An Eighteen Year Old Girl Named Heidi

Leonardo da Vinci has said: “I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” When I was twelve, an eighteen year old girl named Heidi took a leap of faith and started a small Bible study, that formed my first fellowship of the heart. I have never been the same.

When a friend of mine was searching for a kind of Christianity that she could be a part of, she started going to a local singles group, looking for people that would help her change for the better. She didn’t find anyone who was living Christianity in a way that she could see herself living too. She tried to find Christian women she could admire, and is for the most part still looking. Maybe one of the new people I saw and haven’t reached out to at church was like my friend. Maybe last Sunday, was the very last Sunday they were still seeking and hoping for the Christianity they could immerse themselves in. What if I was the girl some one was praying that their beloved friend would find and be inspired by?
God, in His graciousness, does not allow us to see the ever-widening ripple effects that our wrong choices make, just as we cannot see the multiplying effects of our good choices. My friend has the permanency of child out of marriage in her life now, and she will walk a different path than many women her age; but there is so much hope and life ahead of her, and I am believing that she will find that godly, and feminine example who will inspire her to become more of who she was created to be.

I’m writing this blog on femininity, and I don’t know if she reads it. Even if she did, I don’t know that it would help her. But I write anyways because when I lay awake at night thinking about my dearly loved friend, I also think about all the other people who are also awake thinking about their mother, sister, daughter, or friend. They are praying too for someone who will love, and value their loved one who they can’t seem to reach. It breaks my heart when I think about the girl I spent long summer days during childhood with. Life has hardened and changed her, and her laugh is different now.
I used to be devastated that I couldn’t be good enough to inspire my friend to desire a better way of living. I thought that if only my relationship with Matt was better that she would see something more than she had, and wouldn’t want to be in abusive relationships anymore. But my friend is nothing like me, and the kind of femininity that I am supposed to live before God, is not the same as what she is called to be. And while I can do some things, I can also rest in the fact that she is a different part of the body than I am, and I can’t model what that part looks like. But maybe I am the right fit for your daughter, or sister, or friend. And maybe you’re the person to speak into my friend’s life in a way that I could never hope for. You have no idea who is watching you. You have no idea who is looking for you to give them hope that they can be fully who they are as an individual, and grow as a Christian.
Christianity is supposed to be big enough for all women, of all ages, races, ideologies, fashion styles, and personality types. And the more women, who come alive with a purposeful ministry through their femininity, are going to make this increasingly true.