Technicolor Womanنموونە

Technicolor Woman

Sometimes, when I’m driving, I take the opportunity to ask God questions because I’ve found that He loves to unveil discoveries and show us treasures—as we seek, find, and behold His truths. How do I know this? It’s simple, really. Jeremiah 33:3 says, “‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’” It’s one of my favorite verses—and I’ve received its promise over and over again. He is so fun.

On this drive, I asked God what His intent and meaning was when He first made Woman—the moment He formed her and when she was written about. In short, I wanted to know what the essence of a woman is from His perspective—and He answered me.

In a time in history when a woman’s identity is in high-crisis mode, we need God’s clarity more than ever. We need to know who we are. The identity pendulum can swing towards feminism, which, in its essence, is fighting for value. It’s extreme and typically vilifies men out of a person’s own trauma and wounds. It twists truth, and time and time again, I have seen women become more like men because of this—which defeats the whole purpose of knowing one’s innate value as a woman. A lot of chaos wraps around this root of identity, and expressions of disordered love and value are evident and overtaking. A lot of these expressions look like manipulation, control, and false power to get what they want or “deserve.”

I have also seen it swinging to and embracing a human-made “religious” definition for identity, which can often diminish one person in favor of another—and is based on power, hierarchy, and perceived superiority. Religion loves to triple-muzzle women. Religion creates power structures and values one person over another, whether that’s a man over a woman, a pastor over a volunteer, rich over the poor, or famous over a common person.

God doesn’t operate in castles; He operates in Kingdom. Kingdom structures aren’t like man-made structures. He operates an upside-down Kingdom. It isn’t a business; it is a family, and the fuel is honoring one another. He uplifts the humble and brings down pride. He comes for the sick who need a doctor. He places the lonely in families. He cleans up the greatest sinners and chooses to send them to bring in His harvest. He finds the one who feels so unseen and keeps His eye close on them. He doesn’t do things how we do things. He doesn’t value what we value. The kingdom honors all parts but never devalues or diminishes.

Operating from Kingdom identity is as fortified as it gets.

Identity can try to attach to relationships, work, life stage, performance, gifting, success, anointing, sickness, failure, hobbies, interests, and pain. This is why it says “abide in me” in John 15:4, (ESV) because He is the Vine, the Source, and we are the branches.

The only way to produce colorful juicy fruit in our lives is to remain in Him. When we attach ourselves to anything else, there is no life, and it becomes rotten, desolate, and toxic.

For women, each of these false identity attachments can lead to a variety of expressions—keeping us hustling for worth, trying to manipulate, living in fear and insecurity, and heaviness. One of my favorite books on identity is Living Fearless: Exchanging the Lies of the World for the Liberating Truth of God by Jamie Winship, who runs a ministry called Identity Exchange. I love his teachings on getting to root issues with identity.

“The number one strategy of the enemy is to take away your identity.”

In Winship’s book, he quotes David Benner, who states: “We do not find our true self by seeking it. Rather, we find it by seeking God.”

Identity issues are hard to miss since they are displayed in how people communicate, what they talk about, why they do things, and how they go about doing things. This is why the subject of identity is so important. When we know who we are, we can exhale and rest in our identity. When we know who we are and abide in Jesus, the overflow is then what we do, and it unlocks creativity, joy, and real fruit in our lives that can’t be accessed in any other way.

When we know who we are, we can call out the God-colors in others because we can see. When we don’t know who we are, we can’t see others, so we end up living in insecurity or competition with others. When we don’t know who we are, we do things to try to produce our identity, but it never works that way.

When we abide in Him, only then can we bloom.

“I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would no longer be enameled with lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our Lord’s living garden.” St. Thérèse de Lisieux

Everyone blooms differently; everyone is a different color, scent, and hue. It is so beautiful. Nothing can rob or tamper with this God-given identity. It demolishes competition and comparison while setting others free to do the same. We aren’t meant to look, act, or sound the same; we are all free to be the glorious flower that God seeded in us to become.

