Kingdom Woman: Embracing Your Purpose, Power, and Possibilities Read Online Free PDF Page B

you to feel that what she attained is so far out of reach from what God is able to do through you. Because it’s not. What it comes down to is that her fear and reverence for God caused her to do the best she could with what she had to promote God’s kingdom and goodness in her own life and the lives of those around her.
    Help Is Not Bad
    An important principle that is often overlooked when we examine the life of the Proverbs 31 woman is that she was not too proud to get help. In verse 15 we read, “She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.” Servant girls is not a term that we use today. In ancient Hebrew society, it referred to a handmaid or helper. It is a small reference to a very important truth. As I mentioned earlier, the kingdom woman in Proverbs 31 didn’t try to do it all on her own. She had help. She was diligent, resourceful, and productive, yet she didn’t do it all alone.
    There is a stigma today for Christian women in particular about asking for or using help. For some reason people have come to believe that “exhaustion is close to godliness” is written somewhere in the Bible. It is not. The fastest way to get yourself off track from fulfilling God’s kingdom destiny for you is to view yourself as a superwoman who has to do it all on her own. The key to your destiny is humbly acknowledging your dependence on God and maximizing all He provides you, even if that includes accepting or using the help of others.
    For example, in the corporate world, a manager would not be considered a great manager if she tried to do everyone’s job herself. A great manager knowshow to draw out the best from those around her while simultaneously leading and complementing their efforts. You don’t have to achieve your destiny alone.
    Chrystal’s Chronicles
    I was crashing and crashing fast. After a wild holiday season followed by a trip out of state for our son’s surgery, I felt as if my household was spinning out of control. At the time I had a teenager, a preteen, a preschooler, a toddler, and an infant. Oh, and did I mention a loving kingdom man as a husband who just so happened to work in the music business, which meant a lot of travel and time away managing concert tours? I was sleep deprived, short on energy, and short on hours.
    Looking around my house, I knew I couldn’t do it all. But I was determined to try. I was convinced that I shouldn’t need assistance with my duties as a wife and mother. I’d always worked well under pressure and been able to keep a few plates spinning at the same time. Having been a mother from the early age of nineteen, I knew what it was like to juggle priorities and commitments to get everything done. I liked being capable, and I definitely didn’t want anyone else in the picture to get the glory, uh . . . I mean . . . be burdened with responsibilities that were supposed to be mine.
    I would see other women who I just knew were superwomen and didn’t ask for help. Little did I know that some of them were dropping their spinning plates too! We know how to mask things, don’t we? Each of us in our own manner finds a way to make things look nice and tidy to outsiders while we know the truth about the mess behind closed doors.
    I wasn’t ready to admit that I needed help. I wanted to be superwoman too.
    I remember one night of that crazy-busy season, in those wee, honest hours, sometime after the last child fell sleep and my husband dozed off, there was no sound except for the still, small voice of God wondering in a whisper if He had somehow been forgotten that day. I prayed with a metaphorical hand on my hip. “God,” I said, “if You want me to have time for You, too, then I need some help getting things done. And I need You to bring help to me .” I didn’t want to have to humble myself so much to actually go look for help—therefore acknowledging that I needed some.
    But that’s how great God is.