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Sunday, July 29, 2007
I am so excited to be able to talk to other women out there trying to figure out where they fit in the scheme of the church and their community. I loved every bit of the time I spent learning about God in my undergraduate studies and after coming out of it with a degree in theology have grown disillusioned. It seems that my degree is considered worthless by so many because I am a woman. I knew it would be hard, but it seems that until I recieve my masters my education and gifts are useless, at least that is the basic feeling I get from the church. I desire with deep intensity to go into women's ministry and do family and marriage counseling. I am really excited out going to school to do that, but I wonder if the church wants me to wait until I am 30 with a lot more degrees and experience to be able to use my giftings. I actually have the same degree as my husband and funny enough we have a lot of the same giftings, we both love to preach and teach, and are looking forward to doing marriage counseling as a team. Coming from a broken home, full of pain, and left with deep scars, I feel that there is nothing more important than healthy, whole, women who know who they are outside of others opinions. I am so blessed to have grown and healed from the experiences I had growing up, and cannot wait to help women in all the possible ways that I was helped and healed. Far too often we as women, allow the world and men to tell us our identity, and this gives a terrible distortion. I count myself blessed though, because my husband does nothing but encourage my talents, gifts and dreams, and when I feel like giving up or that I really havn't got what it takes he is my constant reminder. There are so many different views about where women fit in the church, and I wonder and may always wonder, where do I fit into it all?

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posted by pinkcounselor at 10:43 PM ¤ Permalink ¤


2 Comments:


  • At 7/30/2007 03:12:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous

    I think it is awesome that you studied theology and have a heart to do ministry in the church. I know it can be discouraging at times when some churches do not encourage women in their giftings as much. Don't give up! There are women out there making a difference and I know you can too. We need more women like yourself who can be role models to other girls that its okay for females to study theology and Bible.

    When I was growing up I never met one woman who ever went to seminary and women's ministry was all crafts and "foofy" stuff. Nothing wrong with crafts and such, but there was a sense in which women were not expected to grow deeper in their knowledge of God through studying Scripture. Theology was the man's domain.

     

  • At 8/01/2007 11:08:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous

    Some days, when people won't shake my hand because I am a woman pastor, I take a deep breath and rest secure in the conviction that my calling comes from God, in whose image I, too, am created. So by golly, they just have to grow up & deal with it!

    But some days, I let that non-handshake get between me & God & I get discouraged. Those are the days that I turn to others to keep me going. EW has been my keeper somedays, but so has Mary Magdalene all those centuries before. Those saints who have gone before us left us a legacy, and I only have to look in the eyes of the children at my church to know that I, too, have one.

    There is a spiritual sisterhood out here, even if you can't always see it. Remember, too, that God's kingdom is not found solely within the walls of the church. Keep the faith.

     
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