God's Wonder Woman: Religious and Spiritual Tips for Women

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it. - Psalm 139:1-6 (NRSV)

These verses remind me of how I thought of my mother when I was a child. She seemed to not only have eyes in the back of her head, she also knew what I was thinking, and what I was about to say before I even formed the words in my mouth - at least 9 times out of ten! And of course, because she carried me in her womb, she did know me intimately - we were at one time one being, divinely planned, formed and nurtured by a loving God. And how did my father always know what was going to happen next on the television program we happened to be watching together? Now that I am a woman, with grown children of my own, I understand the source of that seeming omnipotent wisdom and foreknowledge - it's called life experience!

We are each made in God's divine image, bounding into the world gasping for that first life-sustaining breath, like the one God breathed into Adam at creation. Too often, though, we realize our vision of that divinity - and our own divine purpose that transcends the here and now of carpools and grocery shopping, PTA meetings and all the other to-do list items that make up our day has been lost - or never even had a chance to develop.

God has made each of us to fulfill a specific purpose in our lives - with our lives. We're just so busy we don't have time to think about anything more than our jobs, our families, our responsibilities, our lives! And even if we did have the time . . . the world does a very good job of convincing us that we are not good enough - for anything - not like those business-savvy women on a popular television show, or the ones who dare to do things we can't even imagine to win a big cash prize. Not like those long-suffering, but patient wives on the latest sit-coms. Not like those beautiful, brilliant forensic scientists on the crime series shows. And even before that, maybe our parents or our peers convinced us we're not good enough - or outright failures.

Maybe you expend all your energy being a good mother, wife, sister, daughter, or friend. Maybe you're a single mom and have all the responsibility - financially and emotionally - for rearing your children. Maybe you're caring for an elderly parent. Maybe you have given away so much of yourself to so many people you don't even know who you are - who God made you to be.

Maybe life just didn't turn out the way we thought it would. And we're feeling lost and alone and we're thirsty for something real and fulfilling and thirst-quenching. We long for a taste of something that will matter. We long to be the person God designed us to be. But we just don't know who that woman is. Or we have forgotten. Or we don't think He really cares enough to even bother showing us His vision for our lives.

How do we even begin to figure out who we are through the eyes of God? How do we claim Christ as our Savior when we're so busy, we don't even have time to catch our breath?

We need to simplify our lives and base them on meeting some of our own spiritual needs if we ever hope to have a meaningful and fulfilling life. One way could be to block out in your day timer, 30 minutes, 2 mornings a week, "Meet with God." Write it on there - as an important meeting. Don't break the date - get up early if you need to. Begin journaling your experience during these sacred times, or read the Bible, or a devotional book, or other spiritual resource.

Hire a babysitter and join a women's Bible study - or start one of your own. How about hiring a babysitter and meeting a friend for coffee and a manicure once a month? Try spending a day ignoring that to-do list and driving to the beach, or to the park, or the river with the kids. Life will still be waiting for you when you return!

The problem in our lives is not one of control. The problem is who is in control! Clearly we are unable to manage the demands of life as modern women without encouragement, support, and faith. In order to maintain our faith, we must feed it and nurture it and make it a priority in our lives. Once we do that, everything else begins to fall into place.

Here are some questions to ask yourself - and God - as you begin this process; and anytime you begin to feel overwhelmed and under-appreciated.

• What am I currently doing that I am tired of doing and would like to stop doing in order to do something else?
• As I consider situations currently causing stress in my life, what changes could I make that would reduce my stress and make life more manageable? Will I make them?
• Which causes of my current stress are situations about which I truly can do nothing? Take a minute to turn them over to God.
• As I start out on the journey toward accomplishing my goals, what habit(s) do I need to change in order to have time to do what I most value?

God has made each of us for a purpose. Only through His strength, His wisdom, His plan will we find true fulfillment, peace and joy in the here and now and in eternity.