And the winner of yesterday’s giveaway is…….
Donna Slaten!!!!!
Congratulations on being the winner of the gorgeous T-shirt!!! Donna, please email us @ GirlfriendsCoffeeHour@gmail.com ASAP with your address & size (small to X-large) and it will be mailed to you within the next two weeks! WAY TO GO!!!!!
…and now for Pretty In Print!!!!!!
Memory Verse:
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Proverbs 31:30
What Kind of Woman are you going to be?
One of my she-ros is Poet Laureate Maya Angelou. I would love to sit and have a nice cup of tea with her…. wouldn’t you? I honestly think that I have read everything that she has ever published and I have read it all more than once. She is 100% woman and I admire so much about her. Have you ever read her poem “Phenomenal Woman”? If you haven’t, now is your chance….
Phenomenal Woman
by Maya Angelou
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies.
I say, It’s in the reach of my arms The span of my hips,
The stride of my step, The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman, That’s me.
I walk into a room Just as cool as you please,
And to a man, The fellows stand or Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me, A hive of honey bees.
I say, It’s the fire in my eyes, And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist, And the joy in my feet. I’m a woman Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman, That’s me.
Men themselves have wondered What they see in me.
They try so much But they can’t touch My inner mystery.
When I try to show them They say they still can’t see.
I say, It’s in the arch of my back, The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts, The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me.
Now you understand Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing It ought to make you proud.
I say, It’s in the click of my heels, The bend of my hair, the palm of my hand,
The need of my care, ‘Cause I’m a woman Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman, That’s me.
HOMEWORK:
Your assignment today… comment on this blog post about how YOU specifically can encourage women in your direct sphere of influence to turn towards biblical womanhood.
Be blessed and be a blessing….. and don’t forget to go back over to our Facebook group and see what fun we have for you over there today! 🙂
<3 Megan 🙂
my blog: www.glorytoglorylifecoaching.wordpress.com
Craig’s blog: www.adversusmundi.wordpress.com
About Megan Smidt
THIS really spoke to me today. As I looked in the mirror this morning, got off the scale FRUSTRATED. I look older, the weight isn't coming off as quickly as I'd like, my hair is frizzy, I have bags under my eyes… OH MY GOODNESS PRAISE THE LORD.. THIS IS HOW HE MADE ME. How can I say HIS WORK is not perfect. I will encourage those around me today by being ME – and reminding even the cashier how lovely she is!! 🙂
YAY!!!!!! You are victorious!!!!! Let your mirror reflect who God sees in you because that is TRUTH!!!!! WOW! You left satan running away with his tail between his legs right off the bat this morning! I love it and feel so encouraged by YOU, dear one <3
This is something I've been working on for a few years now. I'm not completely there yet but man have I made strides! And He met me right where I was and has never left my side! Most of my sphere if influence is my boys and baby girl. I will SHOW them what it is to be a phenomenal woman that God created. And anybody else I happen to have dealings with. 🙂 (Love the poem, Megan!)
Yes, Tracy…. SHOW THEM!!!! They need to see your confidence and see you as the woman God created you to boldly be! You sons will look for that woman in their brides and your daughter will want to live phenominally for Christ just like you! Praise the Lord!!!!! <3 Go show this world what you are made of! 🙂
Femininity has always been a struggle for me. For 35 years I lived a gay lifestyle. Almost 3 years ago God delivered.me from that and has given me an amazing journey of recovery, healing and restoration with my family. He took me on a gentle walk from sin to salvation, from guilt to grace. He has shown me my identity is now that I am loved, valuable, precious, talented, gifted, capable, powerful, wise, redeemed and a child of the Most High God. I stand in awe of Him daily. I love in this chapter where Priscilla writes to proudly wear the badge of womanhood given by our Father. He is an amazing God!!
