* Thank you for the comments on “Being A Girl”. “Created To Be A Woman” was written with you in mind.*
Being a girl what a beautiful, wonderful creation of God! Yet, what potential for ugliness when we reject in any small way what and who God created us to be as females. (Gen. 1:27)
I love the book by Elizabeth Elliot “Let Me Be A Woman” She is a smart woman with sense and a beautiful, biblical display of femininity. I strongly suggest every young lady read that book. I am so glad to be in such good company when it comes to this topic. She is a real woman of God.
All girls are different. All in our own unique God given ways thank the Lord for that. I throw like a girl! Yes, ok I am proud of that fact. Yet the important thing is not if we throw a baseball good or bad. It’s
being a feminine woman. We all like different things and different activities fill our time. This defines who we are as individual women. And as women we have God given roles, our main role would be the home. Whether we like this idea or reject the idea this is still God’s design for us. I believe whether
you are single or married, children or none Titus 2:5 gives us God’s idea for young women.
Titus 2:4-5 “That they (older women) may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, (5) To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed”.
Proverbs 14:1 “A wise woman buildeth her house but a foolish woman plucketh it down with her hands”.
It would be ridiculous to say a woman should never do hard work, never get her hands dirty, never ride a lawn mower/tractor and if she can, work magic with a screwdriver! Those things come with keeping our homes in order and beauty because our hearts ultimately belong at home. We need to build a love for the home in our hearts that will last a lifetime.
You are created, designed and ordained by God female. You have a beautifully feminine role. You are to be a woman. You should talk like a woman, dress like woman (Det. 22:5) and except your beautiful design instead of rejecting it to play the role of a “Tom Boy” or something lesser and that is lesser than what we should be.
What does it mean to dress like a woman? Well in my last post I gave no boundaries for women to follow. I gave no “rules” of my own. I set no standard. It’s not my right to set a standard for anyone but my own daughters one day and right now to follow that of my parents. But I will share here a Bible verse and let the Bible stand on it’s own. I do believe the Bible is strong enough for that.
Det. 22:5 “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God”.
I was created by God to be a woman. So I need to develop that and be feminine. You may not like the sound of these words and you know that’s ok I don’t back down or back off.
Be feminine! Be a girl! Be submissive to the authorities in life and never reject the beautiful flower of femininity and grace given you before time began by God Himself.
21 Comments
Nice job, Holly (#2)
So sweet, gracious and firm… stick to you convictions…
Keep up the good work.. Yes I love Elizabeth Elliot’s writings also.
Love you,
Grandma
Very well said Holly! We need more women willing to be what God made them. It’s sad to see so many turn to careers, and other things instead of being the wife and mother God created them to be.
Comment by Naomi N. on July 17th, 2006 @ 4:30 pmHolly,
Thank you for the wonderful thoughts. They are very encouraging to read. With so many young women rejecting God’s design for them and seeking to be equal… Your post was very encouraging!
Comment by Sandy on July 17th, 2006 @ 6:36 pmThank you, Holly, for your insightful comments and encouragement to ladies of all ages. It is a blessing to hear any young lady speak up on this topic.
The Lord led me to LAF a few years ago and used it to radically change my way of thinking and living, Praise the Lord! I highly recommend an article there entitled “Modesty and the Christian Woman” by Mrs. Chancey. I also second the recommendation on the Visionary Daughters’ website. We purchased the book So Much More and it has been a great blessing as well as an aid in understanding our roles as women.
May the Lord continue to bless you and your family!
(From a twice visitor to the RCI)
Mrs. K. McConkey
Comment by Mrs. K. McConkey on July 17th, 2006 @ 8:14 pmGood stuff, Holly. Thanks for encouraging young women to help perpetuate the human race. Where would mankind be without women who raise up children? If God sends revival to our nation again it will bring with it a return to godly, biblical men’s and women’s roles. I love you, Holly.
DAD
Comment by DAD on July 18th, 2006 @ 3:52 pmWonderful thoughts, Holly. You are such an encouragement to so many. Keep it up. The world needs more voices like yours. 
Love you!
Hi Holly,
Good post! I liked your last one too. I’ve struggled with accepting that I am a girl, and accepting the fact that like you said, I throw like a girl! and other such things. But after reading your post I feel much better about that. After all I can’t change who God made me!
