Womanhood: Defining "Godly Woman"

Defining "Godly woman" is daunting to write about, to say the least. So let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start... 

"Are you a Godly woman?", my future boss asked me in an interview. I swallowed and coached myself into answering what I knew to be true, "yes I am a Godly woman." 

That is not the question you expect to be asked in most interview type situations. But in this one, it was honestly the only question applicable. I was about to be asked to disciple 12 women with the sole purpose being, that they would learn to live and believe that they are Godly women. In light of these posts, this almost seems crazy that I was asked to do such a thing. And maybe they were crazy to ask me to serve in such a capacity, but they asked me and I did it. And Fraulein Maria didn't believe she could handle, "7 children!" and she did... so....

Honestly, it can come across arrogant to claim to be a Godly woman. It almost seems even more arrogant to write about it. But lo, here I am sitting in my living room writing about my journey to not simply knowing I am a Godly woman, but believing in my core that that is who I am.

I think if most of us are being honest with ourselves, we feel that we aren't godly but maybe we are godly, but we don't really act godly, and so on and so forth. It's a weird back and forth of "I am, but I'm not..." 
 

But if we are starting at the beginning, then there is really only one good place to start, and that is with the Gospel. I'm a firm believer that if you start with the Gospel, continue with the Gospel and end with the Gospel then you can't go wrong. And honestly, when trying to determine who you are, starting with the Gospel genuinely IS the only place to begin. 

At my core, I am messed up, selfish and desire control over my life and destiny. If I am in control then God is clearly not. But Jesus came and allowed me, in my inability to make myself perfect, to be made perfect in God's eyes. Jesus took my ungodliness and gave me His godliness. He took my nastiness and made me lovely. Because of Jesus, when God looks at me, He sees the righteousness of God. Because of Jesus, I am made Godly. 

"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:21

When I say I am a Godly woman, I am literally claiming the Gospel. Without the Gospel, I am nothing but separated from God, living in vanity with the end goal being my glory. As Oswald Chambers says, "sin is a fundamental relationship- it is not wrong doing, but wrong being." 

Before we can even get to discussing womanhood and identity as a woman, you have to start with the foundation of identity, who you are in relation to God. If He is the Creator, if He is in control, then who I am in light of who He is, is of utmost importance. Because of Jesus, the basic, most foundational piece of who I am, is that I am redeemed. He has made me Godly, and thus that affects everything else about me. 

The rest of my posts will come from that perspective, as a woman who has been redeemed, bought, made right. "For as through the one man's [Adam] disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of One [Jesus] the many will be made righteous." Romans 8:19

Defining "Godly Woman" is a two-part deal. First, we had to define "Godly", next up defining "woman"... let's just say that's not one post.