I have spent my entire life as a female . . . no surprise there. There’s times where I pull my cardigan together and feel like I’m in a dramatic movie looking out the window ready to cry. I also get super excited when my pants have deeper pockets than just fitting a…  who am I kidding? You can’t fit anything in those pockets. Hopefully I’m not the only one but I also have spent many years trying to understand why it’s so easy for my confidence to dwindle away when I don’t hit someone’s expectation of me.

As a woman of God, who has failed numerous times, who has disobeyed even more, and seems to forget who I am once in a while. I’m trying to understand. We have so many examples of how God sees women. You see the beginning of this month we have introduced to you some of the women in the Bible through our monthly devotional. I encourage you if you haven’t already to look back and read about these amazing women who have experienced Jesus and from their story we can truly see the heart of God. 

Let’s be women who walk in confidence

Now I’d love to bring your attention to Esther, a woman whose obedience to God is inspiring. Queen Esther is human, she messes up, but she is a woman of great boldness and confidence. For the longest time this book of the bible spoke to me so deeply and still does to this day. Esther’s confidence and character grows so much throughout this book as she starts off as a young girl at the age 14. She is chosen by the king because of her physical beauty. One of the famous moments we see her confidence bloom is when she rises up, risking her own life to protect her people. Knowing that there is no better moment than “such a time as this.” 

After reading this I sat back in my chair and cried. That’s sorta of a weird response, but as I put myself in the shoes of Esther I couldn’t help but cry. That moment of her risk, of her stepping out in faith, and trusting that God can do all things just like he says he can. That is confidence. More than just our outer beauty but more deeply about how we stand up, if we are going to speak out for our truth, and if we are willing. As I questioned why my confidence slowly and silently goes down from not hitting someone’s expectation of me, I realized it was because they already wrote out who I was. Living in a place of fulfilling some else’s idea and potential for me. The moment of feeling like I’m writing my story but it’s not my own anymore. As my favorite Pastor, Charles Metcalf, has said.. “Please don’t strive to live up to your potential but live OUT your purpose.” This new fresh eyes of what confidence means please don’t forget it. Live out your purpose, child of God. Daughter of the King. 

Another person in the Bible I’d love to bring attention to is the woman at the well. She would go to the well at noon to avoid being shamed because the thought of facing people is more painful than the unbearable temperature of the sun at noon. Jesus and this woman meet at the well and begins with Jesus asking her to get him a drink. (Isn’t that an amazing start of a love story.)  Now she begins to disqualify herself on every reason not to get this man a drink. This is the second thing I’d like to bring up. Confidence can only be implemented when we are able to see  that we are made new through Christ. Shame spoke lies over this woman that she was unclean, ashamed, used, and abused, an outcast, a failure, disappointment, a sinner. But God spoke the truth. That she is seen and   you are a woman full of truth, wisdom, known, and made with every intention. A woman who is loved by her Father. 

You are clothed in strength and dignity

As this brought me to my last thought I’d like to last but not least bring attention to the amazing human you are. You are clothed in strength and dignity, and you laugh without a fear of the future. You may be thinking… “how do you know this?” Well because of who God is, this who you can be.  We learned from Esther that our confidence is more than just being happy about how we look but it’s about what we stand up for and the truth we believe. Are we willing to speak up? The woman at the well taught us to know we are made new through Christ and shame has no place here to hold us back anymore. We have so many women in the Bible who have so much wisdom from learning from God. So much we can learn from. In Proverbs 31:25 it says “She is clothed in strength and dignity, and laughs without a fear of the future.”  

Let’s be women to laugh without a fear of the future. 

You are worthy and there is so much confidence within you.