“Your identity is your gift to the world. No one else can give the gift you can in the truth of who you are.” Jamie Winship

When we go from drab black-and-white living to full color, it looks like living in and out of our God-given identity. Identity cannot be discovered through anyone or anything other than the Creator. You were made in the image of God.

“So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them,” (Genesis 1:27, NLT).

You were created in His image to carry a unique reflection into the world. The Creator made you so intentionally, to laugh the way you laugh, sound the way you sound, and even look how you look. He put specific desires in your heart ON PURPOSE. He even formed you to like and dislike certain things on purpose, too, all for His glory and all for His kingdom.

“So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image,” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NLT).

“Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him,”
(Colossians 3:10, NLT).

We are to become like Him, to be changed more and more into His glorious image.

God who has rainbows around the throne (Revelation 4:2-4). A rainbow as a covenant between God and earth and the generations (Genesis 9:12-13). There’s a rainbow over the head of an angel in Revelation 10:1. The bow and brightness of glory seen by Ezekiel made him fall on his face (Ezekiel 1:28).

The bright colors and glory belong to God and His children, who are made in His image. I want to see the color inside of you. I want to see what God placed in you. The black-and-white world needs you to live in full-color freedom.

You were made to live life in Technicolor.

This reality is for every woman, every age, every color, and every stage. It doesn’t matter if you think you are too young, too old, or you count yourself out for whatever reason—not smart enough, pretty enough, single, married, a busy mama, a retiree, or a high schooler.

This is FOR YOU; this is the identity you carry.

In Genesis 2:22, we read, “Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man.” That sounds straightforward enough, but there’s more to the story: the Hebrew word for “the rib” that God takes out of Adam is Tsela. (That’s Tsela, not Tesla!)

First, this word speaks of the intentionality and forethought God used when designing Woman. In fact, Tsela primarily relates to architectural descriptions such as the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, an altar, and side chambers of the Temple.

Here’s the breakdown of Tsela’s use and context for use:

According to The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament, Tsela occurs 28 times—twice in Genesis (Genesis 2:21-22); once in Job (Job 18:12), referring to Job’s side; three times referring to the side of the Ark of the Covenant; 11 times relating to the side of the Tabernacle; and 11 times referring to the side chamber of the Temple.

Do you see how Woman is gloriously made? God, the great Architect, intentionally formed and fashioned Woman in a magnificent manner—even to the point of mirroring the likeness of a dwelling place of His presence, glory, and worship.

Digging a little deeper . . . the Hebrew word for “Woman” in Genesis 2:22 is Isha, which is comprised of the Hebrew symbols Heh, Shin, and Aleph—each of which has distinct meaning.

In the ancient Paleo Hebrew pictograph, Heh is represented by a little stick figure, hands held up in the air, meaning “to look,” “to behold,” or “to reveal.”

Heh makes me think of Mary in the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38. As the story unfolds, we quickly realize that Martha is a “do-er,” while Mary is a “be-er”—or at least that’s how I describe them when Mary decides to sit and look at Jesus and receive from Him, placing more value on her presence in that moment than in her performance.

Martha, by contrast, is nearly exhausted, rushing around trying to make all the external details fit in place perfectly but missing the true importance of soaking up the moment with Jesus and probably super annoyed with Mary seemingly wasting her time.

I love it when Jesus says, “Martha, Martha . . . you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her” (Luke 10:41).

You and I know that same tug on our time and energy.

There’s. Always. So. Much. To. Do.

I believe Jesus understands our struggle of feeling overwhelmed, distracted, or obligated to “do” or perform rather than just “be.”

The struggle is real, too! My goodness . . . when the kids get “cray cray,” or work is piling up (and laundry is, too, simultaneously), or even “doing” those good works or things for God, it can start to rob you of “being” with Him. But during those times when you’re “doing,” you’re not “being” or beholding Him, which is typically the time when He can reveal himself, His heart, and His mysteries.