Hello, Holly; I have visited your site many times and our family receives the Stonebridge Newsletter and enjoys it very much. Thank you for your articles and encouragement on the topic of Godly femininity. I was excited to see the link to LAF. The Lord actually used that website and the dear folks who run it to help change my heart to be tuned toward the kind of wife and mother the Lord really wanted me to be. It’s a process,and though it is one that I could have begun (and excelled in) a long time ago if I had listened to the Lord the first time He spoke to me, I have experienced a large measure of God’s grace in this respect.
I second the recommendation of the Visionary Daughters Website, and the book So Much More. I would also highly recommend the article “Modesty and the Christian Woman” by Mrs. Chancey on the LAF website.
Blessings to you, and may the Lord continue to bless your family and its ministry!
Mrs. K. McConkey (also a two-time visitor to the RCI:) )
Comment by Mrs. K. McConkey on July 18th, 2006 @ 7:41 pmHi Holly!!
Good post!!
I don’t agrea with you on the area of how young women should dress, for one thing, God leads each person on different journies. I, personally, wear dresses, not because I think it’s more modest, but because that’s how I grew up. I have many friends that wear pants, and have beautiful personalities. Wearing pants as a women, does not say that you are wrong, just because you wear pants!!
Everything else I agree with you on!!
Love your sister in Christ,
Hannah
Thanks so much for all your comments and encouraging words…
Hannah, I agree! It’s not what we wear that makes us holy. That’s exactly why I said I can’t set the standard or rules in any way, I don’t claim to. Yet I believe firmly we as woman are to dress feminine and be womanly in all that we do.
Thanks for your thoughts!
Comment by Holly on July 19th, 2006 @ 8:32 pmHi Holly!
It is so encouraging to have a voice for femininity speaking so beautifully in our culture today. I agree with just about everything you’ve written—what a way to honor the convictions the Lord has given you and your family!
Growing up with seven younger sisters and three younger brothers, I was Daddy’s right-hand girl until the boys were big enough to take over for me. Our house was under major remodeling and construction—I helped him frame our house, run the ductwork, hang sheetrock, tape, sand, paint and lay hardwood flooring. He had several older man-friends who came to our house as often as they could to help out, but some afternoons after my school work was completed, the tasks fell to me and Dad. It was hard work, but Daddy used those times together (as I held the waiting screwdriver or power tool until the very second he needed it) to teach me valuable lessons, and to really listen to my heart give me Godly counsel about what my life needed to be. If my brothers had been old enough to be helpful, we may have missed out on many of those conversations, although we also went on “dates” and sat around the dinner table, stood in the kitchen, or had late-night chats on the couch.
My brothers, now that they are older (sixteen, thirteen and nine) help Dad with most of the building and finishing of our house. My parents do insist, however, that the girls of the family learn the techniques and skills needed to do such things. Not because they’ll ever need a trade outside of homemaking, but so that they may be a more fully equipped help-meet for their future husbands.
I treasure the skills that I have learned from my father! Not only can I ensure that Nate has wonderful, home-cooked meals, a clean and welcoming home, and a feminine, husband-honoring wife, but I can come alongside him and hand him the tools he needs or hold the other side of the plywood sheet. What a blessing!
As to baseball (:), I always threw like the most girly-girl ever, so now Nate is teaching me how to be a bit more skilled in that area. It is a wonderful thing to share those times together, tossing a baseball around, that we would not be able to share if I’d said that throwing a baseball wasn’t feminine, and refused to pick up a glove.
Anyway, just wanted to comment on your essays. It is a real blessing to have women standing up for femininity instead of feminism!
Yours,
Mrs. Emily Petty
I love reading the comments.. to your article… What a blessing to be able to share with one another in Christian love and to know so many are desirous of being what God wants them to be.
Love you, Holly #6…..
Comment by Grandma on July 23rd, 2006 @ 1:58 pmHi Holly!!
I was wondering something, for one thing, what do you define as a Tom-Boy? and also, in what way do you court? I’d appreciate it if you answered me!!
Thanks!!
Love your sister in Christ,
Hannah
Thank you, Holly, for your stand on the beauty of womanhood! I, for one, am so encouraged by your voice on this matter and loving way you presented it!
From GE,
Darleen
Hello Holly,
Well, I know you dont know me, but I work with your brother Kyle at Camp Barakel. I guess I stumbled onto your site and was encouraged by your last post. I have seen so many times dealing with youth the misunderstanding of what it means to be submissive to ones husband. Often times girls believe that they are “degraded” for “just” being a mom. My favorite part of your post, is when you call it “ridiculous” to say a wife does not do hard work. I believe and have seen with my own eyes the strife that goes into being “just” a mom, and without a doubt it can be harder than any job known to man. Feminism in todays society is known to be progressive, but is it? What actual benefits does feminism bring today? More money? I believe feminism breeds youth without clear direction in which to stand upon. I am thankful for your stance, and I will share it with campers in the weeks to come.
