectives. For example, I have always assumed that desiring or wanting to be married meant I was in sin because I was discontent. There is a point in one's desire to be married that it is possible to become sin, if it becomes an idol in one's life and begins to steal joy. But simply having the desire to be married is not sin, on the contrary it is natural in accordance with God's design of women. It is a balance that must be maintained.
A couple of the more difficult chapters to swallow were one's like "Are You Desirable". This is something not talked about at all, even now as I type I am so tempted to shy away from mentioning it because it unsettles me so. It shouldn't, but due to the lack of discussion and my own neglect of seeking truth it does, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
I don't want to spoil all the great hidden gems in this book so I will cut myself off here but know that there. This book has been super helpful in correcting skewed perspectives, liberating and freeing myself from unhelpful opinions, practical ways to interpret and build personal convictions in many areas.
Again, highly recommended book, and I encourage my sisters to read it and begin looking into other great resources about this topic that plays such a big role in our lives, whether married, unmarried, older, younger, we all play a role in cultivating true, biblical femininity, and we have to start somewhere. Look at the book for yourself!