Bloom!

Hey ladies, It’s F-R-I-D-A-Y! As we enter into the weekend, here are some cool and noteworthy links to check out: Taking God at His Word  is this month’s FREE  audiobook . Click here  to download it.  Cbd.com has  Fab  Fridays  where you can get deals on Bibles, Christian books and Mother's Day gifts. They are also having a promotion where you can tell why you love your local church, place # iheartMYCHURCH  and have a chance to win a $1000 gift card.  Set Apart   Girl   has  the annual  conference coming up on June 3- 4, 2016. You can join them in Colorado or through simulcast. Learn more here . An encouraging quote for you: “To me, a Lady is not frilly, flowery, flippant, frivolous and fluff-brained, but she is gentle. She is gracious. She is godly and she is giving. You and I have the gift of femininity…the more womanly we are, the more manly men will be and the more God is glorified…. Be women. Be only women. Be real women in obedience to God.” – Elis

Dear sisters, The past two weeks I have heard comments from my students like "You are Teacher Joanna, right?!  Your voice sounds so strange!" or "You need to drink more water for your voice!" or my all-time favorite, "Teacher, you sound like a boy!"   Yes, I am recovering from a bad bout of bronchitis where I lost my voice.  Losing your voice as a teacher is one of the worst things ever.  I'm just thankful for friends who helped give me creative ideas on how to teach classes without speaking!  I am so glad for worksheets, coloring pages and chalkboard exercises that don't require my voice.  Another big blessing is that my students were super understanding and supportive and very well behaved! As I'm still recovering my health and my voice, it makes me grateful for all the times I have had my voice and take it for granted.  Thankfully I'm improving but in the meantime I kind of sound a little strange! Through all this,

What do you think of when you hear the phrase, "Biblical Womanhood"? Maybe it makes you smile. Maybe it makes you cringe. Maybe you picture one of the misconceptions we've written about, or another one. But does it sound powerful to you? Glorious, important, strong and beautiful? Because that, lovelies, is what it is. That is God's vision for us as His daughters. This kind of femininity is under strong attack these days. There are plenty of misconceptions and stereotypes,  and most people turn up their noses at the idea. But it's under attack because Satan knows just how powerful it can be when we delight in the way we were created. When He made us women, the capstone of His creation, it wasn't a demeaning position. To both Adam and Eve was given the command to "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Misconception #3: the unequal This particular misconception is touted around in our day by both non-believers and believers. They say that the woman is lower than the man, that she is not equal with him. They say that because of this, she must “submit” (like “the submitter”) to every man. Think of these two situations: 1) A woman is offered some help carrying a heavy load of groceries by a young man at the grocery store. Chagrined at the imposition of helplessness, she refuses the man and reasons that she is a liberated woman who is able to carry her own things. 2) A woman in college does everything that all her male friends tell her to do, thinking that it is a woman’s job to follow men. Is there something that seems odd in these two situations? The Unequal Woman can be presented in two extremes: as someone who finds herself not needing men and someone who mistakenly sees all men as people to submit to. Equality is a term that is thrown around and about these days. A l

Misconception #2: the submitter She cowers in the corner, afraid and weary. She is told by others that the Bible says that she must submit to her authority. The problem is, she and her authority don’t understand the real meaning of this “submission” word. That being the case, she is instead treated almost like a servant, being forced to “submit” to every whim from her authority. Most of us hear the word “submission” and feel like running. I’m going to be honest in saying that submission doesn’t sound like much fun. Submitting, whether it’s to your parents, boss, or husband sounds more like servant-hood than anything else. When, we hear of the submissive wife or the submissive daughter, we tend to picture a girl standing quietly, head bowed, and awaiting her next command. She lives only to serve her authority. She is quiet, fearful, and constantly working towards the next task her authority has for her to do. She does not think for herself. She does not voice her opinions. Sh

Misconception #1: the Dresser You have probably seen her before.  She is primly dressed in one of those tent-like dresses, covered from head-to-toe in an ugly fabric.  She sits all day reading her Bible and grimly quoting Scriptures.  People would say that she is a good Bible memorizer, but doesn’t know how to appropriately live out what she is speaking The Dresser tends to get stuck on the appearance of things.  She wants to look as if she knows the Bible and therefore will tend to look the part of a Biblical woman...at least, what some think is characteristic of a Biblical woman  Most likely she will be able to spout off many Bible verses, but something really important is actually missing from her life - genuinely loving the Lord and His book and truly desiring to live it out and serve Him. The Bible says that as followers of Christ, we are adopted into His family, as Romans 8:14-16 shares:    " For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. Fo

Where am I at? I put off writing this post because, honestly, I’m not sure where I’m at so I’ll do my best to give you an answer. My plans are all over the map and seem to change daily. I approached this post feeling a little guilty because by the world’s standards and even those of the modern church, I’m supposed to have it all together. I’m supposed to have some excellent plan that’s probably far superior to those of the majority of people my age…. But, I don’t and that’s actually okay.  In a few months, I’ll be graduating with my associate’s degree and I don’t have any idea where life will take me after that. Farrier School? Work with foster care children and orphans? A bachelor’s in communication? Texas? Another year at home? A bachelor’s in animal science? Vet school? Oklahoma State? Moving out? Mission work? SWOSU? Texas A&M? An Internship for the 6666 Ranch? Colorado? I honestly, have no idea right now.  You see, I’m learning that Proverbs 16:9 is completely true,