Presidents and Pastors

In today’s society, it appears to be a race to enter into a "man’s" world. More and more, women are becoming soldiers, firefighters, police officers, CEOs, and more. What is it that drives us to break the walls of the box and stand on our own. What is inside of women that wishes to break the gender barrier and prove ourselves?
In some ways, I am what the world may call a feminist. I believe in equal rights for men and woman. I believe that women make excellent police officers and corporate tycoons. I believe that no one should be refused due to their color or gender. But at the same time, I believe there are certain roles in life that women just are not meant to fill. Two off the top of my head are presidents and pastors.
The thought of a woman president actually frightens me. Women are extremely hormonal and rash. They constantly change their mind on a whim and often without reason. I’m not saying that some men aren’t moody and flighty, but men, in my opinion, are more capable of making those hard-pressed, and often destructive decisions. Men react more with their minds and logic while women base their decisions on their feelings and, let’s face it, their moods. I believe that women can do anything they set their minds to. I just don’t believe that being a leader of our country should be one of them. I’m not saying that women are not leaders, but I do not believe that women should be leaders of a country. There’s far too much at stake.
I also believe that women should not be pastors. I have scriptures to back that up. God placed man as the Spiritual head of the household and that includes the church. Husbands are responsible to raise their children up fearing the Lord. Husbands are responsible for being the role-model and leader of the home. But it doesn’t stop at home. It extends out into the church. In the Bible, when we read about leaders being sent forth and ministers and disciples going out to reach the lost, they were all men. Paul mentions Phoebe, a woman who has tremendous respect for, but there is no hint of a suggestion that she was a minister of a church. Women are not to be leaders of the church. That doesn’t mean women can’t teach or disciple other women. But God placed man over the church. Plain and simple. Wives are called to submit to their husbands and husbands are called to love their wives as Christ loved the church. God intended for man and woman to work together. Men are to seek after the Lord’s will and wives are to follow their husbands because he is walking by faith.
In the days of the Old Testament, women worked just as hard as they do now, but they didn’t earn anything for their work as the men did. I’m studying Ruth during my quiet time and I read about Ruth as she went out into the fields, alongside of the men, and picked wheat. She worked just as hard as the men did and even earned the respect of the landowner, Boaz. She worked because they needed food. She didn’t work to prove her might or suggest that she was stronger and smarter than the men. She worked because she had to.
I care nothing for the feminist movement, because they believe they are just as good, if not better than men. The only man who is worth anyone striving to be like is Jesus Christ. If we strive to be like Christ, the rest will just fall into place.
Dear God,
Thank you for loving me. Thank you for being with me, even as I sit here and type these words. Thank you for creating men ad women. Thank you for taking the time to make each and every one of us unique. I want to be like You. I want to be close to You. I love You and I worship You. Amen.

Dear God

Today was a wonderful day in Your house. We sang "You Abide" and I really like the song. It reminds me of how You are always with me. Through my highs and lows, You never leave me. When I cry, You weep. That sentiment absolutely amazes me how the Creator of all of the universe weeps when I cry. Thank you for loving me that much. Thank you for having patience with me and th desire to not leave me where I am, but push me to grow and become more like You.
The message today was how to become more like You. I realize that I have failed in a lot of ways and I would like to make the commitment to change that. I love you. I adore you. I want you to be my Alpha and Omega. I want you to be enough.
Wow! I typed the last sentence, without even thinking about it. That must mean that’s where my heart is at the moment. I have to get to the point where You are all I need. I want to be there, Lord. I truly do. I want to feel You and hear You wherever I am. I want to feel as if I can sit on my couch at home and talk to you as I would my husband or my best friend. You know better than my husband does. You know better than my parents do. Your love for me even far exceed their love for me.
Lord, I don’t want to sit in church and hear the message that I heard this morning and walk out the door and let the urge to change my life end there. I want to make the commitment and see this through. I want to spend more time with you and pray more and worship You even when I’m not in church.
However, I don’t feel as though I can begin this commitment to grow without being honest with myself. I know You already know what’s in my heart and I can hide nothing from you. But I can hide plenty from me. Or, at least I can make myself believe that there is nothing wrong and I don’t have anything to admit. That’s not the case today, Lord. I have to begin by voicing my frustrations with You. If David spoke to you in love and in anger and he was still a man after Your own heart, then why can’t I feel comfortable doing the same thing?
I trust You, Lord with all that I have and all that I am. I trust You to keep my world from crashing around me. I trust you that when my world does crash around me, that You are still with me. You will never leave me. You abide in me. You are my everything.
I have a hard time understanding something. I know it’s my finite human mind, but it bothers me. My husband and I are not the only couple in the world to have struggles with conceiving a child. Nor do our struggles even come close to the struggles of others we know. This question isn’t necessarily just for me. What I don’t understand is why is it so difficult? Why is it that a Christian couple, who truly seek to do Your will and to be like Christ, try and try to have a child that they will raise in a Christian home have struggles, but a woman who has no desire to be a mother and terminates the pregnancy? Why does it seem like you choose to bless the woman who you know will only abort Your gift instead of the couple who prays for that child night and day? I know it is never Your will that a child is aborted. I also know that nothing ever surprises You.
Help me understand this, Lord. Help me find the strength to continue my walk faithfully and trust that You truly know what’s best. I never question Your will, Lord. I just, at times, have difficulties with Your ways.
I love you and I am thankful that I can come before you like this, even with the questions and the frustrations. You sill hear me. You still love me. Thank you for all of Your blessings in my life. The fact that I want a child never diminishes the current blessings You have poured on me. Thank you for your Son and for His sacrificial death. Thank you for the chance to run the race and earn that eternal crown. The crown that I pray will be ornately adorned for You so that I may lay it at Your feet. Amen