SHE

The Trinity created us in Their image, so the answer to “What does it mean to be a woman?” begins with another question, “What is the Trinity representing of themselves through women?” Regardless of how we feel about the matter, the truth is that there is a blueprint for the feminine soul and it is an echo of Amma (Mother God)/El Shaddai/Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit). It isn’t just that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, it’s that the apple takes on the character of the tree that produced it. This is that truth again that identity flows from attachment relationship. As we journey to understand who we are in our femininity, it’s helpful to look at what we know of the “She-ness” of God. Though this revelation begins in the person of the Holy Spirit, it doesn’t stop there. In Scripture, names usually tell us something about the character of people and places. Among the names of God is El Shaddai, traditionally translated as God Almighty, yet the root of this name, shad, means breasts. This emphasis gives us God, the breasted One -- another evidence and manifestation of God in the feminine. A feminine image of God is often startling to the modern-day church, but it really shouldn’t come as any surprise. Of course, some of the names of God should contain feminine imagery if God contains as much feminine as masculine - a Trinity who creates women as well as men in their image. Why make Eve at all, unless her existence was necessary to help more fully represent the nature of God on the earth? From the beginning of the story God is writing, the Trinity uses the imagery of family to represent Their own being – family which requires a mother to conceive and give birth to children. Here we come, once again, back to the Mother heart of God. Mother God, El Shaddai, God with breasts, is the one who holds us close against her skin so that we rest in her warmth and are comforted by her heartbeat. El Shaddai, is the one whose very essence feeds us - keeping us alive by Her very being. Our lives were formed in Her, we were carried and developed in Her. Or, as Paul writes, “In God we live, move, and exist.” (Acts 17:28 CEB) These are the breasts against which we lay so that we can gaze into the eyes of love. This is what God offers - comfort, care, nourishment, warmth, adoration. This is who God is, El Shaddai, and who God is to us and for us. When was the last time you were comforted? The last time someone gathered you into their arms and made it safe for you to express your distress? Have you ever felt more whole after receiving comfort? This is the promise of El Shaddai – that if we come to Her in our sadness and grief, in the rending of our hearts, in the weight of life and the exhaustion from carrying it, She will bring us up onto Her lap and comfort us with Her tenderness and kindness. She will see us, truly see us, and not push away our distress or call it invalid or explain it away. But rather, She will let us pour out our angst and in response will dry our tears and make peace for our souls. Remember, you were designed and created out of the Trinity’s love for one another – created by Their love, for Their love. You, daughter, are the object of Their delight. Our lives begin in this context, the intimate act of creation when you were uniquely designed and handcrafted. You were made with purpose and forethought, made from desire and longing. Your life represents the goodness of God poured into the frame of your existence. You are a delight to the Trinity who is intimately acquainted with all of your being; and more specifically, to Father and Mother God who are your beginning. Your enemy knows who you are. What darkness is counting on is that you don’t. I realize how jarring some of this might sound. There you were, minding your own business, doing life with whatever that contains – marriage, children, job, friends, pickleball, laundry and carpool. And now I’m talking about you wielding a sword, going into battle for those you love. Kingdoms, angelic forces, the clashing of darkness and light. It can feel surreal set up against the smaller story of our seemingly ordinary lives. Daughter, you cannot afford to underestimate your situation or your own life. The Trinity has entrusted creation to you and placed you here, at this point in the timeline of the world, for such a time as this. You must live with the eyes of your heart wide open. When we become clear about who we are, the One who inspired our design, and the part we play in bringing the Kingdom of God to earth, we take back the ground that was lost in the fall. Can you sense satan shudder at that thought? No wonder he hates you. No wonder your life is opposed. This is why your marriage sometimes feels like a battleground. You, dear one, hold an essential place in the story of the world. You were made by Love, and for love, to offer your mother’s heart of nurture and compassion to a world of orphans. You bring your beauty and the glory of your life, your creative and life breathing spirit. You come with a sword in your hand and fierceness in your heart to act as ezer for an embattled creation. You were born to be a Truth knower and a Truth teller. And you were placed here for a time like this.