To Bring Forth Life

I'm currently rereading the book Captivating, co-authored by John and Stasi Eldredge, for the fourth or fifth time. God reveals more about Himself and who He created me to be each time I read it. It's incredible. This morning as I was reading, this particular part stuck out to me:

"As daughters of Eve, all women are uniquely gifted to help others in their lives become more of who they truly are--to encourage, nurture, and mother them toward their true selves. In doing this, women partner with Christ in the vital mission of bringing forth life." - Stasi Eldredge, Captivating

Wow. How beautiful! I had two initial reactions. First, I thought, "I want that to be me. I want to live up to this." And second, almost instantly, examples of specific ways I've been failing at this lately flooded my mind.

It's not that I consciously do the opposite. But reading it worded like this has opened my eyes to a specific role God created me to play in people's lives. And not just "people's" lives. My mom's, my dad's, my brother's, my sister's, my friends', and my classmates' lives. In what ways have I been encouraging, nurturing, and mothering my loved ones toward their true selves? If I asked myself that question about each person in my life specifically, I'm not sure I'd have specific enough examples for everybody. And that bothers me. Like I said earlier, I was able to come up with ways that I hadn't been encouraging, nurturing, and mothering without even consciously asking myself the question. So if I'm not effectively encouraging, nurturing, and mothering, does that mean I'm hindering the people I care about the most? Or worse, hurting them? Unfortunately, I think that may be true in some cases.

As a woman, I was created to reflect the tender, merciful, and alluring part of God's heart, along with His deep desire for intimacy and relationship. It's a pretty big responsibility, being created in the image of the God of the universe. And I can't effectively bear His glorious image on my own strength, no matter how hard I try.

God is really working in my heart and making me more sensitive to His. He's showing me what I need, as well as what the people I love need from me. I'm learning how to love people better and more deeply by offering who I was created to be to those He's placed in my life. He's showing my my unique gifts. He's showing me how to encourage, to nurture, and to mother the people I love toward their true selves. And He's showing me that I have the ability and the capacity to bring forth life by simply being who I am.