As I listened to Lisa Bevere on YouTube, she said something striking. “The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, ‘I don’t love my children equally.’”

I was like “WHAAAAA? That’s heresy!” But then she continued. “I don’t love my children equally, I love them uniquely.” Ahhhh. Now it makes since. She continued on about how if we were loved equally, then we would be replaceable. If He loved us equally then His love could be measured.

Those of you who have multiple children, did your love for the first child cut in half once your second child was born? No, it grew. It can’t be measured. As I look at my kids I sometimes wonder, “Which one is my favorite?” (Whatever, you know you’ve done it.) I’ll look at Caleb with his big delicious dimples, Frank Sinatra eyes, and his servant heart and I think, “Oh, yea. Caleb is my favorite.” But then I look at Paige. My first born, my only girl, my little exhorter that appreciates everything and crinkles her nose when she smiles and I say, “Yep. She’s my favorite.” And then there’s Jayce. My baby. The one who doesn’t talk back yet. The one who, though wakes me up all night, makes up for it with his killer smile. The smile that he flashes every time he sees his momma. The smile I see and think, “Nope, you’re my favorite.” But there are no favorites. Sure you have your child that you might get along with better or the one who is more obedient, but that’s different from having a favorite. Truth be told, we love each of our children uniquely. There is something about each one that you love more than the other and none of them are replaceable.

So this got me thinking. At times I read about women in ministry wanting to be equal to men. Wanting the validation that “YES! God has called us to preach and teach! Here are all the scriptures telling you I can do just as a man does!” I mean come on, we can all quote 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12 and know how to refute it (and we should). We are all looking to be equal to men, but in reality, God doesn’t love us equally. He loves us uniquely. Oh sure there are some things we want to be equal, such as pay and opportunity, and that’s understandable and should be so. We are not equal and nor will I fight to be equal. God has made me unique as a woman and as a woman in ministry. I love that God has blessed me to preach and teach; it’s my favorite thing in the whole world to do. It’s where I feel His pleasure the most, where I hear Him speak to me the most. He has called me to speak differently than a man would, or even differently than other women, because I’m unique, and so are they.

God may look at man and say, “Yes! What a wonderful creature I have made. He is strong, able to provide, a wonderful protector of his family! He will be the warrior to fight against the enemy schemes. Yes, he is my favorite.”

But He may also look at us and say, “Then there is woman. Beautiful. She is also strong,but in a different way. Able to provide, but in a different way. A warrior at the core-what a great leader she will be in this world- she will also be the one to help destroy Satan’s kingdom. What a wonderful creation she is. Yes, she too is my favorite.”

I’m not saying you should not stand up for yourself or take abuse. Being abused, taken advantage of, gossiped about is way different then fighting just to prove you are right about something. Many of times I have heard stories of women who have spoken to a group, and the men deliberately turned their backs during the sermon in protest. Or a bible slammed in their face opened to 1 Corinthians right after they have preached. Situations like that are just plain rude. I’m all about ‘turning the other cheek’ but again, you do not have to take abuse. However, we should not argue. Quite frankly, I am really tired of seeing Christians argue over topics that do not determine our salvation. Nursing, vaccines, pre, mid or post trib, and yes- women who preach. I look at the world and I see women and children being trafficked into slavery, pornography helping create more pedophiles every year. I see people going to hell every day because they do not know Jesus. As Christians we are supposed to be relying on the Holy Spirit and fighting the Kingdom of Darkness together in unity, not tearing each other a part. Do I really want to rally the troops to make people believe that women are allowed to preach and teach so I can be validated? I’m sorry, but I’m too busy doing Kingdom work. If someone wants to respectfully talk about it, great, we can do that. But I will not argue.

Lastly- God is my defender. He’s got this! I trust HIM to open doors for me. I trust HIM to open the doors of opportunity. He has a dream for woman. He has a dream for me and for you. No one can mess up His dream for you but you. So what does that mean? It means we need to be anxious about nothing and PRAY about everything!

TODAY’S CHALLENGE:
We should not be in ministry if we don’t really know who we are in Christ. We should know that we are accepted, are loved, and HE validates us. HE is our defender. We are to go to HIM with our wants and desires, not let pride take over our mouths. We need to pray and trust that He is bringing us together in unity. When someone puts you down because you are a ‘lady preacher’ (that one is my favorite) you just remind yourself on what God has said to YOU. I have struggled so much trying to be like all the other women around me because that’s what looked normal. We’ll you’re not normal, you’re unique. You are unique from man and from other women. When you really look at scripture, there is no ‘normal’ woman. Sarah, Deborah, Ester, Ruth, Mary, Elizabeth, Lydia, all of them. They really were all different- unique in their own right. Hallelujah! Just know that God is up there right now giving you a heavenly round of applause.

PRAY WITH ME SISTERS!
“God. Thank you for your creation called ‘Woman’. Thank you for your creation of Man. Thank you that we all bring spectacular giftings to the table. Thank you that speaking, teaching and leading are not limited to just men, but you lift us up. Thank you that throughout the Gospels Jesus always lifted women up. I pray today that we as women would not sit in a consistent state of defense of where our place is, but we would be in unity. Bring us all together in unity.”
Bless you sisters!

If you like this post, please subscribe! My heart is to bring encouragement to us female pastors and women in ministry!