Young lady, dream big!

If you try to find the verses in the New Testament that talk about women, you could be as surprised as I was before..

I was puzzled about them the first time I read those New Testament verses about women.
I read them as I went through a chapter in the letters in the New Testament.
Among these verses are 1 Corinthians 14:34-36 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12.
I thought, "Really? I cannot believe what I just read! Is this one really written in the Bible?" I read the verses over and over again just to be sure that I get what it tried to say to me..

It troubled me, really. That was until I learned that when you read the Bible, you should know the context. :)
These verses weren't stepping down at women! If you have questions about what I think about these verse, you could send me a message. ;)

Why did I bring this up?

It's because I see how passive women in church are today. I ask myself, is that because of what we read in the New Testament about women? Or are we just contented to sit and be comfortable at wherever we are at today?

Not that I'm saying that less women are involved in church. In fact, I admire many women who are active in the ministries of the church. They are present in outreach programs, in teaching kids, in preparing for church events, in decorations, in beautifying the church, etc. These are quite lovely!

But how are we, women, supposed to take our faith and our servanthood to the next level?

I had my quiet time earlier and I want to share with you what God has told me.

I read about Deborah and Jael in Judges 4. They were indeed mighty women of God. :) In their stories, their husbands Lappidoth and Heber takes a backseat.

1. Deborah

        She was leading Israel after the judge Ehud. "The Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided." (v.5) (Consider her being a woman leader.. Imagine how many Israelites there were! Plus, they were not exactly the most behave people. Hahaha)

        She was a prophetess; she sent for Barak to tell him God's command of conquering Jabin's army (the army who took captive of Israelites that made them cry to the Lord for help).

        I did not know what went on in Barak's mind, but he said, "If you go with me, I will go; but if you don't go with me, I won't go." I have questions, why would Barak say this in verse 8? If you would be fighting someone, you would want to stick to the fiercest among your troop! You might want to look for Manny Pacquiao. Deborah, being a woman, I assume was not the one with the best skill with the sword. So maybe Barak said this from looking up to Deborah as the army's spiritual leader. (Very important because they depended on God for their victory.. Although, it wasn't so gentleman of him to want to bring a woman to battle!)

        Deborah said in verse 9, "Very well, I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this (Barak was not supposed to depend on a woman especially on battles like this), the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will hand Sisera over to a woman."

        She encouraged the army and gave them the go signal in verse 14.. And they won! Although.. The army's commander, Sisera, "fled on foot" and tried to hide from the army.. 

2. Jael

        This woman was a part of Moses's family tree. (verse 11) Most likely, she has heard many many things about the God of Jacob.

        Sisera tried to hide in her house. She was welcomed warmly by Jael, she even "put a covering over him." (verse 18) and gave him milk to drink. But when Sisera told her that "If someone comes by and asks you, 'Is anyone here?' say 'No.' ", she plotted to kill him in his sleep. When Barak came and asked her about Sisera, she showed him Sisera's dead body. Now that's fierce.. Hehe.

        Indeed, the Lord handed Sisera over to a woman. He handed him to Jael.

I expressed my appreciation of how women help out inside the church.. Although, if we talk about ministries outside the church, how many women actually spearhead ministries?

If you, who's reading this post, are a woman, have you ever really tried to dream big for how you serve God?

Did you try to discover what your passion is and offered it to Him and let just let Him use it powerfully?

One of our church's youth pastors, Ptr. Sam Tamayo, uses his gift and passion for motocross to share God to a bigger crowd. Witnessing how he acts on his love for God by using his greatest passion to be able to share the good news to more people, I am greatly encouraged and inspired to do great things for my King.
Also, I am inspired by Yeng Constantino and Acel van Ommen when I went to victory's Hello to Heaven concert. There they expressed their passion for kids with the foundation they established to help give kids the Right Start. (That's why they called it Right Start Foundation)

Generation Congregation, the Christian youth group God used to help me grow, is now preparing itself to soar high with God! Ministries would be reborn, as new ministries sprout.

This challenges me to find how I could further maximize myself for my King.

I try to look at our youth and the existing ministries in it. We had ballers for Christ, School of R.O.C.K (for musicians),  BMX (what the ramps at MMF were for), etc. I can't help but ask.. Where are the outreach ministries purposely made to share God to women?

Who would be spearheading ministries as such? Of course, no other than women.
I am very much challenged to seek every corner of my being and my passions, so that I would see what part of me I could contribute in helping women. My prayers about women become more and more passionate only because of what God teaches me through my modesty pledge.

Then it struck me. Maybe that was the reason why God spoke to my heart in July '12 about taking modesty seriously.
He knew that I liked dressing up. I used to visit websites such as lookbook, chictopia, etc. I also used to buy vogue, glamour, and other magazines about fashion in BookSale near our school. My summer days weren't boring because I watched all the episodes of America's Next Top Model and Project Runway.
God did not change that about me. What He did was He showed me how I could use it for His glory.
(I like dressing up. although, I'm not a fan of the expensive brands you'd see in other fashionistas. a Christian fashionista would never spend more money on clothes than on her ministries!)

Today, that is what I see myself doing for God.
I am going to use my passion for clothes, everything God revealed to me about modesty, and use it all to start God-centered relationships with women of different kinds and of different worlds! :)

I know that God is indeed up to something big. He's the center of everything I do - from the way I dress to the blogs I post. I pray that His hands would always be mine and His voice would always be my guide :">
All I gotta do is earnestly submit to my King and consult everything that I would do for my Majesty. After all, that's what a servant should do, right? ;)

What are the big things you are willing to do for God? What are your passions and how do you think could they be used for His glory?