In Him, Jason Christain
Comment by Jason on July 27th, 2006 @ 11:30 pmHey Holly!
Your two essays (and all the comments) on femininity have been very thought provoking! I appreciate you and your stand for Biblical Womanhood and I’m so thankful for your willingness to encourage young ladies in this area! It’s so needed!
I just can’t stop thinking about the mystery of masculinity and femiminity! God is so big and so creative that it isn’t easily defined. For example-my brother taught me how to throw a baseball well (i.e. like a guy) and I’m proud of that! Does that mean I’m denying my femininity? Of course not! I know you weren’t saying that!
Well then, can I say-God gave me the ability to breastfeed a baby and that makes me a real woman? How would that make people like my mother feel, who desperately wanted to breastfeed but was unable to? Is she any less feminine?
Do you see what I’m trying to say? To further illustrate my point I’d like to describe two of my family members to you and have you tell me whether they are males, females, or one of each. If one of each, which is which? Here goes:
Person A: “I love to organize, discuss issues and to teach. I love to help people be the best that they can be. I’m immensely patient and kind. I can serve in the background by doing all the dishes after a big Thanksgiving dinner with lots of guests. I don’t care for golf but love to downhill ski. I’ll watch sports if my spouse wants to but otherwise I can live without it. I love my spouse and two daughters more than my own life! Am I male or female? ”
Person B: ” I played on the Basketball and the Tennis Teams at the small Christian College I attended. I majored in French and spent my Junior Year abroad in France where I met my (then future) spouse. (an American traveling with friends) I love to garden and am excellent on the computer. I’m calm in a crisis and am not all that talkative. I’m an excellent cook. Am I male or female?”
I’ll give you the answer to these questions when you tell us how you met Shawn! I’ve been dying to know how God brought the two of you together!
God bless you and your family!
Kathy Jefferies
Det. 22:5 “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God”.
The only thing about is that men in ancient times (as well as in some places today) still wear what look like dresses/robes. There are pants made for women and only women. . . I believe in wearing modest clothes, but I still do not see how women’s pants or modest length shorts are less than wearing skirts. Should men continue wearing men’s “dresses” (i.e. robes as in ancient times)?
I’ve always loved the book _Christy_ by Catherine Marshall, a Christian author and wife of Christian minister Peter Marshall. (I.e. Author of _A Man Called Peter_.) I wonder about the character Christy having to don the doctor’s frocks while she waited for her own dress to dry after getting wet in a rising creek on her way to church?
If we are going to interpret the scripture you quoted as meaning we are to wear skirts and never pants meant for women, we had better be careful. If we are to follow that scripture as it was meant during that time, we would be wearing ancient-like robes instead of ever indulging in evening gowns and frilly, girly frocks of today. . . No sequins at Christmas, none of that. Besides, wouldn’t some of those fashions be less than humble? Would they be immodest? What would Christ have thought of us? (We know he would’ve seen beyond our clothing, straight to our hearts.) Even the skirts and the dresses, just as women’s pants, we wear today are recent cultural inventions that do not at totally comply and resemble the ancient fashions.
Is it wrong for me to wear my overalls when I’m working hard in my kitchen garden? They were meant for women, not men.
I think we have to be careful about legalism. But I’m all for celebrating modesty and feminism as God has created. It is why I am a stay-at-home-mother and housewife.
Thank you for your provoking thoughts on the subject! God bless you!
Comment by Emily on August 9th, 2006 @ 1:32 pmYou are a great writer Holly, I and I loved you posts. You speak the simple truth about how God made women, something the world is in desperate need of. I think you are a strong encouragement to women and I hope to see many more writings from you.
Comment by SC on September 18th, 2006 @ 11:57 amLine and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Thank you for the follow-up post, Holly! Very, very good. I love it when girls and older women speak of femininity, grace, gentleness, beauty, and modesty.
I’m reminded too that God has made all things for Himself (Proverbs 16:4)… including us as His daughters. I pray we will allow Him to use us as He wills.
Isn’t LAF an encouraging site? My sister and I have been blessed by many of their articles.
You might also like http://www.visionarydaughters.com. Some friends of mine have some great thoughts there and also tell of their book “So Much More.”
May the Lord bless you as you continue to be all He has created you to be, for His glory.
Comment by Jennifer on July 17th, 2006 @ 4:16 pm