unorthodox

Lessons from Mahlah and her sisters on the first step to self-advocacy

Lessons from Mahlah and her sisters on the first step to self-advocacy

In August 2017 I wrote an article called “Lessons from 5 Rebel Girls of the Bible”

Which you can access here, sis

Among those that got an honourable mention were Mahlah and her 4 sisters- Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah

To summarise Numbers 27:1-11, they were the daughters of Zelophehad and when he died they advocated for themselves regarding their inheritance

by standing

“before Moses, before Eleazar the priest, and before the leaders and all the congregation, by the doorway of the tabernacle of meeting, saying: 'Our father died in the wilderness...and he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be removed from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among our father’s brothers'"

Causing God to instruct Moses to give it to them

Like it literally says that, when Moses brought their case before the Lord, He spoke to him saying:

“The daughters of Zelophehad speak what is right; you shall surely give them a possession of inheritance among their father’s brothers, and cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them."

Which shows that God is an advocate of women's rights, equality and leadership- despite what we may have traditionally been taught

Lessons from Zipporah on how to be a trailblazer

Lessons from Zipporah on how to be a trailblazer

One of the many things that fascinates me about Zipporah, as told in Numbers 12, is that she was a foreshadow of what was to come

How?

Although she was not Hebrew by birth, her marriage to Moses grafted her in to their society and heritage (the blessing of Abraham) in the same way that Jesus’ death, resurrection and our faith in it has done for us

(just as Romans 11 explains in more detail).

In other words, Zipporah was a trailblazer

which is “a person who is a pioneer in any field or endeavour”

Because she blazed the trail that we, as modern women, would need to have fellowship with God.

Zipporah’s pioneer status also teaches us a valuable lesson about what it takes to be the change you want to see in the world and take a stand, as we’ve been talking about in the last few weeks i.e.

Lessons from Zipporah on how to be the change you want to see

Lessons from Zipporah on how to be the change you want to see

In my most recent blog post I talked about the importance of taking a stand with your messaging, even if it’s polarising

You can read that here if you missed it, sis

The truth is, though, that sometimes your presence can be polarising not just because of what you say- but who you are

Don’t believe me?

Just look at Zipporah

Number’s 12:1 is very explicit about the fact that “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married…”. In other words-

They disliked her, not because of the content of her character, but because she was a minority

The worst part?

How to balance career and family as a mother with Lauren Whitworth

How to balance career and family as a mother with Lauren Whitworth

In today's interview, I will be talking about how to balance career and family as a mother with the amazing Lauren Whitworth (of Laurenwhitworth.ca). 

By the end of this video you will know:

  • Whether women can have it all (i.e can they thrive as career/business women as well as mothers) and how?
  • How to bust through the myth of (achieving) balance to manage the "tensions" in your life
  • How to be more present with your children (using Lauren's 10 minute interval method)
  • 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 esther on how purpose helps us achieve our goals

In the last few weeks, we have been studying purpose- particularly as it relates to Esther. So far we have discussed what she teaches us about:

As I've been studying and writing about her, one of the things that struck me about the story of Esther is that it's typically portrayed as a Cinderella story or fairytale. What do I mean by that, you may be wondering? I mean that, in my experience, people tend to focus on:

  • Her beauty
  • Her chastity 
  • How gracious and submissive she must have been for choosing to wear what the king liked, unlike all the other virgins (Esther 2:15)
  • The fact that she was chosen to be the king's wife (going from rags to riches)

However, as stated in one of my previous devotionals on her, she was more than just the king's trophy wife. Esther was fierce! Think about it. She knew that going before the king without permission could get her killed, but she was willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice for her people (death) if it meant that they might live (Esther 4:11).

In just focusing on her afore-mentioned attributes, without any mention of her bravery, willingness to break protocol and fight, we do both Esther and modern women a disservice (particularly little girls). This is because that version of her story:

  • Exacerbates the problem of limited female representation (in terms of how little we are spoken of generally and in what contexts we are spoken about when we are discussed, particularly where the matriarchs of the faith are concerned)
  • Objectification of women's bodies (either as weapons for "tempting godly men" or for the sole purpose of pleasing them) 
  • Depreciation of women's roles and identity 

Also, we miss yet another lesson that Esther teaches us about purpose- how essential it can be in helping us achieve our goals. For example:

Lessons from 30 amazing Women of the Bible

Lessons from 30 amazing Women of the Bible

This week (October 3rd to be exact) was my birthday and- it wasn't just any birthday- it was my 30th! Also, although I didn't actually make it public until late November, this month will mark a year since I started this blog with a view to:

  • Raise the profile of the contributions of the women of the Bible and how the lessons contained in these can be practically applied in our modern spiritual walks
  • Empower Christian women to fully embrace their unique identities and purpose in Christ, free of the stereotypes and traditions that can "so easily best" us

To celebrate, I am going to share my top 30 women of the Bible along with what they taught me either about Christian womanhood/femininity or life in general. So, in alphabetical order, here goes!

An Interview with Felicity Dale on Deborah

An Interview with Felicity Dale on Deborah

Today's interview feature comes from Felicity Dale of Simplychurch.com, where she writes about house churches and the role of women within the Kingdom of God. May her insights on Deborah and what we, as modern women of God, can learn from her bless you as you read.

Lessons from 5 Rebel Girls of the Bible

Lessons from 5 Rebel Girls of the Bible

This blog post was originally featured on Rising Tswana.

 

Recently I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed when I came across a video from Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo (of Rebelgirls.co) called “If Cinderella were a Guy”. Through this video, they highlight the fact that women are impacted by misogyny as early as childhood for the following reasons:  

which then give way to confidence issues by the time most girls reach primary or elementary school- more so than boys. In answer to the question of why this is so, Favilli and Cavallo pose one of their own: 

“They say that ‘If you can see it, you can be it.’ But what happens if you never see someone like you making the headlines? What happens when all that you see around you is movies, cartoons, books and TV shows dominated by men?” 

To counteract this, they created a book called “Goodnight Stories of Rebel Girls”- a collection of: 

“100 stories of real women who have achieved incredible things, despite all odds [because] every girl… deserves to grow up thinking that she can be anything she wants.” 

When I saw this video it instantly resonated with me. This, I noted, is definitely a problem in the secular world but it is also a problem within the church. Christian women therefore not only have to navigate systemic sexism such as gender pay gaps, mansplaining and rape culture, they also have  the added baggage of the misogyny that occurs within church, which includes the:  

  • Exacerbation of the problem of limited female representation (in terms of how little we are spoken of generally and in what contexts we are spoken about when we are discussed, particularly where the matriarchs of the faith are concerned)
  • Objectification of women's bodies (either as weapons for "tempting godly men" or for the sole purpose of pleasuring our husbands and having their babies) 
  • Depreciation of women's roles and identity (hence the continued debates around female leadership and preachers, and the idea that being a wife and mother is the "ultimate stamp of womanhood")  

All of these issues were highlighted via this recent article. Issues which I am personally acquainted with and served as both the frustration and inspiration behind launching this website last year.  

This website has allowed me the pleasure of challenging these stereotypes by interviewing a diverse range of Christian women from all walks of life (globally). I also continue to achieve this by discussing the “rebel girls” of the Bible through my weekly devotionals- women who shift traditional paradigms surrounding (Christian) femininity, such as: