A phrase I often hear is: I am an independent woman!
I, too, was guilty of saying this often and believing that I was completely independent and didn’t need a man in my life.
For years, I truly believed that as a woman I could do everything a man could do. I believed that a woman didn’t need a man in her life to lead a happy and successful life. I believed that men and women were equals.
Thankfully, Papa God opened my eyes to this doctrine.
Not only did He reveal to me that the doctrine is incorrect, but He also showed me the origin of this doctrine and demonstrated through His word that the doctrine is incorrect.
I will take you on a little journey into what Dad showed me…
Due to the misinterpretation of passages in the Bible, it was once believed that women were subordinate to men. As a result, women lacked many rights and opportunities.
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Ephasians 5:22-33
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:27
As can be read in these verses, the man is the head of the woman; he is her leader. However, people often overlook the verse Genesis 1:27. Both men and women were created in the image of God. This means that both men and women have been given full authority. This therefore means that women do not have less authority than men.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over [g]all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26
As is well known, I am of Surinamese descent. Suriname is a former colony of the Netherlands.
Due to colonialism, some women have been conditioned from birth to believe that they must manage without a husband, a true partner, by their side.
These women were programmed to believe that they had to take care of the household and raise their children on their own.
Feminism emerged in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Women such as Aletta Jacobs stood up for women’s rights. The simple right for women to study, to vote, the right to paid labor.
Aletta Jacobs was an important advocate for the rights that women have today. Partly thanks to women like her, I now have the right to all of the above, and I am very grateful for that.
The second wave of feminism emerged around 1950, because women were still seen as the weaker of the sexes. Women were still mostly housewives and rarely worked outside the home.
Women needed to be heard and to earn their own money in order to be self-sufficient; they had a real need for independence.
In the present, feminism has gone one step further.
Many women want it all: a family, a successful career, a productive social life, in other words: THE FULL PACKAGE!
The enemy has turned what Aletta Jacobs, among others, set in motion into something perverse.
How did he do this? By making us believe that we can and must have it all. That we can have “The Full Package” in our lives and that this is complete independence.
Having and maintaining “ The full package” is exhausting.
I always make the reference to juggling. Every responsibility you have in your life should be seen as a ball; your family, career, etc. Juggling becomes more difficult the more balls you try to keep up in the air. Sometimes you manage to keep some of the balls going, but you hold 1 or 2 still in your hand. Sometimes you drop the balls because you can’t keep your focus on that ball.
A clown in the circus juggles dozens of balls at the same time, but I’m not a clown 😉
I am so grateful to Papa God for showing me in His word what I mean to Him as a woman.
One effect of not being able to focus on certain ministries (balls) is that these ministries are increasingly failing.
The movement that Aletta Jacobs, among others, started to give women rights in life has taken a turn in the opposite direction.
I had to learn to normalize listening to the voice of Papa God, to listen to what He wants from me and to follow His plan, even if this means that I don’t have “the full package.” I have Him, and He guides my paths.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the [c]still waters.
3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.
Psalm 23
Love,
Alicia
