Reformed SHEology

SHEologians,

I want to share something with you that has brought such growth and heightened my affections for Jesus over the years--sermons about Him! Faith comes by hearing. We hear when we read the Word and we certainly hear when we listen to God's Word preached by gifted men and women.

One of my favorites in heavy rotation is Arturo Arzurdia, founder, of Spirit Empowered Preaching. I'd like to put you all on to him. He has a robust sermon catalog. I'd like to suggest a few as must listens. If you have an ipod, then download and if you can, listen online while you work--which is what I do. CLICK HERE to scroll the catalog. Here are some of my favorites:

• The Ruth Series (a must listen for single women, the insight's oh my--bangin!)
• The Genesis Series (oh my!)
• A Clarion Call To A Worldly Christianity
• Successful or Faithful Shattering the Dichotomy

To whet your appetite, here are a couple of penetrating excerpts from the Ruth Series. These quotes are found at “The Proposal” message, expounding on chapter 3:1-18.

Bro. Arturo shares the following insight about Boaz’s disposition, Ruth 3:7:

...aren’t you glad to know, Beloved, that authentic spirituality is not defined
as a dour, somber, sullen, heavy disposition? Asceticism has no place in
the life of a person who is in covenant with the happy God. Sometimes, my
friends, the people in the Bible make us nervous and uncomfortable because they tend to defy the very ways we have sought to define holiness…

Has Bro. Arturo read the SHEology treatise(s) on modesty and all the error/imbalances that come with it? Ponder Bro. Arturo’s insights on Naomi’s instructions to Ruth in preparation for her providential meeting with Boaz:

…here is the first step in the plan—take a bath. After all we are
not hyper-Calvinist here, let’s not put God’s sovereignty to a foolish
test. You want to make a positive impression on a man and you smell badly?
Take a bath. (She’s been gleaning, by the way) Step two, put on some
perfume. Step three, put on your prettiest clothes—those sandals that
match it so perfectly. Now friends there is a sense in which I’m teasing
and a sense in which I’m dead earnest. It is true that Naomi’s goal is not
merely to make Ruth alluring but it most certainly includes this. Aren’t you
glad to know that spirituality is not an excuse for gaudiness and frumpiness….?

There are so many to choose from.....whatever suits your fancy simply scroll through and take your pick. A sermon a day keeps the enemies (of your soul) away :)

Happy Listening!

Early last month, I endorsed a particular blog in the comments section of one of my old posts. I read an excellent article by another blogger in reference to an issue that I am very passionate about. The author concluded the article with the question, "What do you, the readers think?" I replied via comment on the other blog, thanking the author for addressing the topic. I also provided a link back to my own article on the subject, in an effort to foster more discussion from his readers. Mind you, I was not giving a random link back to my own site just for the sake of promoting my own blog -- I was giving a specific link to one specific article I wrote, an article which is dear to my heart, and one which I thought would contribute further insight for people looking for answers.

My comment was rejected.

Before posting my comment, I was careful to make sure that external links are allowed (and they are). I had written nothing offensive. In fact, my intention was 1) Praise for the author; and 2) An offer to help stimulate discussion by linking back to my own article. Yet, my comment was never published. To add insult to injury, the author chose to publish some very offensive comments, including one man's suggestion that men should not get involved with women over a certain age if they plan on having a lot of children. Needless to say, the worldly nature of this discussion, coupled with its selfish, sexist attitude toward sisters in Christ made me angry!

This experience caused me to reconsider my own endorsement of this particular blog and revoke my previous comment issuing a "kudos" to the author in question. Perhaps that was childish of me. Perhaps I should still congratulate this blogger for his choice to address a subject I feel is important, even though he chose to reject my contribution to the discussion. But I can't.

This particular blog is sponsored by a very famous ministry. Dare I assign motive to this ministry? Could it be that they were threatened by my article? Am I conceited enough to think that? Or am I simply too familiar with the sin of pride that I recognize it right away when I see it in others? In any case, I was given no answers, so I am left with my assumptions that the only reason my comment was not published on the site is because I linked back to my own (even though external links are allowed). And if that's the case, I'm going to confess to everyone out there in blog land that I had fallen into the sin of anger over that. While my anger has ceased and my sin confessed, my concern about why I was originally angry has not.

