Five Things I Learned from This Year’s Internation Women’s History Month
Preparing weekly blog posts for March has encouraged me to appreciate again all the things women are. Here are five things I’ve learned while celebrating women this month.
5. Women are encouraging.
Over the past month, I’ve read hundreds of posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter written by women. The vast majority have been positive, encouraging, and kind.
I’ve enjoyed reels that inspire moms to take breaks, rest, and recharge, reminding them that being a parent isn’t about having a perfectly clean house and homemade treats. Mommies are reassured that sometimes, making sure the kids are fed and safe is enough.
Women are also flooding social media with reminders that God loves us and cares about what we go through. He loves us unconditionally and doesn’t demand that we give up our autonomy to our husbands, parents, children, or pastors. We are complete in Him just as we are.
4. Women are creative.
The gift of imagination is strong and beautifully used by women. This month, I’ve read multiple novels by Christian women authors who use their gifts to tell the truth through fiction. Characters and situations are explored with grace and kindness, and the reader is reminded that God is always in control.
Readers who review books also tap into their creative side. Whether a paragraph on Amazon or Goodreads, a collage of photographs, or reels complete with costumes and music, reviews are welcomed and appreciated by writers who often feel alone in their creativity.
The great thing about creative expression is how it can be found in a wide variety of activities and experiences. I’ve worked with my artist daughter-in-law, Kaylene Skwarczynski, as she designed my new book cover, and was excited at how she brought my vision to life. I’ve spent many sweet hours in the home of my decorator daughter-in-law, Tara Skwarczynski, who has discovered the harmony and peace of a comfortable house full of family.
In the entertainment world, music by women have topped the charts. The screenplay writer for the movie Women Talking won an academy award. More and more women are coming forward to encourage and uplift their peers and demanding the respect that is their due.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13669038/
3. Women are powerful.
Women are embracing scholarly works and evidence-based studies to stand up to those who have traditionally used loud voices, bullying, and positions of power to demand their preferences and beliefs be accepted as biblically or culturally true. Those men (and a few women) are discovering that their pronouncements are no longer being immediately accepted — not even by those in their usual audience. Since those ideas are based on personal preferences rather than grounded in Scripture, their arguments quickly devolve into name-calling, intimidation tactics, and even doxing. They are offended when they are blocked and reported by powerful women who refuse to be harassed.
2. Women are truth seekers.
Women are discovering that much of what we learned as girls isn’t based on truth. We were made to believe that we were responsible for other people’s actions. We are rejecting old teachings that excuse an abuser’s bad behavior. Instead of blaming their victims for their clothing, body type, or even presence, women are turning that blame back onto the perpetrators.
Women read and write more books than men and host almost as many podcasts. They are seeking out evidence-based information and standing up for the younger generation, reminding their own about damaging teaching they’ve endured and encouraging moms, grandmoms, and sisters to replace those man-centered lessons with godly ones.
1. Women are godly.
Women are digging deeper into God’s Word to find the truth and are putting what they learn into action. They not only lift each other up in prayer but physically and emotionally reach out. Women are helping one another reach goals, get through tough days, and offer to support/listen/read as frustrations are shared online. They remind their sisters in Christ about what the Bible says and encourage them to seek the truth for themselves.
Unfortunately, what has pushed women to get further into God’s Word is the lack of genuinely good Bible teachings in many Christian churches. On a near-weekly basis, ungodly men who have set themselves up as spiritual leaders (AKA “men of God”) in some of the more popular Christian denominations are being exposed for inappropriate things they say from behind the pulpit. Many end up in the news after having been accused, arrested, investigated, or convicted for crimes ranging from theft/embezzlement to physical abuse to sexual assault.
Godly women are standing up, pointing out that the “spiritual fruit” of these men is NOT the “fruit of the Spirit.” In many cases, they are instead the “works of the flesh.”
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Gal 5:19-23)
Godly women are refusing to let the “works of the flesh” continue to poison their churches, their homes, and their lives.
Learning is an ongoing process. Reminding oneself about how important women are — especially when one comes from a background where women are not always respected or listened to — is vital to women’s history and to our celebration of who we are.
