But it still isn't easy. Along with Paul, I can say that I am not ashamed of the Gospel. And what I loved about learning to preach was how to bring the Gospel, how to bring hope, into the world. In no way do I want to be an obstacle for the Gospel, and yet...And yet I find that my physical presence, which is obviously female, may, in and of itself, be an obstacle.
I struggled with this, so much so, that after I would preach I'd have to go take a walk on the shore and wrestle this out with God. Until He reminded me of the words from Psalm 139 - "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Which includes everything about me! Spiritual and physical. And the obstacle that I was so worried about, (which sounds weird to say), the obstacle of my body, really wasn't about me. If others were not open to hearing a female preach, that obstacle had more to do with them then it did with me. (Now of course I do want to clarify that I still have my responsibility to play in this - so lest you be worried that I'm going to start preaching in short skirts and skimpy tops - I still want to be considerate and modest.;)
This also doesn't mean that I am going to start marching around holding signs, demanding my "rights" to preach. No. In the words of one wise lady "I am not going to go where I am not invited." I don't preach because I have a point to prove, for the moment that starts happening, preaching stops and presumption starts. I preach because, quite selfishly, I get to spend time in the Word, learning up close and personal, how the world looks from God's perspective and what He intends to do about it. And then I get to share that, hopefully getting out of the way enough to point to God alone, but realizing that because I am made the way that I am, I get out of the way, in my own unique way.
\manda
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