Ms. Understood? Get Smart!

I Y the title of this book! All women think they are Ms. Understood. But ask yourself this...
God - who do YOU say I am?
Identity in Christ is really all the understanding you need.

Men vs. women; the battle of the sexes; girls rule, guys drool; we've all led a cheer at some point in our life to take a stand for our gender. But how about a new cheer?
GIVE ME AN E ! GIVE ME A Q ! GIVE ME A U - A - L !!

Not only are we created as equals, we are equally blessed by God. How awesome is that?!

When I was young I wanted to play 2nd base for the St. Louis Cardinals. In my mind I was convinced it was possible. Obviously this lofty goal I set for myself did not come to fruition! I didn't give up, I simply understood it wasn't in the cards (no pun intended). I mean, God gives us grace, but he didn't exactly give me grace, if you know what I mean! I used to play coed softball with my husband and decided it just wasn't for me when I made all 3 outs in one inning for our team! I was the best player the other team had!

Jen says in her book, 'Unique from each other yet set together, we are mankind. We are gifted differently but our power is in our union'. While men and women are equal, it does not mean we are the same.

A perfect example: I love giving cards for special occasions. I mean, cards are just fun to look at and you know how exciting it is when you find the perfect card for someone? I think this is a woman thing because guys just don't care! No really - trust me - they don't! I have given many a perfect card to my husband's guy friends and I'm still waiting on a reaction, from ALL of them. I've been told over and over again by my husband that I'm wasting my time - and our money - but I keep doing it. Now if I gave a perfect card to a girl friend, she would proudly put it on display, show it to all her friends and have a hard time throwing it away.

When I think of Tamar, there would have been several opportunities for me to spend time picking out a perfect card for her. She went through so much! I could give her mulitple sympathy cards going through the death of 2 husbands, some good girlfriend cards she would need for a good laugh after dealing with her father-in-law, and finally a congratulations card on the birth of her twin sons.

Ah Tamar - now that's one smart cookie! A little harlot perhaps, but smart! Theoretically (stressing this word!), I know I've been where she was. I've been used and gone through mourning. I can wear black with the best of them. But, I can pull myself out of that mourning and live again.

Was I always this way? HECK no! As I've grown as a woman, I find all kinds of strength and street smarts I definitely did NOT possess as a teenager or young adult. I used to think it was cute to be dumb. The dumb blondes got all of the attention from the boys so why not just play dumb? I mean, it wasn't Andrea Zuckerman that the guys were in to, it was Donna Martin and Kelly Taylor (Julie - the 90210 reference was for you!). There was a girl in my youth group who was a dumb blonde. Once in Sunday School she was asked to read scripture out loud and she said, "Do not covet your neighbors....butt?!?" She didn't want to say ass - as in donkey - which she obviously did not get. But everyone laughed and in my mind, it got her lots of dates.

Let me end by saying - women - the stupidest thing you can do is dumb yourself down!!! My husband thinks I am smart and he digs that about me too. God made women to be smart and He entrusted them and their smarts throughout His word. We all have God-given, built-in common sense, let's start putting it to better use!! If Tamar hadn't, a piece of the lineage of Jesus would be missing!