New Hope Calendar

Searching for Eden
Understanding and navigating our culture’s cries for life
Gender Wars: What does it mean to be female?

The Genesis
“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’…So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female. God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.’”
-Genesis 1:26-28

“The LORD God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being. The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He placed the man He had formed…The LORD God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it…Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is like him…So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. Then the LORD God made the rib He had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man…This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.”
-Genesis 2:15-25

Womanhood: A call to rule by courageously unveiling beauty
• Haunting question ? Am I lovely? (Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge)
• Ultimate fear is abandonment/rejection

How are women made to courageously unveil beauty?
• Release the tender strength of others
– “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper who is like him.’” (Gen. 2:18)
• Remind others of beauty & mystery
– “This one, at last, is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called woman, for she was taken from man.” (Gen. 2:23)
• Receive the heart of others
-“This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.” (Gen. 2:24)

Next Week
Our longing for intimacy