Prasie the Lord!!!!! God is so amazing, Laurie and yes… you are all those things AND MORE!!!! Bless you and praying for your continued journey to the extravagant life He has for you and your family <3
Wow this is some awesome , it is hard to be a woman in another woman shadow that is a quote from Beth Moore , I try so much to be encourage a satisfied of where God has me at in my life but it's hard because I work in an environment full of man at work. Like yesterday I saw a lady at the grocery store and she had on high heels all dressed up as I saw her I thought to myself I have never once wore high heels never really wore dresses or skirts . I thought yes she is pretty but what a pain to dress up like that everyday I wear my tennis shoes and t- shirts and jeans . So I want to be satisfied with who I am
Carol
That is just it, Carol! God wants you to feel amazing just as you are <3 If that's in high heels, fantastic! If its in overalls and flip flops, perfect! He wants you to emrace YOU.. the most perfect you that He created to be You in this world and boldly be what He was created you to be <3 I am praying for you to be encouraged today to be confident in your biblical femininity everywere you go… even in man-ville at work! 🙂
My son is in football camp this week and I am blessed to have the drop off and pick up at my home. I will show grace and love to each of these boys as well as their mom as in this often hurried and frustrating time of getting these boys ready.
Beautiful post Megan!
Wonderful, Jenny! You might be the only person in their day that does <3 Be that salt and light and show them the incredible woman God created you specifically to be <3
I struggle with this Megan. I really struggle! The aftermath of infidelity has left me bruised & battered. When i have been treated as disposable & taken back as second choice I struggle to feel phenomenal. I struggle to remember "I am important, valued and treasured in the eyes of God." I want to "live with BOLD courage to embrace the incredible femininity that God means for all of us as Christian women. " I have gained so much already from this study about being content. I have "resolved" not to let the past define my future so this is going to be an important week for me. Thanks for your wonderful post & the beautiful poem.
Megan yesterday and today has NOT been a good day for me to feel anything about myself than "useless", "worthless" and "frustrated". It's too long to go into but I have a unbearable work situation with my Asst. Mgr who contributes 100% to the way I am feeling right now. So I said that to say I needed to hear every word in this blog today. In the midst of this unbearable work situation I will look to encourage someone today of their worth.
Precious friend….. I rebuke any negative word that gets thrown your way! You are one incredible woman of God and just picture the words bouncing right off you as quickly as they hit! They are not truth… they are your AM's insecurity in who THEY are!!! I am praying for your AM and for you to continue to know in your heart how incredibly valuable you really are <3
Wonderful blog! Thank you for putting your heart out there for us to share. My earth suit, I love that and the message it sends to remind us that this is temporary. My heaven suit will be without blemish! How can I encourage women in my sphere? My main focus at this time in life is my five children. I need to be an example of recognizing my value and worth in God's eyes so my daughters (and sons) will learn their value and the value of those around them. They certainly won't listen as much to the words I lecture with as they will absorb the life I live. What a challenge!
Amen, Amy!!!! You know, I have 5 kids too and they watch our every move!!!! Your grace and courageous confidence you find through Christ will make more of an impression on them than you will ever know <3 Bless you!!!
Megan this post is amazing!!!!!! For as far as I can remember I have struggled with self confidence. Worrying about what people thought of me and meeting other people expectations was burdensome. Name calling, negative words and verbal abuse seemed to condemn me to a prison that seemed impossible to break through. The Lord freed me from this and reaffirms me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Thank you for reminding me of all the Lord has done. 🙂
Yes, Merol! You are certainly set free through God's love to soar HIGH above any negative words anyone can dish out! You are amazing and never ever forget it!!! 🙂
Dear one, please print this and carry it with you wherever you go. Satan would love nothing more than to keep you feeling worthless and horrible about yourself, but those are all LIES!!! That is not of God and I pray the Lord gives you the strength and courage you so desperately need to TAKE YOUR LIFE BACK FOR CHRIST!!! You have repented, you have turned your back on wicked ways. NOW it is time to move forward, full speed ahead and NEVER look back! You were created in His image and God is depending on YOU, dear one, to embody this biblical femininity in a way that only YOU can! Plaster positive, encouraging words all over your house to be constant reminders of how so very much you are loved and treasured in the eyes of our Lord! Praying for you, dear one! <3
I am woman…..I am beautiful….I am strong….I am intelligent….I am worthy….I am His!!!
