Woman Driver

"Set up road signs, put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take. Return, O Virgin Israel, return to your towns. How long will you wander, O unfaithful daughter? The Lord will create a new thing on earth--a woman will surround a man."

Jeremiah 31:21-22 (NIV)

This verse has been special to me for several years now. It speaks to me about how important it is to keep a record of your path, to keep track of your progress and development, to never forget the work that God does in your life. Sometimes we think we'll never forget certain lessons or moments, but they do tend to fade with time and I think it's so key to mark them down when they happen so that we don't forget and we won't have to relearn important things. Set up road signs, put up guide posts, take note of the highway.....Sounds to me like all this is not just for our own benefit, but to help future generations as well. If I keep good accounts, then maybe someone else can learn from what I went through. Life is a highway, the song goes.

The wandering part of this verse spoke to me about using my gifts for God. For a long time, I would ramble around going, "I know I should write something, but what???" Well, I am still working on that, but at least this blog is helping me get a start on that and exercising some muscles that I haven't used in some time. God has spoken lots of things to me over the years and I savor a bite of these thoughts in my mind, but have never been super disciplined to take the time to write them down and develop them! To see where He wants me to go with them! I regret wasting these God-given creative moments. I regret my wanderings. And I don't want to be that "unfaithful daughter" anymore. So I get on here and I write. Sometimes I have something to say, and sometimes it's difficult to get the creative juices flowing, but at least I am working on being available to God. To let him flow through me. And whenever He does have something he wants to say, I will be ready and willing and available to put the words down. Awesome. (And a little P.S. here, these posts are all very much in "rough draft" condition and I know it! The point isn't perfection or even fully developed thoughts....the point is the fee-flowing journaling. Editing comes later!)

Recently, when I came across this verse again, I saw a "new" part that I hadn't noticed before and I just loved it! It's the part that says "a woman will surround a man". My first thought was "Wooow, that's kind of . . . intimate in a way." I pictured a loving embrace, a very special and vulnerable moment that is very private. And I wondered what such a phrase could mean. The margin note in my Bible has a couple of possible suggestions. One thing was that the Hebrew word for "surround" means "to protect" suggesting that women will play an important role in God's Kingdom. Personally, I liked that idea. It resonated with the translation of my name, which is "protector". It has always been a very instinctive thing with me. I have always craved being safe and sound and having my loved ones safe as well. There is probably much more to that that I do not yet realize, but I do not believe I was named as such by mistake. I think a lot of women would agree that they sense a deep need to protect their loved ones. This is especially true of mothers. Never cross a mamma bear.

In a bit of a softer more gentle approach, instead of the word surround, other translations of this verse use the words "compass" and "encompass" with "compass" meaning "to woo, win and protect". Ah! Now we're talking! A woman will "woo, win and protect" a man! Again, I blush! Very special indeed. Soft and strong! Like a good bathroom tissue, huh? ;)

What really blew me away was the way that The Message Bible put it. It says it this way:

"A transformed woman will embrace the transforming God!"

WOW! Amen!!! A transformed woman will embrace the transforming God!! How exciting is that?! God does the transforming work in our lives and we turn around and embrace Him! HE does the work and we embrace Him! The Scripture says it's "a new thing on earth". A new thing. It's new and somehow has always been all at the same time. What's true has always been true and will always be truth. How fun it is to discover it today, as if for the very first time.

I encourage you to be in the Word and to find those familiar verses and see them in a new way for today. The Word is alive and reads us as surely as we read it!