You're With Us!

This week begins a new adventure in the lives of Melissa and I.  We are extending our efforts to minister to the women around us into the blogosphere.

There is a lie out there, an insidious one, that says that men and women are basically the same. It insists that despite the obvious biological difference, our needs, our desires, our hopes, our roles, our gifts, our powers, are not only equal but exactly the same.  It is true that we are equal.  In the eyes of God, His daughters and His sons are equally beloved and equally redeemed. (Galatians 3:28) However our Creator did not create us the same.  What better way to learn about our differences and celebrate them than to read about the women we find in Scripture?


The women of the Bible were not uniform any more than modern women are.  My husband loves that quote from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, where the voluptuous Jessica Rabbit says, "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way."  Well, the women of the Bible aren't drawn like cartoon caricatures, very, very good or very, very bad.  However, they are very, very female.  They have marriage problems, they lose their children in the crowd, they compete and compare themselves with the women around them, they go through menopause, they sing the songs of Zion and much more. In their stories, we can find echos of our own lives. 

Their stories are our stories.  I blame my husband sometimes like Sarah and I have cried for my infertility like Hannah.  Melissa says she has nagged her husband like Delilah.  Like Lydia she offers her hospitality to travelers. (We stay with them a week out of every year while we are in the States).  

I want to invite you to read the Bible with us as a primer in what it means to be a female person in a relationship with God.  We'll be confessing our faults, honestly evaluating our progress, and celebrating the good things our Father is doing in our lives.  We want to hear from you; we want you to join us in the journey towards godly womanhood.  

What you won't hear here on our blog is a lot of negativity.  We aren't interested in arguing or nitpicking.  We both know too much about the planks in our eyes to go around worrying about other people's sawdust.  (Matthew 7:1-5) You also won't be drug through our personal philosophies on food, exercise, child rearing, and politics.  There's plenty of that out there on the web. These things divide women.  Breastfeeders, homeschoolers, soccer moms, vegetarians, professional women and a million other labels besides give us nothing but a chance to put ourselves or others in a box.  

Whatever box you come from, if you are a woman you're with us, we are looking to join God Almighty in the story He is telling.  It's a story about fallen women, like Eve and Rahab.  It's a story about faithful women, like Esther and Mary.  It's a story about ordinary women living ordinary lives.  It's a story about me and you. 

Helene