There are times when I suspect that certain ministries become too big for their britches. Instead of wanting to truly foster fruitful discussions that might help others come to a decision about an issue they are struggling with, these blogs are more about keeping certain ideas local to themselves. In other words, "we don't want anyone else getting the credit for these insights, so let's not publish this link. That way, we continue being seen as the experts on this subject."

Are your articles intended to help others see what an awesome God we serve, or are they designed to help your readers see what an awesome writer you are?I have absolutely no reason to believe that this particular ministry falls into this category other than a strong, intuitive suspicion. And yes, I know that assigning motive to someone else's heart is a dangerous thing to do. I realize and acknowledge that my heart is just as deceitful and sinful as anyone else's. Yet I can't shake the suspicion that had I simply lavished praise on the author and left it at that, my comment would have been published. Regardless, this is a large and popular ministry -- one that will never write me back or explain why they chose to reject my comment, and I could go on forever speculating without any real proof. So I am not going to push my accusations further. But I do want to raise the following question to all you Christian bloggers out there (including myself):

Why are you blogging?

Honestly ask yourself that question. What are you blogging for? Is it for God's glory, or your own? Has everything you've published been led by the Holy Spirit, or your own flesh? Are your articles intended to help others see what an awesome God we serve, or are they designed to help your readers see what an awesome writer you are?

I'd like to think that I'm not above the "nobody bloggers" out there. Truly, in the two and a half years that Reformed SHEology has been in existence, I have chosen to reject only one comment. (It was written by a local friend who had a personal issue with me and chose to address it on my blog, which I felt was inappropriate.) I'd like to think that I'm not conceited in that I'd welcome anyone who was gracious enough to comment on what I've written here. Then again, there is another part of me is seriously questioning why I once heralded that other ministry in the first place. And in doing so, I realize that I am not above doing what was done to me. You see, there was a time when I wanted to write for the very same blog that recently rejected my comment. And there is only one reason why I wanted to write for them: because they are a big, famous blog. Shame on me!

Father, forgive me for wanting to write for a big, famous blog, when You have given me a voice right here. Not only have You given me a voice, but the freedom of creative control over this site, and the liberty to write as You direct, and not as some editor-in-chief directs me. May I never grow prideful of the following You have given me. May I never write for numbers, but for Your glory. May I always realize that there are millions of others out there with good things to say -- things You have placed on their hearts, and that I am not the only one with a voice to proclaim Your glory. May I never shut down the voices of those to whom You have given similar insights. You speak through all of us, not just me.

I would humbly like to thank our readers, our followers, our supporters, and our God for allowing us to have this blog at all. I thank you all for your kind words of encouragement over the past two and a half years. You inspire me to continue sharing for your edification, and not my own. My prayer is that I may continue to encourage you, the person I have never met, whether you have made yourself known to me or not, and that I may see myself as your servant whenever I push the publish button. That has not always been the case, but if you see new articles here less and less often than you used to, please know it is in an effort to place emphasis on glorifying God, rather than catering to our readers.

God be praised.

For a good, solid decade or so, I prided myself on being one of those strong, independent types who didn't need to depend on anybody but myself. Relationships were for crybabies. In fact, anything that involved feelings and emotions was a waste of my time. I had ambition. I was driven. I didn't have time for men, especially since I thought men had been given an unfair advantage. Why should I help them? What did they ever do for me? No, I was a Christian, and everyone knows that Christians don't need anyone but God. Little did I know, God was about to hold a mirror up to my face and force me to see what I had been avoiding for a long time: my pride. What you are looking at right now is the product of my repentance.

