True Freedom From Surrender

Today, I have some great news to report, earth-shaking news, in fact, news that I witnessed firsthand with my own two eyes. Yes, I can testify with complete clarity, gained from personal observation, as to just how far the women’s movement has brought us in the fight for the plight and rights of females around our nation.

So, hold on to your hats and hearts as I report to you exactly what I witnessed in our small southern city this very morning: Believe it or not, this very day, modern American women of all ages can and do fill up their own gas tanks in the frosty cold winds of their early morning commutes.

In fact, as my husband and I made our way to work this morning, well before 7 a.m., I saw an entire gas station full of my fellow women, shivering in the freezing morning temps as they pumped their own gas. It was a sight to behold – women’s liberation at its finest.

Some of the independent and freed women at that local gas station this morning had a backseat filled with kids, bundled up and ready to head to school or daycare, while their professionally dressed moms headed to work. Others at the gas pump were merely high school or college-aged girls. These young women warriors were independently filling up their tanks and gearing up to take their place in whatever workforce they chose.

Way to go, girls! We have arrived … freezing cold and exhausted, but we have arrived.

Of course, you know by now that I am being totally facetious and sarcastic, because the truth is, I almost cried at the sight of those young women shivering in the cold. It was so disturbing to me that I even drew my husband’s attention to what I saw – the same man who I have been married to for over 46 years, the one who will get up out of bed to go check my gas tank and then go fill it up, if need be.

My husband was not alone in taking care of my gas tank. I also knew without a doubt that my dad would always take care of my car because he had done the same thing for my mom throughout my childhood.

Now, I realize that this is just one silly scenario in the scheme of life, and I also realize there could have been a dozen different reasons why those women were out there pumping gas in the freezing wind of early morning.

But I also had to ask myself – is this really where our grandmothers and mothers hoped we would be 50 or 60 years ago? Is this the freedom from bondage of household drudgery that they truly envisioned for us?

Better yet, the real question is whether this is what God envisioned for women from the creation of the earth. I don’t think so.

I truly believe that we have been duped by the enemy of our souls.

If so, then nearly all American women have been impacted by this lie, since Pew Research and the Bureau of Labor Statistics report that as of February 2023, 47% of the American workforce is composed of women, with an even higher number of young women (50.7%) accounting for total student enrollment in American colleges.

And get this! The Center for American Progress, a liberal public policy research and advocacy organization, proudly shared data from a 2023 study showing that women ages 55 and older have steadily grown to now represent 10.6% of the American workforce.

So, once again, hooray for us, ladies! We have now arrived ... to the point of total liberation. Yep, we now have the freedom to take care of ourselves financially from the womb to the tomb. Well, okay, that may be a huge exaggeration. But we can now pump our own gas and work from the age of 16 onward, until the day we die.

And we might have to do that in order to take care of our ever-growing single-parent households, with the United States Census Bureau also reporting that there are now over 10 million single-parent homes in America, and 7.4 million or more of those homes are led by women.

How about that! We can now do everything that men do and do it all by ourselves, without the “helpmeet” God promised us to be and to have, according to Genesis 2.

Seriously, is it not time for us to wise up and look to the Bible for some relief from the ever-growing burdens that seem to be weighing down the women of this world? Have we not fought the fight long enough in our own strength? Look where our futile fighting has landed us – working harder than ever before with nothing eternally substantial to show for our endless labor.

I, for one, pray that my granddaughters and their granddaughters can be all that God created and called them to be, nothing less – and certainly nothing more.

But where and how do we begin to discover exactly what God has for us?

Well, this is a great time to ask that question because the answer started long, long ago when a young woman named Mary was obedient to the call God placed before her to bear His only Son.

So, let’s start right back at that manger stall and follow the story of our Savior from there to the cross – and beyond. It’s truly the greatest story ever told, and it began with a very young woman who was willing to surrender her own plans and purposes in exchange for those of God.

And just think, without her surrendered heart of love and obedience, none of us would have the joy of serving that manger king named Jesus Christ, and He is the only source of true freedom.

So, come on, ladies, let’s remember what the Bible promises us in Galatians 5:1, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”

Then, once we fully surrender to Christ, John 8:32 assures us that we will “know the truth” and that truth will forever set us free.

And that, my sweet friends, is real women’s liberation!

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