Prologue: Diary of Eve Series

Dear Diary,

My head is spinning. I hardly know where to start. The day started out so perfectly – like every other day we’ve ever had. As we always do, Adam and I got up early to take a walk with God. Those walks have always been the highlight of our day.

This morning, no one said anything for a while. We just enjoyed being together. Then God started singing. It was a love song. When He got to the chorus, we started to sing with Him – first, Adam’s deep voice, then I joined in. We sang and sang and sang – songs about love and stars and joy and God. Finally, we all sat down under a big shade tree near the middle of the Garden. We thanked God for being so good; we told Him all we wanted to do was to make Him happy and to find our happiness in Him. It was such a sweet time – it always was when the three of us were together.

I don’t know how to explain what happened next. All of a sudden, we heard a voice we’d never heard before. I turned and there, looking right at me, was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. He talked directly to me. He made me feel important, and I found myself wanting to hear what he had to say.

I’m not sure what happened to God at this point. It wasn’t like He left us. I think I just kind of forgot He was there. In fact, for a while, I forgot Adam was there. I felt as if I were alone with this dazzling, mysterious creature.

The conversation that followed is indelibly etched in my mind. He asked me questions – questions I’d never thought about before. Then he offered me some things I had never had before – things I’d never thought I needed. Independence – from God and from Adam. Position – I had always looked up to God and Adam; this creature said they would look up to me. Knowledge – of mysteries known only to God. Permission – to eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the Garden.

First, I just listened and looked. In my heart, I pondered, I questioned, I debated. Adam had reminded me many times that God had said we must not eat the fruit from that tree. The creature kept looking into my eyes and talking in that soothing voice. I found myself believing him. It felt so right. Finally, I surrendered. I reached out – cautiously at first, then more boldly. I took. I ate. I handed it to Adam. He ate. We ate together – first me, then him.

Those next moments are a blur. Sensations deep down inside that I’ve never had before. New Awareness – like I know a secret I’m not supposed to know. Elation and Depression – at the same time. Liberation. Prison. Rising. Falling. Confident. Afraid. Ashamed. Dirty. Hiding – I can’t let Him see me like this.

Alone. So very alone. Lost. Deceived.

My Soul Sister, My Friend

The capacity of a woman’s heart for meaningful relationship is vast. There is no way your husband or your children can ever provide the intimacy and relational satisfaction you need. A woman must have women friends.

It is here, in the realm of relationship, that women receive the most joy and the profoundest sorrows. The friendships of women inhabit a terrain of great mystery. Friendships endure testing and trial; they deepen and they last. The men in the lives of these women may leave, but their girlfriends do not. There is a fierce jealousy, a fiery devotion, and a great loyalty between women friends. Our friendships flow in the deep waters of the heart where God dwells and transformation takes place. It is here, in this holy place, that a woman can partner with God in impacting another and be impacted by another for lasting good. It is here that she can mother, nurture, encourage, and call forth Life.

Little girls have best friends. Grown women long for them. To have a woman friend is to relax into another soul and be welcomed in all that you are and all that you are not. To know that as a woman, you are not alone. Friendships between women provide a safe place to share in the experiences of life as a woman. Who but another woman can fully understand PAP smears and mammograms, PMS, the longing to bear a child, aging, gaining weight, and living in a world run by men? It is a great gift to know that you see as another sees, an immense pleasure to be understood, to enjoy the easy companionship of one you can let your guard down with.

Here’s my take on friendship. Friendship is a great gift. One to be prayed for and not taken for granted. If you do not have the kind of friendship you long for, ask God to bring it into your life, to give you eyes to recognize it when he does. When God gives a friend, He is entrusting us with the care of another’s heart. It is a chance to mother and to sister someone besides your family, to be a Life giver, to help someone else become the woman she was created to be, to walk alongside her and call her deep heart forth.

Friendships need to be nurtured and guarded and fought for. We need to call one another without waiting to be called first. We need to ask how our friends are doing and really listen to their answers. Listen between the lines. We love our friends by pursuing them – calls, little presents, cards, invitations to FB, to go for a walk, to go to a movie or eat out. We offer our hearts.

I guess your BFFs or girlfriends would like little presents, but what they really like best is the gift of time – the most treasured of all commodities. We need to pay attention to each other, really see one another. That truly is the greatest gift.

Hug Me!

The energies have declared today 'Hug Holiday Day,' which means it's time to wrap your head around this concept and then wrap your arms around someone else. In fact, 'Hug Holiday Day' encourages us to give hugs to anyone we think might need a few squeezes of love. It's said that on this day, volunteers freely give their hugs at senior citizen centers, hospitals and other public places where hugs would be welcome.

Research from psychiatrists and other medical professionals agrees that a close relationship exists between the health of the body and that of the mind. This research supports the speculation that your thought patterns, moods and even your behavior have a tremendous and direct result on the state of your well-being. Some of this research even cites certain things that any empowered person can do to vastly improve their health, as well as bringing a big boost of happiness into their lives.

Besides cleaning clutter, organizing the household and getting a hobby to take your mind to a different and happier place, the next advice on this happy list is to laugh often and hug freely! Laughing and hugging have been proven to exponentially improve the health of both body and mind, as well as to provide an immediate lifting of spirits! Rounding out this list are healthy eating and doing something charitable to pay it forward for all the blessings you have in your own life.

Starting today, if you do any or all of these things, then you should stand up and give yourself a big hug! I'll be sending a virtual one as well! Big squeeze to you from me!

Then and Now

In the past couple of decades, there has been a significant movement challenging men to become men of God, to love their wives and children, and to express that love through sacrifice and service. What an encouragement it has been to me to see God stirring my husband, Kenji, and turning his heart toward Him and toward his family.

Women need to be careful that we do not lose sight of the primary roles God has given us to fulfill. In today’s world, it is “politically correct” to challenge men to go home and serve their wives. However, it is not “PC” to talk to women about their responsibility to serve their husbands.

God did not make the man to be a “helper” to the woman. He made the woman to be a “helper” to the man. Of course, this does not mean that men are not to serve their wives and children. If men are to love their wives as Christ loved the church, there must be willingness to lay down their lives and become servants, even as Christ did for His bride.

If women focus on what we “deserve,” on our “rights,” or on what men “ought” to do for us, we will become vulnerable to hurt and resentment when our expectations are not fulfilled. Blessing and joy are the fruit of seeking to be a giver rather than a taker and of looking for ways to bless, serve, and minister to the needs of our families.

Simply Trust God

Don’t complicate your life by trying to understand what is wrong with your friends and family members who don’t agree with you about everything. After 5 years of marriage, I still don’t have Kenji figured out. But I found joy when I simply quit trying to understand why he likes to watch sports and be a couch potato. I have learned to be a sports fan and watch TV series on a marathon, so now I’m a couch potato myself. LOL! How’s that for a change?

In other words, you can’t really love people until you quit trying to rework them and find joy in who they are. My life got real simple when I finally realized I couldn’t change people.

God can change someone if He wants to, and if He doesn’t, it’s because He doesn’t want to. So I might as well trust God. Trust is simple. Casting your cares on Him is simple.

The Bible message is simple: Love God and love others.

The gospel is simple: Jesus loves us, this we know. Why? Because the Bible tells us so!

Even the plan of salvation is simple: Jesus died for us. He paid the price for our sin. How much simpler can it be?

It is amazing how a straightforward, uncomplicated message change your life and bring joy.

Jesus came to simplify your life. Satan wants to complicate your life, but God is not the author of confusion.

There are so many people in the church who are not really serving God with their whole hearts or their whole lives. Their lives are a big, complicated mess because they have one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the world.