A BLOG IS BORN
When I started this blog, I had no idea what I was doing, and quite frankly, I was nervous to put my thoughts on the web where anybody can read them. In fact, the only reason I started this blog was because in October 2007 I had been asked to deliver a presentation to women at an evangelism conference. We ran out of time at the conference so I only had ten minutes to give a forty-five minute presentation. I didn't want all the work I had done on this topic to go to waste, so I prayed about what I should do with it. At first I thought I'd just make a resource-based website. I didn't think a blog was a good idea, because I honestly thought I'd run out of things to write about. Nevertheless, I felt the Lord impress upon my heart to open a Blogger account and just write. So I did.

OUR FIRST READERS
This site was officially lauched on November 2, 2007. (Don't be fooled by all those October 2007 posts. Those were added much later on, as web pages. I don't consider them to be real posts.) Because I was shy about putting myself out there on the internet, I only shared the link with one individual, Kurt Michaelson, our very first reader. Kurt was very supportive, so I got up the courage to share it with some others. Before long, we slowly aquired a handful of readers.

THE SITE TAKES "SHAPE"
Meanwhile, I began praying for a blogging partner. I specifically asked God for someone who is married (because I'm single), someone with children (because I don't have any) and someone who is really passionate about the subject matter. In January 2008, Geraldine Davidson found the site through one of my online profiles. She fit the criteria I had been praying for and so I asked her to come on board as a contributor. We still did not have a solid direction, but were just seeking God's face on both the site's design and content. Over the next few months, I spent hours every weekend tinkering with the code and the layout of the blog. Then one night in April 2008, I saw a movie on television that would inspire the format of our content.

The themes of the month were a gift from God on two levels. First, they guaranteed us something to write about. (We discovered this truth after temporarily abandoning the theme of the month in August. The result: writer's block!) Secondly, the theme provided us with a protective boundary. Over the last several months, much has happened in our lives, not all of it good. There were times I was tempted to vent my frustration publicly and use this site as a vehicle to discuss my personal issues. The only thing stopping me at those times was that the situations I wanted to write about did not coincide with the theme of the month. I cannot tell you how many times I've said to Geraldine, "PRAISE GOD I did not publish that!" God is so good. I find that God will give me themes up to two months in advance (we already have December's theme and film planned for you). And it helps to know in advance what we are writing about and commit to that as it prevents us from going off topic and writing as our circumstances dictate.

THE PIECES FALL INTO PLACE
At this time, we were still praying for an overall layout to tie everything together. For a while we used a flower theme (you may remember our tagline, "Biblical Womanhood in Full Bloom"). We also toyed with using the butterfly as a symbol of spritual transformation in our lives. But in my heart I knew God had something else in mind. I spent hours searching the web for ideas. In July we settled on our third (and current) template. Again, it was a gift from The Lord. The use of both moving and still pictures gave way to our current tagline, "Biblical Womanhood in Living Color." Between the layout design and the monthly theme, the blog was starting to take on a "magazine" feel. We were finally starting to see this thing take shape!

A SPECIAL THANK YOU
We want to thank everyone who has supported us and encouraged us over the past year. Thanks to all of our faithful readers (you know who you are), those of you who have linked to us, recommended us to others, and commented on our thoughts. I continue to be amazed at the positive reception we have received, especially from those of you we have never met.

I never had any intention of starting a blog, but it seems God had other plans. I have derived much joy and experienced significant growth since taking on this project, and I'd like to take this time to thank you, our readers, for your support and words of encouragement. And with that, I pray God will allow us to serve you for another year, perhaps more!

This past weekend was the first ever Revive Our Hearts' True Woman Conference held in Schaumburg, Illinois. The conference drew over 6,300 women and was simultaneously streamed via webcast to over 3,000 internet connections!

After returning from the conference for two days, I still do not have words to express or describe what the experience was like. The speakers were so powerful I am still digesting what I took in. However, if I review my notes, I can definitely see several points that were applicable to our ministry here at Reformed SHEology and so I'd like to share them with you:

1) "Wimpy theology makes wimpy women" - John Piper. This is so true! Bad theology has indeed had a profound effect on women. Either we reject the Bible and embrace femininity, or we reject the Bible and embrace legalism.