This passage opened my eyes to how women (if we take the time) love to look, behold, and carry deep revelations from Jesus since those are the treasures that can never be taken from us. In fact, I think that’s why Heh is part of the very name of Woman.

Now, on to the next letter, Shin.

Shin is literally shaped like three branches of flames and means “fire and transformation,” “destroy,” “something sharp,” “teeth,” or “consume.” It refers to the process of transformation, breaking down, grinding into particles, building anew, or the firing of a clay pot, refined by the fires to reach its intended form. In short, it’s the entire refining, transformational process: breaking, healing, refining, and restoring.

To me, this runs parallel to the fierce mama bear inside of Woman. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a good example of this. She was brave in her obedience who resolutely declared, “‘I am the Lord’s servant . . . May your word to me be fulfilled’” (Luke 1:38).

Her unwavering obedience to carry the Savior of the world in her womb—no matter how it appeared to others around her or who believed her heavenly encounter—was literally the lifeblood in which Jesus would destroy the works of the enemy.

Like Mary and as His daughters, we get to agree with God’s promises seeded within us—giving Him our firm yes—so that we, too, can bring His kingdom into our world and destroy the works of darkness. In fact, I believe that yielding in obedience to the Spirit of God is all it requires to ignite that transformational, refining fire within us and to heap destruction on the head of the enemy.

When we yield to this fire and transformation then we can carry fire and transformation. Mama bears break and destroy anything in their paths if anything tries to harm their babies. This is inside women for the kingdom of God.

We don’t want anything touching and harming God’s babies; we destroy the works of the enemies coming towards the innocent.

Just like Mary carried Jesus in her womb to restore and heal all people back into alignment with God, I believe women carry this innate desire to be yielded vessels to see God heal, restore, refine, and transform people back into love alignment with God.

Next up is Aleph, which is a picture of an ox head, representing strength and power to plow. It symbolizes the beginning of creation and the start of God’s revelation to humanity.

When I consider Aleph, I think of Matthew 9:20 and the account of the woman healed of 12 years of bleeding. She courageously and confidently plowed her way through the crowd in a time when she was culturally considered and classified as “unclean.” Yet, she threw off the identity that her culture imposed upon her and, with tenacity and unrelenting faith, made her way directly to Jesus for her healing—believing (and knowing) that Jesus is our true Healer and has authority over all ailments. She plowed her way through, and it revealed Jesus as Healer.

Women have a way of plowing forward. A woman makes a way for others, whether it’s her husband, children, friends, co-workers, or people in need. It is IN us.

When women see a need, they will plow forward to meet it. Why do so many women start non-profits that are for the less fortunate, whether in need physically or emotionally? Why do so many women enter the field of emotional and spiritual healing? Why are so many women drawn to justice causes?

I have good friends who, as young mothers, started something so innovative for women stuck in sex trafficking. They plowed through, and every time, it reveals the glory of God, His freedom, healing, and redemption.

My question that I posed to God in a whisper while on that drive was answered in far greater detail, depth, and magnitude than I could have ever imagined:

This revelation of Woman—Heh, Shin, and Aleph—soaked deep into my spirit.

Woman was created to plow the way forward, destroy the works of darkness in her path with untamed yielding to God, and to reveal and behold the beauty of Jesus.

Mouth drop . . . and mic drop.

So, woman (and I write that in the fullness of your essence now), take time today to push pause on your busy schedule and the hustle, and sit and receive your God-given identity.

Let Him remove the false identities and fear you have lived from so that you can bloom in your full color.

He is the Great Architect who fashioned you just as He did the Temple, as a carrier of the Holy Spirit living inside you.

Continue to plow and upend the kingdom of darkness with insane trust in and obedience to Jesus.

Know that all of Heaven is peering at you—cheering you on as you bring the Kingdom to earth in mighty ways in your everyday life.

You were made to reflect His image in full color.

You are a Technicolor Woman.