I was the girls' wrestling champion my eighth-grade year. We had a wrestling tournament in PE class. The winners kept advancing. I must have pinned a lot of girls to the mat because I ended up in the championship match, which happened to play out in our gym in front of the entire junior high. I've always been a little scrappy. Most people wouldn't list "good wrestler" among the characteristics of a godly girl. We are supposed to be lovers, not fighters. And yet here I am, a scrappy girl with a wrestling trophy in my closet. The fact that I don't fit most lists of what girls should be like has always caused me some angst. While my twin sister was playing house, I was pretending to be the boss. Other girls are so naturally sweet they come across like little cocker spaniels. I've always been a bit more like a bulldog. It's not that I'm masculine, but I've spent plenty of years wondering if it's okay to be me. Specifically, I longed to know if it was possible to be the kind of girl God wanted me to be if I had no desire to live in Barbie's dream house. I know I'm not the only one to feel this way. My friend Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth (who wrote Lies Young Women Believe) wrote about similar feelings:
As a teenager, I had a strong desire to serve the Lord. Somehow I developed the mindset that if I'd been a man, God could have used my life in a more significant way. I struggled to understand and accept God's calling for me as a woman.
Nancy describes a struggle many girls face. The culture preaches that guys and girls should be the same in every area of life, and yet we are not the same. God made guys and girls distinctly different. (Remember from yesterday's post that those differences are designed to put the unique qualities of God on display!) As the world around us screams, "Be just like the boys!" our design yells back, "But God made me this way to show the world about Him!" Has this tug of war ever made you feel frustrated about being a girl? Like Nancy and I, have you ever wondered if being a boy would be so much ... easier? If so, head back with me to the very beginning ... When God designed the very first girl, He didn't look at Eve and think, Whoops! I guess I should have made her stronger. Or, Poor thing, if she didn't love to talk so much, I could really use her for something big! I also don't think God's intention was that Eve was only a pretty face, good for nothing but trips to the mall and spotting cute fig-leaf fashion when she saw it. When God looked at Adam and Eve—two people who were similar but designed to reveal something different about God—He reached one conclusion: "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (Gen. 1:31). When God made earth, He said that it was good (Gen. 1:10). When He covered the earth with plants and fruits and trees, He said that it was good (Gen. 1:12). When God made the sun and the moon, He said that it was good (Gen. 1:18). When He made pelicans and whales and elephants and zebras, He said that it was good (Gen. 1:25). But when God made man and woman—two distinct image bearers, each with a specific story to tell about God—He added an extra word. Your creation story isn't just good, it's very good. It's better than good to be a girl. It's very good. Do you sometimes wrestle with what it means to be a girl? Do you ever wish you were stronger, or tougher, or less emotional? If so, take heart sweet girl! God made you just the way you are on purpose. The things that make you a girl reveal something about Him to a harsh world. And that's ... Very good!