So, is there a place in this world for a young lady to live a Godly life?
I can hear the laughter and the snickers? Me, as an old man, dare venture into this topic?
Before someone falls off their chair, hear me out. I was young, too. And I met a young lady who lived a Godly life. She grew up poor and had been abused. Somewhere in those circumstances, she committed her life to Jesus Christ. She tended to a bunch starving college boys by feeding them once per week at a Christian coffee house. I watched her pray for people, and things happened. She worshipped with her whole heart. She did not have charisma or much education, and had a rough childhood, but God changed her. I found out most of these things much later, after we had been married several years. That marriage lasted 43 years. She was swinging in the mission field until cancer had nearly eaten her alive. She counseled people in hospice. The life was built, sometimes through hardship, on faith in the One that made her. Yes, a young maiden in Christ can live and love God.
After being a widower for a while, I married another special woman. She could tell a story with similarities. After hardship in relationships and having made a mess of things, she committed her life fully to Christ at 22, which is the same age I did the same thing. She began carrying a Bible, began trusting God in a new way, and began with tough circumstances. She learned forgiveness, walked carefully, and heard God in her heart. Sometimes He encouraged her; sometimes He rebuked her. But, she never disengaged from Him. She is also still producing fruit, still walking in faith, and still in the work of caring for me, others, and orphans halfway around the world. Yes, a young maiden in Christ can live and love God.
The Bible is full of examples of ordinary young women that served God, obeyed his instruction, did wondrous things, and had relationships with others that yielded fruitfulness and were full of good works. Such was the group of women that supported and looked after Jesus and the disciples, but I could name many others.
Similar to the exhortations to men, which often pertain to women, a young woman can walk wisely and live fully as she is engaged to the One who created her. He walks alongside a young woman as He walks alongside a young man. The same requirement is present: they must love Him with everything in themselves.
Most of my counsel in the Philippines is to young ladies, which is almost always in the presence of my wife. I love each of them and treat them as daughters. I care for them because I watch some of the dangers and temptations they face. Some do very well. Some do not. But the ones that do well stay engaged in prayer, grow in their understanding of the Word, and in the rest of their lives they walk with the Living God. It is a process of growing and becoming fruitful — the same process any young man must go through as he grows in Christ. It is not always easy, but it works.
Young ladies, you who put trust in God, you can live a Godly and life of peace. Do not lower your standards in the face of an ungodly world, for you are special. Treat and conduct relationships in the fear of God, for He loves you.
As my wife often quotes, “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” Romans 14:8 (ESV)
