Courage to Be an Atypical Woman

Courage to be an Atypical Woman

Do you feel like a “typical woman?” As I reflect back on my college days, I can remember wrestling with my calling as a woman. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to do the things I thought Christian women were “supposed” to do. In her book (A)typical Woman, Abigail Dodds writes, “In my conversations with ladies of many ages, I’ve noticed that we have varying understandings of what a typical woman is, but few of us think of ourselves as a typical woman…many of us have had the experience of feeling like we didn’t quite fit the mold” (59). I honestly felt a little surprised when I read that. I thought that my experience feeling “atypical” as a woman was an unusual one when, in fact, it may be the more common one.

Whether in the world or in the church, I have found that women tend to react poorly to any sense of expectation that there is a “typical” mold to womanhood. Often, women want to break the mold and separate themselves from what they view as “tradition.” The irony of this is, in the pursuit of being “atypical,” one becomes typical. As Abigail said in our interview with her, feeling unique isn’t actually unique. Paradoxically, nothing makes a woman more atypical in our day than pursuing the Biblical vision for womanhood.  

Not a Typical Woman

Most of us, at times, feel like misfits or like we fall short of the Bible’s definition of a Christian woman. Perhaps we don’t like things we define as “womanly” like cooking, or teaching children. Perhaps some of us are single or we can’t have children, and we assume this somehow makes us less than a woman. Maybe we don’t feel like we fit the mold because we’re defining what it means to be a woman in a way that the Bible not. We are subconsciously adding to the Scriptures and allowing the culture (maybe even our church culture) to tell us what it means to be a woman. Dodds writes “I wonder if we can all agree that how we feel about being a woman doesn’t have any bearing on what we are. We may feel like we don’t fit the mold, but God calls us to live in a way that shatters the world’s expectations. So in our misfit feelings, he has actually given us a gift. Our misfit feelings don’t change reality. We are women. When we act, when we do whatever it is we do, we do so as women, and we become a living narrative that models womanhood to those around us, for good or ill” (61).

“…we become a living narrative that models womanhood to those around us.” Those words ring in my ears with a weighty sense of conviction.  The truth is that the world needs more Christian women who delight in their callings as women. It needs women who understand the privilege that it is to be created a woman. It needs women who live out that calling in their homes, their workplaces, and their churches in the way the Bible commends. In fact, the way we live our lives as women is so important that Titus 2 says we can either “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” or cause the word of God to be reviled. So, with that in mind, we should do our very best to understand what it means to be a woman as God defines it and to live in a way that restores glory to this high calling. It is an immense privilege and responsibility to be able to adorn the doctrine of God with the way we live our lives as women!

“The truth is that the world needs more Christian women who delight in their callings as women. It needs women who understand the privilege that it is to be created a woman.”

1 Peter 3:5-6 says, “For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.” We can adorn ourselves in a way that brings glory to God by living out His will for our womanhood. By following in Sarah’s footsteps and submitting to our husbands, doing good, and not fearing anything that is frightening, we can be a living narrative that models a biblical vision of womanhood to those around us. 

Glory in Being Made a Woman

Dodds writes, “God’s design outlined in the Scriptures is a vision for womanhood that is not just right and to be obeyed; it is experientially preferable to all the world has to offer” (70). God created you as a woman and His creation is very good. It isn’t an afterthought or a punishment or a second-rate gift.

“God created you as a woman and His creation is very good. It isn’t an afterthought or a punishment or a second-rate gift.”

Today, most people think that being “atypical” as a woman means that you strike your own path and reject all gender stereotypes or expectations of you as a woman. The spirit of the age is to view men as patriarchal and women as oppressed. The only solution is to make all things “equal” or to dissolve any differences between the genders altogether. However, what is actually atypical is to live out the biblical vision for womanhood in a culture that constantly wars against it. What is truly radical is to embrace all that the Bible says about being created a woman and to glory in the goodness of God creating male and female, equal in essence and varying in roles.

“However, what is actually atypical is to live out the biblical vision for womanhood in a culture that constantly wars against it. What is truly radical is to embrace all that the Bible says about being created a woman and to glory in the goodness of God creating male and female, equal in essence and varying in roles. ”

Take Courage My Sisters!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the courage it takes to be different in today’s culture. It takes courage to glory in being a woman. It takes boldness to stand confidently on the Word of God and His pattern for men and women in the home and in the church. The truly atypical woman isn’t the one who believes the lies the culture tells her (that’s actually pretty typical!), but rather, she believes what the Word of God tells her. She is willing to say, let God be true and every man a liar! 

What we need is more women who embrace God’s vision for biblical womanhood with boldness and joy. Being created as a woman comes with great privilege and responsibility. We can adorn the doctrine of God or revile His Word by the way we live our lives as women. A courageous woman knows that being created as a woman is not an accident. She glories in being a woman and knows that it’s God’s good will for her.