A very valuable lesson for all of us to learn! Every woman I speak to today, personally, will be told what an amazingly beautiful woman she is!!
Awesome Awesome Message Today, Megan!!!
Shout it from the rooftops, Christi!!!!! Let's all make all the women in our close circle feel so encouraged today!!!! I want to hear how it goes, too!!!! 😀
This touched me deeply. I was in an abusive relationship years ago and I oftne still have trouble with thinking negatively about myself. I often feel that I am not pretty enough, smart enough, I fat and on and on. What I started doing some months ago ws this, I send myself emails, tweets, I speak positives to myself as I look in the mirror. I even have an awesome finace who thinks Im the most beautiful woman alive : ), he often affirms this and reminds me that my stomach is beautiful because I carried my children there. Even though I have all of this assurance I still fall into those pits wondering why I'm here and feeling Iike I dont have a purpose. When these thoughts get the best of me I isolate myself from everyone. I know that until I can see myself as God does that this will continue to occur.
Summer,
I can so relate to your post!!!! I've been in the same shoes you've been in and I struggle with and struggling with some of the things you mentioned in your post. Have a blessed day.
<3 i love sending yourself encouraging love notes!!!! Seriously….. you both are so worth every wonderful thing said about you and God wants more than anything for you to believe it!!! 🙂
thank you Megan! This post was a blessing to me.
You have a blessed day as well Michelle.
I, too, come from an abusive background. And for YEARS, my past would haunt me! I thought negatively about myself all the time. I was ugly, stupid, not worth anything, would never amount to anything, and so on, and so on. I was physically abused, as well.
I grew up wondering what was wrong with me; why I was the only child out of the 5 of us that was abused the way I was. I seriously thought was something was really wrong with me, and the more I was abused physically, and verbally told I was a nothing, a pain, a mistake, and all of the above…..I grew to believe that, and it caused some serious consequences in my adult life! I did things that I will never ever be able to take back, all in the name of trying to find love!
I would have nightmares about the abuse. In my dreams, that person had come back from the dead to "get me" again. I would wake up screaming and my husband would have to assure me that she was not there, and not able to touch me anymore.
Finally, one night I just broke down and I cried out to God and said "WHY??? Why ME??? What did I ever do to deserve that??? I was just a kid!!!" He assured me that He had a plan for my life that would include helping other women who had gone through the same thing, and that I needed to realize that I was no longer a victim to that tragedy! But that through Him, I was now victorious, and I would never in His eyes, be worthless again!! He assured me that He would never hurt me, nor leave me, as other parental figures in my life had. He assured me that I was His precious Child, and nothing anyone could ever do would ever change that!!
Ever since that night, I have not had one of those dreams since! He delivered me from the nightmares. I still have to deal with the words sometimes, because they do come back to haunt me from time to time, but nothing like they had before. When they do come back to remind me that I was worthless, and would never amount to anything, I know those thoughts are not from God. MY God would never tell me that! So I remind satan who I am, and to Whom I belong! I remind Him that my past no longer has a grip on me because Jesus died to set me free from that pain and bondage, and today, I have the VICTORY in JESUS!!!
I am no longer a VICTIM chained in the prison of my past. I am VICTORIOUS through the Blood of Jesus, and the chains have been released, and I have walked out of that prison a new person, free in Christ.
If you both have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, that's who Jesus says YOU ARE, too!!! He died to give YOU that freedom , also! All you have to do is remind satan of Whom you belong to, and continue to do that over and over. Soon he'll leave you alone because he will realize that he can no longer hold your past over you!!! AMEN!!??!! AMEN!!!!
Father, I lift these two precious children of Yours to You today, right now, Lord, and I ask that You do for them, as You did for me. Remove the pain of their past Lord. Erase the hurt, the anger, the bitterness, the torment, that their past holds over them. Give them the strength they need Lord to put satan where he belongs, and not to allow him to take authority over them, and their thoughts. Remind them, Lord, that as Your Child, You have given them all authority and power to tread upon satan and to resist him, and his demons! May no weapon formed against them Lord, prosper, In Your precious Name.
