I would like to dedicate my Feminine Friday to Sarah Palin. I know that I am not the only one who feels sadness over the election results...one of my biggest disappointments is that Sarah Palin was not voted to be in the White House. I still pray for her continually and am watching for how God is going to use her now...
But this blog is not about politics. It is about Sarah herself- and how she has inspired me as a woman.
Let me begin by saying that I do not think just any woman would be able to do what she was hoping to- be the Vice President of a country and raise a family. I believe a woman can only do both things well if she is called by God and does her work through His grace. So, I am not writing this blog in any attempts to suggest that we should raise our daughters to think less of mothers who are stay at home mommies. I am one of them:)
But, we need to realize that firstly, mothers who work outside the home while raising a family should not be judged because God calls and equips us for various things (although I hope that any mother who does do both prayerfully does so and remembers that her family is her priority); and secondly, I believe God would have all His daughters cultivate their intelligence and knowledge whether or not they stay at home or are balancing a career and a family.
I love this quote written on the front page of "Team Sarah": "If Governor Sarah Palin's historic candidacy proved anything, it is that women can meet these challenges without sacrificing their femininity. And thanks to Gov, Palin's leadership, there are more women in this battle than ever before. The very women whom the women's movement had convinced were invisible now know their power."
That is always one thing I admired deeply about Sarah Palin. She was meeting the challenges that God put before her, but in doing so did not sacrifice her femininity. She has remained a woman with a compassionate and tender heart; a wife with a beautiful love for her husband; and a mother who cherishes her children and all children. Sarah Palin is an amazing role model for our daughters, and for ourselves! I know that she is not perfect, as no human is, but it is evident that she has not neglected any part of her womanhood.
*I love how she is a "toucher" like my humble self:)
1)Our spiritual life is the MOST important. Sarah loves God deeply and has chosen to follow Him with all her heart. She committed her life to God when a young teenager, and never turned back.
2)As we grow in our intimacy with God, our character should reveal Who it is we follow. Sarah is a woman that exemplifies integrity, hard work, and courage in what she does. Although it is obvious that she has kept a soft feminine heart (one that shows love and mercy and warmth) at the same time she reminds us that a true feminine heart is also strong. How so? Strength of character. Strength of will. An amazing secret to life is that a woman can only keep her heart soft if she is a strong woman. It takes incredible strength and trust in God to remain vulnerable and open as a woman.
3)Sarah has obviously also cultivated her intelligence. I have started reading a biography about Governor Palin and I discovered that since a little girl, she has loved to read newspapers. She would read from the top to the bottom, from the upper left corner down to the lower right, every word. She loved to read books in general. Our intelligence can be cultivated. It does not matter if we are working outside the home or not, God wants us to be women of knowledge and women of sound thinking. He gave us brains to use!! We need to keep learning, and keep using our brains- remember if you don't use it you lose it LOL! Never stop reading books. Do not say that you don't have the time. Cultivate your intelligence in any way God shows you to...but don't neglect it.
4)Another area we may neglect is our physical bodies. A chrisitan may say that inner beauty is all that matters. Well, if one has a beautiful form but is not beautiful in spirit, the end result is pretty ugly. Yet, we have no excuse to neglect our outward beauty. Yes, we need to be healthy. We need to stay in shape for health reasons. But we must not forget the importance of beauty. In the book Captivating, it was written that nature is primarily beautiful, not primarily useful. A woman who takes care of her body shows the world much about the beauty of God:) Next week I think I will be writing about this topic more in depth. Sarah Palin is obviously physically beautiful. She works hard to maintain her feminine figure. She works out; she has run marathons. She inspires me as I am still working on losing at least ten pounds, although fifteen may be ideal.
In these ways, Sarah has shown us women that we can all have faith in our precious Lord- a faith that is strong enough to allow our feminine hearts to flow out tenderly and a faith that is strong enough for us to stand firm in godly character whether or not those around us are. Sarah has shown us that a godly woman can be quite intelligent, since of course God is the one who gave us women intricate and amazing brains. Sarah has also shown us that you can have so much inner beauty but now allow your beauty to end there, on the inside!
In my humble opinion, Sarah Palin is an all out amazing and inspiring example of true femininity!
Lastly, I want to comment on the last sentence in the quote I shared above:
"The very women whom the women's movement had convinced were invisible now know their power."
God has given us women power, love and a sound mind! I am thankful for feminists of yesterday who fought for my right to vote on Tuesday. The first feminists were against abortion. They believed women should have the rights a man has, but they also believed a human soul in his mother's womb has rights.
Well, us christian women believe the same. I am sure all of my readers believe that a woman has the same God given rights as a man. (I am not speaking now of husbands and wives and the beautiful gift of submission). I am speaking of men and women in general. Yet, we also recognize that an infant inside of a woman is also a human with rights. This is the type of women we are: pro-woman but also pro-life. Sarah Palin has been a long time member of a group called "Feminists for Life", a group that believes in a woman's rights but also in the rights of the unborn.
Well guess what? We are NOT invisible! Praise our dear Father, we women who believe as Sarah does are not invisible! We do indeed have a God-given power to fight for the rights of both women and the unborn, in all humility:) Sarah Palin has indeed shown us it can be done, if we doubted before. So, ladies, let us be inspired and learn from her example all the ways God can move through a woman who loves Him with all her heart!
And let us keep fighting for the precious babies that are being murdered...one of the most motherly, feminine things we can do is fight for them!