2) "In every situation, God is always doing a thousand different things that you cannot see and you do not know" - John Piper. This is encouraging in light of the times when we are called to obey or submit and it doesn't seem as though our efforts to honor God are really making a difference.

3) "A true woman says, Yes, Lord" - Nancy Leigh DeMoss. This is a helpful reminder for those times when we are tempted to do our own will. A true woman of God will say yes to God by saying no to other things.

4) "Stop listening to yourself and start talking to yourself" - Karen Lorritts. This is a modified version of the popular phrase, "Preach the gospel to yourself." When we are tempted to allow the enemy to fill our heads with lies, we listen to those lies. The cure for this is to stop listening, and start talking -- tell yourself out loud the great things God has done.

5) "The opposite of fear is love, not courage, because you expend yourself and serve others in spite of your fear" - Carolyn McCulley. I thought this was extremely apropos in light of my own personal testimony concerning my singleness. If you are unfamiliar with my story, you can review this post or just stay tuned for next month's theme, "Testimony."

6) "A home is a mission field, not a place to be decorated" - Carolyn McCulley. This statement also echoes much of what we feel about womanhood, as illustrated in this entry.

7) "We are in a battle" - Nancy Leigh DeMoss. This is the one truth that serves as the sole purpose of our blog. We are in a battle to protect and preserve the holy design ordained by God which is under attack by the institution of feminism.

One of the most interesting parts of the entire weekend was learning that in 1977, a federally funded feminist "consciousness raising" conference was held in the Chicago area! The event drew only 200 women, but it changed the face of feminine thought throughout our society as each woman pledged to tell just two friends about what she had learned. Now, 21 years later, over 6,300 women attended the Revive Our Hearts event in an effort to take back what the enemy has stolen. The conference ended with an inspiring ceremony as the True Woman Manifesto was read aloud and signed by all the attendees. If you'd like to read or sign the Manifesto, click here. We have also adopted the True Woman Manifesto as the official Reformed SHEology Statement of Faith, and have modified our "About This Site" page to include this information.

The entire conference was wildly successful and should Revive Our Hearts host True Woman events on a regular (perhaps annual) basis, I would highly recommend you do everything in your power to get there. If you would like a taste of what we experienced this weekend, you can visit the True Woman website for additional resources and information regarding the True Woman movement. Also, I highly recommend the following three messages which I personally thought were the most powerful. They are now available for download:

Session 3: Mary Kassian
Session 5: Janet Parshall
Session 8: Nancy Leigh DeMoss

You can listen to these messages by clicking here.

I would also like to extend a friendly welcome and hello to Ellen from Illinois, Anna from Nebraska, and Maryann from Texas -- three ladies with whom I had the pleasure of sharing brief conversation at various intervals. I'd like to say a special thank you to Maryann, whose testimony about leading her father to Christ after praying for 20 years blessed me tremendously!

God has blessed me so much through the creation of this blog. It is hard to believe that a year ago I was steeped in anger, and when I consider how God has taken my sin and turned it into this website, I am just speechless. And not 24 hours ago, one of our readers, Natasa of Croatia, asked permission to set some of my words to a music video. The following is taken from Helper By Design, one of the very first posts ever published on Reformed SHEology:



This is just beautiful! Never in a million years would I have thought that this blog would have such an impact on so many people, myself included. I just wanted to take a brief moment to extend my thanks to Geraldine for offering her insights to this site as a wife and mother, and to our readers (both of you). Okay, I'm just kidding. I know there are more than two people who read this blog. But seriously, I just wanted to take a moment to genuinely thank each one of you who reads the posts and/or has left encouraging words for us via your comments. In past months when I felt discouraged, this blog was one of the few things that brought me joy. Each person who has been touched by what has been written here has given greater meaning to those experiences that inspired the corresponding posts. Thank you again to everyone for your support.

This has truly been a work of God in my life, so naturally I would like to express my gratitude to Him for rescuing me from myself, changing my heart and teaching me the beauty of true femininity.

Soli Deo Gloria!