Father, right now, as they read this, put Your loving arms around them, and hold them tight. Assure them Lord, as You did me, that YOU LOVE them, and that You will NEVER EVER hurt them, or abandon them, as others have in their past. Assure them that Your love is pure and unconditional. Assure them that the sins of their past has been removed and they have been cleansed of ALL unrighteousness (anything that keeps them from being in rightstanding with You), Lord.
We are blessed to be able to reach out to these women, Lord, but we give YOU all the praise and glory for what YOU are doing in their lives, today, at this very moment.
In Jesus' name,
AMEN
I receive it, I declare it, I walk in it, in my Sweet Savior's Christ Jesus name Amen!!! Oh my I cried as I read your testimony. God is beyond awesome!!
<3 amen <3
YOU are awesome, too, my dear! Don't ever forget that! ((HUGS))
thanks, megan, for your encouragement here to recognize that God has made us to be unique, and that He has formed & made us to walk the path that He has purposed and planned for each one of us. the world wants conformity but the Lord wants us to be transformed.
you talk about not letting the world be the influence in the lives of the younger women in your life. by God's grace i have a small circle of younger women that i have fellowshipped with for over 6 years. i love each of them dearly! our little group has fluctuated from 6 to 10 to 8 as seasons in their lives have changed. and now two of them have moved cross-country, one to another country, and five have growing families. so just recently we recognized that we needed to rethink our getting together each week. but we stay closely in touch through facebook and emails.
i think that the most important way to be a biblical influence is to live your life out loud…to be transparent…to not hide your struggles OR the deliverances that God brings into your life…to be real.
as i look at the lives of the women around me (y'all!), i find myself drawn towards the Lord by the endeavoring, the trying, the efforts, the yielding…NOT by any attainment or achievements or degree of perfection. "i am a companion of all those who fear, revere, and worship You, and of those who observe and give heed to Your precepts" (psalm 119:63). <3
Amen! Great post Megan. Know your worth as a daughter of the King. Maya is one of my inspirations and truly a phenomenal woman.
Awesome Blog Megan!! You exposed me to an appreciation of Maya Angelou's work! I loved 'Phenomenal Woman'. A woman who is WITHOUT perfection, who is WITH imperfection. A woman who IS content with her imperfections and holds her head high and walks confidently, That's who I want to be. I want to be this woman, not because I think I am so great, or because others esteem be so highly. If that were the case, I would probably never be that Phenomenal Woman!! I want to be her because God has shaped me, and formed me, and groomed me, and continues to do these things because of the things HE has created me to be and to do ~ now and in the future. This is all for His benefit, for His glory and for His kingdom. I may not always walk with my head up high, and I may stumble when I walk, but I have the one true Lord and Savior to keep my eyes on, to carry on, to be and to do what He has called me to.
Oh, but digress!!! I can best encourage women in my sphere of influence by telling them the above. You are an indivual, created for this season in humanity. God did not create to to be like this person or that person. He did not create you to be perfect. He created you to be you! Love yourself, study the word, learn what it means to be a woman of God. Join Girlfriends Coffee Hour if you need help learning these things!!!!!!!!!
AMEN AMEN AMEN!!!! Preach it!!!!!! <3
That is EXACTLY what it means to be phenomenally biblically femnine 🙂
to coin the phrase from the movie " You is good, you is smart, you is important?…this is what I want to make sure girls/ladies know about theirself…we do have meaning and we are here for a purpose….I want to make sure all ladies know this truth….but not to just be told from me I want to lead them to Gods Word where He will affirm this to their heart, then no matter how we look, how we dress or what our size is will not be what we focus on but instead we will focus on changing from the inside out…get our hearts right with God then all the other stuff will be exactly what its suppose to look like or act like…
THAT is what it is all about <3