Hormones. They can make you think you are going crazy. They can, at times, dominate the way you feel physically. Then there is society. Society bombards the airwaves, the movie screens and the culture with a saturation of images of what women should look like. However, that is all this is. An image. Many of the women in these magazines have had their pictures altered. Many of the women themselves who are models have had their bodies altered by surgery. Yet, if women listen to the ways of the world, they are told this is what you should look like.
If the stressors weren’t already high enough, here comes the kids. Women have always had the chief role in society of raising and nurturing the children. This is the most important job in any society, for the continuity of that society. However, in the post-modern age, women have also worked outside the home. Trying to have a full-time job outside the home, while simultaneously holding a full-time job inside the home, all the while pressed to look like a woman who has been stapled, tucked, plucked, fluffed and smoothed over, while dealing with the limitations of the human body and hormones …wow! No wonder some days you feel tired, irritated and exhausted. Yet, for many women there is another large problem sitting on the couch. How do I now respond with happiness, eagerness, and energy to this guy whom I love and married?
The final straw is that women are sometimes calculating, cold and cruel to their own sex. You would think that there would be a band of sisterhood here. Women would understand the stressors of the modern day woman and support each other. Instead, often times, women are involved in a piranha-like feeding frenzy of backbiting, sniping and gossiping. Single moms are looked down on, instead of lifted up. Moms that stay home with their kids are looked down upon, without a job out in the work world. Moms that go to a job in the work world are looked down upon for not staying home. It’s enough to drive a woman to anxiety, stress, depression and exasperation. What should she do?
One thing that she might could do, would be to learn how to be empowered and set free from things that are irrelevant in a life lived for God. All the aforementioned things are a reality for many women. However, believing in your heart the things that God has said about women is critical if she wants to succeed in life for His glory. Women need to be set free in a biblical understanding of who they are. I will be doing a national conference for women on November 14th and 15th in West Plains, Missouri. The entire weekend will be devoted to helping women break free of their shame, their past, their inadequacies. I will be speaking on stress, depression, shame, and building a biblical self-esteem. The physical, emotional and spiritual issues of women will also be addressed.
I am writing this in my column because I have seen this conference work. I know from my travels around the country that there are many women who need a biblical understanding of womanhood. Women need some encouragement on how to be all that God desires for them to be, while setting limits with a world of demands. In the last national women’s conference I did, a serendipitous effect was that 6 people at the conference were saved. All the women left with a revived heart and renewed sense of being a Godly woman.
You may have a sister who needs to hear this. You may have a mom or a daughter who could use this because lately they seem so down. You know a co-worker who is at the end of their rope. You want to help them, but don’t know how. You can help them by bringing a car load of them to this women’s conference. Even the women of your church could be set free by coming as a group to this conference. I am writing about it because I strongly feel that if it did not appear here in this column, many women who need to come would never hear about it. I want the most women reached for the greatest good of a mighty God.
It will be held at 1st Baptist church of West Plains, Missouri. West Plains, Missouri is a central location about 3 hours from Memphis, Little Rock and St Louis. However, there are women already coming from Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky and other surrounding states. I know another thing the devil will use to keep women away from this important date: deer season. Yes, I know it is deer season. But this was the only time open in my schedule when it was booked last year. There are many weeks to go hunting, but there is only this one weekend to go to this conference. What are the priorities? Hopefully, I am telling you soon enough to make arrangements, in case you have a husband who is lost, or who is spiritually weak and will not stay home and be a dad this one weekend so that you might be a better mom and wife and Christian. More info can always be attained by looking at my web page, travisplumlee.com You can register now by calling 1st Baptist Church of West Plains at 417-256-3128, Extension 202 and ask for Michelle. Hope to see you there November 14th and 15th. God will be glorified.