By Nancy R. Catan, BCBP Manila
March is a month wherein we celebrate womanhood. As women, especially Christian women, we are given a unique ministry, the ministry of being a woman, a woman after God’s own heart. What does this mean? The woman after God’s own heart is one who knows who God is intimately and trustingly, who knows without doubt that He loves her. Hers is a heart enriched by joy in, and with, the Lord.
She thirsts after and pursues spiritual, intellectual, emotional and relationship growth, and is teachable and willing to learn what God wants to teach her. Her heart is committed to prayer and is rooted in God’s Word because she understands the importance of spiritual gardening, that one’s life will only bear good fruit if one’s root system is strong and healthy.
This woman has a heart not only for God but also for His people; hers is a heart that cares, that loves, that forgives, that shares. Like Mama Mary, she is present when needed, she serves with a smile and a helping hand, she encourages others with her generosity of soul. She values herself as a woman and goes out of her way to be in right relationships with others.
This Ministry of Womanhood is expressed in our everyday lives in everything we are and in everything we do. Each one of us lives out our ministry in different ways: being a wife and mother, in having a career or profession, through our hospitality and our stewardship, in community, in service and mission activities, by our joy and contentment in the roles God has blessed us with.
In Community, like the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals of which Jun and I are active members, we women have a very special role to live out. Not only are we to live out our ministry as Christian women, but we are also tasked with the important and key responsibility of providing the necessary anchor of love in positively contributing to upbuilding a vibrant and caring BCBP community.
This task of being a godly woman is not only applicable for a Christian community, but also for the family, for the church group that you belong to, for your barangay. We should treasure our womanhood and seek out ways to strengthen ourselves as Christian women, wives and mothers, to being in right relationships with others and with God. We should also reach out and do our share in providing support and a strong anchor of loving relationships and service in the community and in the roles where God has placed us.
We must embrace with our lives and our hearts the Ministry of Womanhood that our God has entrusted us with.
I am glad that I am a woman. Do I have a heart for God? Yes, but I am still striving for a purer, more loving heart for God and others. I know that my journey in this regard will be never-ending. But I also believe that in many ways it is the journey that counts … and so I go forward and enjoy the experiences, whether happy or sad, whether easy or challenging, in sunshine or in rain, through the mountains or the aridness of the desert, along my journey of life with Jesus as my constant companion along the way.
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–This is the “short version” of the Ministry of Womanhood. You may read the longer version that gives specific examples of “The Role of Women in the BCBP” on this website under Articles first posted on April 27, 2010.
