Yesterday a post written by our youngest contributor was accidentally posted before it had a chance to go through the editing process. Those of you who subscribe got the rough draft version in your e-mail inboxes! No biggie. Right?
Wrong. I got an ungracious comment from a woman who was offended by a misspelling and by the tone of the post.
It got me thinking.
I know the vast majority of our readers here are grace-filled women of faith…desirous of loving the Savior and loving one another as we journey this road of life together and help each other along. I’m certain most, if not all of you want to see a young daughter still under the roof of her parent’s home (well…actually…their home got blown away in a tornado last spring…but, you get my point), still “in-training” in so many ways, have an opportunity to share what God has been teaching her in all the various undertakings of her life at home.
And if we see some rough edges, we who are older will remember ourselves at that age and extend grace. That is one of the beautiful things about growing up and maturing in Christ.
I’m certain the woman who made the comment unsubscribed to Visionary Womanhood in disgust. Which is probably for the best, because we’ve all got problems over here. I’m dead serious. I know you can look at their lovely mugshots and read the sweet bios and think they’ve got it all together, but I’m telling you…every single contributor on this blog has issues. I don’t even know the HALF of the nastiness represented by the hearts writing on the VW blog.
I just know myself. And I’m a big, fat, rotten failure of a human being. No matter how hard I try to be a great MOM and a great WIFE and a great HOME MAKER and a great DAUGHTER of God, I fail a thousand times a day. And my guess, after experiencing 45 years on this earth so far and meeting lots of folks, is that every single woman writing on this blog has the same ugly heart I have.
So what does that mean for Visionary Womanhood? It means you will sometimes catch glimpses of the imperfections represented here. We want to be transparent…yet encouraging. Sometimes you will read posts where we openly share some of the garbage in our lives. It’s usually more acceptable then…because we “told you on purpose”.
But the embarrassing times come when you see the trash we’ve tried to tuck away quick. Woops. That’s when the real grace comes out. See how that works?
Out slips the sin. Out pours the grace.
Isn’t that incredible?
Boy, do I need to work on that in my own life. I tend to be very snarky in my own mind. Worse than that woman who commented. You wouldn’t believe the self-control I have to exert to keep myself from letting all the sarcasm dripping from my brain come seeping out of my mouth…and onto this blog. It would take your breath away. I do a lot of editing before I post something I write. Only God knows the sickness I hide.
Oh to be full of grace at all times! To be oozing kindness and thoughtfulness even as I “correct” someone in love. To have the love of Christ, like a tsunami, crashing into the sin around me…covering it with its purifying power.
But rather than sitting around sighing about how rotten I am and how hopeless it all is…I absolutely MUST make the choice to focus on the One who never fails. Because HE is the One that this blog is supposed to revolve around. The contributors here are just Wemmicks. Expect imperfection here, and lots of it.
But Jesus Christ, our King, is perfect. He is the great Fountain of Living Water. The Grace-Giver. The Bread of Life. The Beautiful Savior. The Righteous Judge. The Strong Tower of Refuge. The Creator of the Universe.
Here…you will find sinful Wemmick women, bowing to the Son. And if you’d like to join us…
…we would SO love to have you!
And by the way, the post that was SUPPOSED to go out into your e-mail boxes Sunday morning was the one with links to my radio interview with Kevin Swanson of Generations with Vision, where I had the opportunity to talk about three of my favorite topics: God, Women, and Vision. If you have some time while you are folding laundry, wiping up the kitchen, or stirring a pot of boiling water for dinner tonight…hop on over there and get inspired!
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About Wemmick Girl Saved by Grace
hey Natalie, I heard the interview this morning. It was refreshing to hear your voice and “get to know you”. I thought it was funny when you mentioned you couldn’t compete with his wife in regards to hospitality. It made me think that we are trained to unconsciously “compete” and compare ourselves to others, aren’t we?? Only the Lord knows the conversations I have in my head about those comparisons…its’ a constant to remind myself that I am the only Me and each one of us is unique in our own way. Really there is no sense in comparing.
Your blog has been a breath of fresh air. thanks!
Thank you Tereza! : ) I’m so glad you are here!
Beautiful. Thank you!
Amen, amen and I’ll say it again.. amen! In fact, it is ONLY in my wholly imperfect self that God’s glory can shine through. Otherwise, there would be NO room for HIM. Can I get an amen?
Amen, Chelsey! : )
This is pretty ironic. My last post was on this same topic!
Thank you for sharing!
Just read it! That is too funny! Well…join the crew of imperfect bloggers. Jeepers, if we all waited until we were perfect…none of us could every open our mouths to say a peep, right? I don’t think that’s what God intended. Keep bloggin’…and we can laugh at each other’s bloopers. : )
Being one of the imperfect contributors Natalie is referring to, I want to confirm that my heart is to encourage and build women up. My style tends to include a lot of examples, I know I love examples, the problem is that it can be misread that I am trying to run other women’s lives. Instead I write with a heart of willingness to be vulnerable so others can learn through that. Keep writing Bria and readers read our posts with the same heart you would give a dear friend.
It’s always so encouraging to me when someone is open about their faults and failures; not because I enjoy hearing it, but because it gives me hope. Hope that I, too, a “big, fat, rotten failure of a human being” as you said, can rise above this wallowing in despair and be the woman God created me to be. Not perfect, but healed, whole, and useful.
Thank you for sharing! Oh, and please have someone give that young contributor a hug! God bless her!
Thank you for this. I actually just posted on my blog about my very imperfect evening, and I was almost afraid to do it. I was almost afraid to look like a failure in front of my readers. But I say it’s important to share everything: the good, bad, and the ugly. Because like you said, we are all failures at something in our life. No one is perfect, so why try to pretend like we are? Anyways, thank you for sharing and showing all women it’s ok to be honest about ourselves and learn from a very gracious God.
Thanks for sharing this Kay. I agree. Trying to put on a front so we will “look good” is always a mistake. Only God is good. When we are honest about our failures and weaknesses, He gets the glory. And that’s what it is all about. It sort of take the “teeth” out of the enemy too. ; ) He wants to accuse us. Pretty hard for him to do that when we are standing there saying, “Yeah…I failed. I sin. But Jesus saves. Praise God!” That doesn’t mean we don’t try to do better next time…or grow…it just means we are honest along the journey. We’ll be fully sanctified in heaven…and boy, am I looking forward to that! : )
I agree wholeheartedly!! Thanks for being so transparent:) I think we all look at all the blogs out there and think everyone else is perfect. When in reality we are all a mess!! That is why Jesus came and why we need Him so! Thanks again for the post…it was what I needed to hear this morning:)