For Women in Crisis: Power for the Weak
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might
He increases strength.
~ Isaiah 40:28-29
There are so many dear women in crisis around me. Mental, emotional, spiritual and physical crisis. Some people believe that you can solve everything with diet and exercise. There are many who promote homeopathic remedies. Some believe that counseling, medical help and prescriptions will do the trick. Others believe that prayer and fasting will bring a cure. My own distresses, and the distresses of my friends, do have many contributing factors. I do not dismiss beneficial advice and helps out of hand. In fact, I heartily and enthusiastically encourage healthful changes in diet and exercise and believe that giving homeopathic remedies a try. Doctors and naturopaths, and prescription meds have their place and can (and DO) serve to provide genuine assistance with human maladies. However, I tend to believe that these agonies of mind, body and soul are the result of the compounded devastation of the fall and the awful reaping of multi-millenia of sin upon humanity, and individually. As women we are designed by our Creator to be particularly sensitive to danger and uncertainty. We are weaker vessels (I Peter 3:7). By our very nature we are more vulnerable to the vicissitudes of life than men. We are wired to be the responders and nurturers of those around us, but especially of our children and the children of others. We are "keepers" of the home. We are keenly aware of the evil and dangers around us, that threaten us, and our family. Things are not as they should be. We KNOW that. This world is broken. It is not our home. The whole world groans and travails, It reaches as "far as the curse is found." We have a fight or flight mechanism that goes off all the time. Why? Because there are so many real and perceived threats to our safety. Red flag sirens of "DANGER" go off as clanging alarms in our souls. Women are always trying to anticipate the next bad thing and prepare for it (or do whatever it takes to PREVENT, ALLEVIATE or AVOID it.)
Ladies, am I telling it true?
This is not just a female problem.
It's a human problem.
It's a human condition.
For the creation was subjected to futility,
not willingly,
but because of Him who subjected it,
in hope.
Because the creature itself
also shall be delivered
from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation
groans and travails in pain together until now.
And not only the creation,
but ourselves also,
which have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
For we are saved by hope:
but hope that is SEEN is not hope:
for who hopes for what he already sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see,
we wait for it with patience.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness and infirmities.
For we do not know what to pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us
with groanings too deep for words.
And He who searches hearts
knows what is the mind of the Spirit,
because the Spirit intercedes for the saints
according to the will of God.
~ Romans 8:20-27
For those who belong to Christ through the new birth, we can have confidence that we will learn what the Savior wants to teach us and those we love, through our joys and our afflictions. The Lord is our Good Shepherd. He will lead & guide us with His rod & staff, by His Holy Spirit's help.
And yet, many of us women, even those of us who love and depend upon Jesus Christ, can relate to Hamlet's soliloquy of angst:
"To be, or not to be - that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them.
To die - to sleep -
No more;
and by a sleep
to say we end
the heartache,
and the thousand natural shocks
that flesh is heir to. "
Reminds me of the old commercial of a harried woman in a bubble bath, saying:
"Calgon, take me away".
We long to escape the frightening reality and calamitous possibilies of life, don't we?
May we find rest, comfort, power and peace in Jesus, our Rock, and receive the necessary moment-by-moment strength, wisdom and grace we need to bear the slings and arrows of our earthy pilgrimage.
We are aliens.
We are sojourners.
We are pilgrims.
This is not our home.
But our Redeemer knows the way home.
Let us sing through our pilgrimage:
Through many dangers,
toils and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace has brought me
safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.
~ John Newton
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might
He increases strength.
~ Isaiah 40:28-29
There are so many dear women in crisis around me. Mental, emotional, spiritual and physical crisis. Some people believe that you can solve everything with diet and exercise. There are many who promote homeopathic remedies. Some believe that counseling, medical help and prescriptions will do the trick. Others believe that prayer and fasting will bring a cure. My own distresses, and the distresses of my friends, do have many contributing factors. I do not dismiss beneficial advice and helps out of hand. In fact, I heartily and enthusiastically encourage healthful changes in diet and exercise and believe that giving homeopathic remedies a try. Doctors and naturopaths, and prescription meds have their place and can (and DO) serve to provide genuine assistance with human maladies. However, I tend to believe that these agonies of mind, body and soul are the result of the compounded devastation of the fall and the awful reaping of multi-millenia of sin upon humanity, and individually. As women we are designed by our Creator to be particularly sensitive to danger and uncertainty. We are weaker vessels (I Peter 3:7). By our very nature we are more vulnerable to the vicissitudes of life than men. We are wired to be the responders and nurturers of those around us, but especially of our children and the children of others. We are "keepers" of the home. We are keenly aware of the evil and dangers around us, that threaten us, and our family. Things are not as they should be. We KNOW that. This world is broken. It is not our home. The whole world groans and travails, It reaches as "far as the curse is found." We have a fight or flight mechanism that goes off all the time. Why? Because there are so many real and perceived threats to our safety. Red flag sirens of "DANGER" go off as clanging alarms in our souls. Women are always trying to anticipate the next bad thing and prepare for it (or do whatever it takes to PREVENT, ALLEVIATE or AVOID it.)
Ladies, am I telling it true?
This is not just a female problem.
It's a human problem.
It's a human condition.
For the creation was subjected to futility,
not willingly,
but because of Him who subjected it,
in hope.
Because the creature itself
also shall be delivered
from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation
groans and travails in pain together until now.
And not only the creation,
but ourselves also,
which have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
For we are saved by hope:
but hope that is SEEN is not hope:
for who hopes for what he already sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see,
we wait for it with patience.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness and infirmities.
For we do not know what to pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us
with groanings too deep for words.
And He who searches hearts
knows what is the mind of the Spirit,
because the Spirit intercedes for the saints
according to the will of God.
~ Romans 8:20-27
For those who belong to Christ through the new birth, we can have confidence that we will learn what the Savior wants to teach us and those we love, through our joys and our afflictions. The Lord is our Good Shepherd. He will lead & guide us with His rod & staff, by His Holy Spirit's help.
And yet, many of us women, even those of us who love and depend upon Jesus Christ, can relate to Hamlet's soliloquy of angst:
"To be, or not to be - that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them.
To die - to sleep -
No more;
and by a sleep
to say we end
the heartache,
and the thousand natural shocks
that flesh is heir to. "
Reminds me of the old commercial of a harried woman in a bubble bath, saying:
"Calgon, take me away".
We long to escape the frightening reality and calamitous possibilies of life, don't we?
May we find rest, comfort, power and peace in Jesus, our Rock, and receive the necessary moment-by-moment strength, wisdom and grace we need to bear the slings and arrows of our earthy pilgrimage.
We are aliens.
We are sojourners.
We are pilgrims.
This is not our home.
But our Redeemer knows the way home.
Let us sing through our pilgrimage:
Through many dangers,
toils and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace has brought me
safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.
~ John Newton
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