love

How to win the dating game as a woman with Stacii Jae Johnson

How to win the dating game as a woman with Stacii Jae Johnson

In today's interview, I will be talking about how to win the dating game with amazing dating and relationship "fixer" Stacii Jae Johnson (of Staciijaejohnson.com). 

By the end of this video you will know:

  • How women can feel more empowered during the dating process
  • The key reasons women should date multiple men (without intimacy) to find the one
  • How women can develop self-love and set boundaries while dating
  • And much more!

Sound like your cup of tea, lovely?

Great! You can do whatever it is you need to do to get comfortable and press play to access this awesome conversation, below:

Lessons from Naomi on How to Overcome Fear of Failure

Lessons from Naomi on How to Overcome Fear of Failure

Naomi, like Orpah, is first mentioned in the first chapter of the Book of Ruth. She was Orpah and Ruth's mother-in-law before her 2 sons (who were their husbands) died. What killed them was a famine that swept Moab and had also been responsible for Naomi's husband's death prior to this point.

The irony and saddest part about this situation is that Naomi and her husband had originally moved to Moab from Bethlehem years earlier to escape a famine that had swept that land. As such, by the time we meet her in Ruth 1, Naomi is grief-stricken and ready to return back to Bethlehem (especially because she had heard that the famine there was over).

Apart from being struck by the many lessons that can be gleaned from Orpah within this chapter about:

I also have new insights from Naomi about the fear of failure and how to overcome it.

Lessons from the Shulamite Woman on God's Timing

Lessons from the Shulamite Woman on God's Timing

Unlike most of the women that we have studied so far, The Shulamite Woman is a fictional character. She is featured in The Song of Solomon as one of the main protagonists alongside her “beloved”. This book of the Bible is an extended piece of lyrical poetry written by King Solomon which, on the surface, appears to be about romantic love (although, like most scriptures about love and marriage, it also contains some parallels between these and Christ’s relationship with the church). As such, The Shulamite Woman has much to teach us- not only about this topic- but adhering to God’s timing.

Lessons from the Church on (Mutual) Submission

Lessons from the Church on (Mutual) Submission

Did you know that the church is a woman? Well, she is! As detailed in my guidebook, The Ultimate Guide to Eve, Jesus is referred to as “the bridegroom” many times in scripture (John 3:29; Mark 2:19-20). Marriage symbolism is also used in relation to Him on several occasions (John 14:1-3; Ephesians 5:25-27), including the analogy of the church as Christ’s “bride” (2nd Corinthians 11:2; Revelations 19:7-9). 

Most people tend to think of church as simply being a building in which people worship God. Whilst this is true, the fact remains that the church is not just simply made up of bricks and mortar, but the people that comprise His network of believers (Ephesians 2:19-22; 1st Peter 2:4-5). As such, Ephesians 5 verse 22 says:

"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Saviour of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything...."

Verse 32 of that same chapter then goes on to clarify:

"This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church."

One of the definitions of submission is to:

Accept or yield to a superior force or to the authority or will of another person

Hence, in a nutshell, this is how I always heard submission taught growing up-

Men are "superior" to women/their wives because "woman came from man". As such, God made each man the "head of his household". Wives should therefore submit to their husbands (unquestioningly) because that is what men are entitled to and that's what a "good" or "godly" wife does.

That's all good and well in theory but what if the man is not subject to God and so is asking his wife to sin? What if the man is controlling, manipulative and/or abusive? What is the man is negligent of his responsibilities? What if the man stops the woman from walking in her God-given purpose? I saw many female relatives come under fierce attack for not submitting to their husbands, even under such circumstances. Yet the men were never held to the same standard or scrutiny. I know many others, women especially, that have had similar experiences and upbringings. It is because of these things that the mere mention of the word "submission" can be enough to:

  • Make some women's blood boil (!)
  • Make some women prefer to remain single
  • Cause some women to see God as unjust, since His words seems to promote inequality
  • Cause some women to believe that God doesn't love them or value women in general

Hence, the afore-mentioned scripture in Ephesians, shows us that the church has much to set the record straight on with regards to this controversial topic.

Lessons from Pharaoh's Daughter on Mercy

Lessons from Pharaoh's Daughter on Mercy

In the last 2 weeks we have been studying the women that were instrumental in Moses' life. They were:

  • Shiphrah and Puah, the midwives that delivered him and spared his life (despite Pharaoh's orders)
  • Jochebed, his biological mother
  • Miriam, his sister, was also mentioned in the piece on Jochebed

Today we will be discussing his adopted mother, who was the Pharaoh's daughter.

 

Through our study of Jochebed, we talked about how Moses came to be adopted by the Pharaoh's daughter. According to Exodus 2:2-4:

"...when [Jochebed] saw that [Moses] was a beautiful child. she hid him three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river bank. And his sister (Miriam) stood afar off, to know what would be done to him"

What ended up happening is that the Pharaoh's daughter discovered Moses when she went to bathe in the river, accompanied by her maidens. However, although she realised that he was a Hebrew child, Exodus 2:6 says that "she had compassion on him" and spared his life. This was despite the fact that her father, the Pharaoh, had ordered that all Hebrew male children be killed at birth (Exodus 1:15-17). Miriam, noting her compassion, was then bold enough to approach the Pharaoh's daughter and ask if she should go and call a Hebrew woman to nurse him for her. Two remarkable things then happened:

  1. Pharaoh's daughter gave Miriam permission to find Moses a nurse, thereby preserving his life even further (Exodus 2:7-8)
  2. The woman that Miriam called was Jochebed and, not only did the Pharaoh's daughter give her permission to nurse him, she paid her to do so until he was old enough to be weaned and brought back to the palace- making Pharaoh's daughter Moses' adopted mother (Exodus 2: 8-10)

Pharaoh's daughter therefore has much to teach us about the concept of mercy. If you prefer, you can listen to the rest of this devotional via the audio below rather than continuing to read. Feel free to download and share it with your loved ones as well:

An Interview with Dija Henry on Ruth

An Interview with Dija Henry on Ruth

Today's interview feature comes from the lovely Dija Henry, an actress, writer and film maker. You can find out more about her and her exciting projects at Dijahenry.com. For now, enjoy as she discusses Ruth (her favourite woman of the Bible) and what the events of her life teach us, as modern women:

Lessons from Samson's Mother on Leading by Example

Lessons from Samson's Mother on Leading by Example

Judges 13 is all about the announcement of the birth of Samson- best known for his rendezvous with Delilah, which ultimately led to his downfall. The first person to receive the announcement of his birth from the angel of the Lord was Samson's mother (although the angel did visit a second time to make the announcement to both her and her husband after that). Within both announcements Samson's mother was also given a set of instructions.

By default of carrying Samson in her womb and receiving the angel's instructions, Samson's mother became a Nazirite. It wasn't enough that she was the vessel through which Samson entered the world to fulfill his purpose of "[delivering] Israel out of the hand of the Philistines". It also wouldn't have been enough for her to tell him what being a Nazirite involved. She had to show him by becoming one herself and leading by example...

 

An Interview with Nadia Wilder on The Woman at the Well

An Interview with Nadia Wilder on The Woman at the Well

Today's interview installment comes from Nadia Wilder of narrowpathhome.com, a self-confessed "Jesus girl, wife, mama, writer, photographer [and] taco lover". Read on as she shares her affinity with The Woman at the Well, how she fits into her own personal testimony and what we, as modern women, can learn from The Woman at the Well's story.