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<\/a><\/p>\nA couple of years ago, I read, \u201cA Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband \u201cMaster\u201d by Rachel Held Evans.<\/a> I was at a place where I was tired of back-biting and position defending in the church.\u00a0 I wanted her to rise up beautiful and unified with the words of peace on her lips.\u00a0 I was so over the underlying expectation that every woman is a potential adversary vying for the same piece of the earth I was striving for.\u00a0 We\u2019re told to turn a skeptical eye towards one another. We\u2019re told other women will steal our opportunities because they\u2019re more beautiful or has more readers and get invited to speaking engagements.\u00a0 She married the holy and handsome husband and mother perfect kids who grow up to be arrows in her quiver. Therefore her pursuit of awesomeness is a threat.\u00a0 Therefore it\u2019s our job to be better, stay bitter, and push her back in her place if she tries to outshine.<\/p>\n There\u2019s only so much awesome in the world, right?\u00a0 Right?<\/p>\n No\u2026wrong. And \u201cA Year of Biblical Womanhood\u201d reminded me of that.\u00a0 Two truths about my identity as a woman and my role in the kingdom came from\u00a0 Rachel\u2019s words.<\/p>\n The first truth is:\u00a0 One women\u2019s specific brand of awesome will not look like mine. \u00a0<\/strong> The beauty of this truth is we\u2019re all so different, but we reflect his character in profound, real ways. When he looks at us,\u00a0 diverse yet unified in Christ, he says, \u201cIT IS GOOD\u201d.<\/p>\n When he speaks over us, he says\u2026YOU ARE GOOD!<\/p>\n The second truth I learned is:\u00a0 Our awesomeness combined will reveal the great Awesomeness of God: Jesus Christ and his unfathomable love for us all.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n I have the ability to participate in revealing this love\u00a0 when I release my hold on my pride and pet doctrines to stretch out my hands to my sisters\u2014may they be as different from me as a slushy winter storm is to a sweltering heat wave.\u00a0 I also have the power to create unity when I choose to bless instead of curse my sisters in Christ.<\/p>\n At a time in my life when I wanted Shalom in the Body,\u00a0 \u201cA Year of Biblical Womanhood\u201d was a beautiful lesson of love and acceptance for who God made me to be and a call to create authentic community, especially in the chapter on valor where Rachel teaches us from her friendship with a Jewish woman, Ahava.\u00a0 We find out from Ahava, that the dreaded Proverbs 31 passage, which I\u2019ve\u00a0 been guilty of turning into a \u201cto do\u201d list to get help me acquire that piece of elusive earthly praise, is actually a blessing to be spoken over a woman whom God has\u00a0 ALREADY said \u201cshe is good\u201d:<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the thing.\u00a0 Christians see to think that because the Bible is inspired, all of it should be taken literally.\u00a0 Jews don\u2019t do this.\u00a0 Take Proverbs 31, for example.\u00a0 I get called an eshet chayil (<\/em>a valorous woman) all the time.\u00a0 Make your own challah bread instead of buying?\u00a0 Eshet chayil<\/em>! Work to earn some extra money for the family?\u00a0 Eshet<\/em> chayil<\/em>!\u00a0 Make balloon animals for the kids at Shul?\u00a0 Eshet<\/em> chayil! Every week at the Shabbat table, my husband sings the Proverbs 31 poem to me.\u00a0 It\u2019s special because I know that no matter what I do or don\u2019t do, he praises me for blessings the family with my energy and creativity.\u00a0 All women can do that in their own way.\u00a0 I bet you do as well.<\/p>\n \u201cA Year of Biblical Womanhood\u201d pg. 86<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I was so energized by Ahava\u2019s insight.\u00a0 Jesus used it to remind of the many Scriptures about encouraging each other; my favorite is found in Hebrews 3:13 that says we should encourage each other as long as it\u2019s called today so that our heart will not be hardened.<\/p>\n With a renewed desire to bring unity with my words and do my part in keeping our hearts soft towards each other, I sat down and asked the Lord to forgive me for my competitive cattiness. I asked him to show me the women who needed to be encouraged\u2014even if she intimidates me, even if her awesome steps on the toes of my awesome, even if from the outside looking in she\u2019s got it all together, and especially if we disagree on theology.<\/p>\n As Rachel puts it, \u201cEshet chayil<\/em> is at its core a blessing\u2014one that was never meant to be earned, but to be given, unconditionally.\u201d<\/p>\n This blessing captured my imagination and had me thinking: How can I use Proverbs 31 today in what I think is God\u2019s intended purpose for us\u2026to encourage and inspire? I was emailing all week-long with my personalized, \u201cEshet chayil\u201d<\/em> MeebleMail.<\/a> \u00a0I was texting my girlfriends messages like:<\/p>\n \u201cYou didn\u2019t strangle your baby\u2019s neck when he Would. Not. Stop. Crying at moms\u2019 group today\u2026Eshet chayil!<\/em>\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n I talked about it at small group and to any woman I had coffee with, butchering the pronunciation and Googling the RHE blog post on Momastary <\/a> to back up this crazy notion that we\u2019re here to speak extravagant blessings over one another!<\/p>\n I was like Oprah on car giveaway day.\u00a0 \u201cYou get an Eshet chayil<\/em>\u201d and \u201cYou get an Eshet chayil\u2019<\/em> and \u201cYou get an Eshet chayil<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe Bible isn\u2019t a blueprint for us to follow and if we do so, we\u2019ll all turn out exactly the same. We\u2019ll cook well, sew curtains like a boss, reveal our gentle spirits with soft words and passive nods, or even\u2026even\u2026sit quietly in the church without Holy Spirit words burning bright and hot in our souls.\u00a0 No! When I read Rachel\u2019s book,\u00a0 God showed me He made her to be a hard question asker who creates room at the table for all Jesus seekers<\/a>.\u00a0 He also made the spicy Jen Hatmaker,<\/a> the poetic Jesus Feminist Sarah Bessey<\/a>, the in your-face-truth-teller Grace Biskie<\/a>, the Story-telling Elora<\/a>, the brave mama Jessica Kelley<\/a>, and the mousey Shalom-y me (who loves her some Sasha Fierce<\/a>).<\/p>\n
\nSo I went Eshet chayil<\/em> crazy.<\/p>\n
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