From inside the enclosed space of Al Safa 101, a low and almost silent chatter accompanies the subtle sounds of worship songs and praises. The Bohemian themed room illuminated by the beauty of chapter A1 and A2 princesses, their lips coffee-drenched, their eyes bright, and grins wide for the lightning-paced day that awaits them. After all, what’s not to celebrate about our Princess Diaries Weekend?
What is my worth as a woman? I don’t remember when I started asking this question, and when society started providing an encyclopedic volume of their own answers. Since time immemorial, the patriarchy has always placed importance on the physical attributes of women and considered these as the defining quality for our value. The objectification of women has its roots in the perception that women are mere subjects for aesthetics. I ask again, where can a truly satisfying sense of woman’s worth be found? Is it through the lens of a camera? The right Instagram filter? No matter how much a woman alters her body conforming to a sexual ideal will never instill this deep sense of worth. Because a woman’s true worth is not found in a feeling bestowed by culture or other humans. A woman’s worth is found in the fact that she is made in the image of God. The Creator of the universe, whose story we all find ourselves in, has declared women “a mystery to be revealed, a relationship to be pursued, and a beauty to be unveiled”. As women we bear God’s image and likeness in the way He designed our womanhood.
Collating everything they said in the discussion, it seems to be that a woman has an indescribable worth because she bears the image of the Supreme Wise and powerful King who made her and gave His life for her. Once a woman discovers this, she can find the strength to stand up to the pressures of so many mainstream media outlets and individuals proliferating social media. She can stop hating her body in the mirror. She can pursue a life that is truly pleasurable without sacrificing herself to the malevolent forces that want to degrade and torment her. It sounds good and wonderful, but I’m sure some are complaining, “But God’s eyes are currently invisible and a woman’s need is real and physical!” This is where God intends the body of Christ to step up and make a difference. Pope John Paul II once quote “The body, in fact alone, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and divine.” This means our bodies were created to make visible the invisible mystery of God. It is in our eyes that God’s unconditional love should shine.
Discovering the breadth and length of womanhood, the teaching elevates my perception of our role in the world. As a woman bearing the image and likeness of the Great King our Creator made feel like I have an irreplaceable role to play and life didn’t appear brighter nor did it seem more precious all of a sudden. The way we see ourselves as women, after all, is the way that we choose to live our lives.
The whole session also includes exposing our brokenness, lies and our pierced hearts. Coming from different backgrounds, we had different insights from our experiences as women. Some versions of brokenness empty out, and sometimes surge through like geysers when faced by the circumstances of reality: the disillusionment of young girls discovering their body, the grief a girl left behind by a lover and a father —these are sometimes painful, but nonetheless, necessary truths that pierced our longing hearts. But princesses, we need not stay comfortable in the nooks and crannies of traditional expectations. These painful truths do not define you, do not shape you. Don’t let yourself be defined by what has tried to bring you down. Let Him be your identity, your heart, your truth. Let His light shine in and through you, and guide you back home. You are not your depression or your anxiety. You are not your failures, your pain or your brokenness. “You are not the pain of this world; you are a child of the King.”
Yes there are moments where we feel lost, where we are spiraling down and you can barely remember how to breathe. Because as self-defeating as this may potentially sound, forging oneself was not a task achieved peacefully overnight. You’ll have doubt that creeps up when you least expect it. You’ll love people who hurt you; you’ll fall into connections that break you down. You’ll lose your way from time to time, start believing that brokenness and hopelessness is all there but believe also that our Savior is healing our pierced hearts. God fashioned our hearts after His own and we need to use this heart to find beauty in our brokenness.
Brokenness is surrender because when you are broken, there is no longer any resistance or rebellion to the work of God in your life and it is the willingness to fulfill God’s purpose. Remember that there is always a chance to start over, to begin again. To let Him be your guide and lift your broken spirit. Remember that you can always make something beautiful out of the brokenness you feel. Remember that life is worth living and in Him, you have hope. Sometimes an honest and deliberate attempt at self-reflection is all it takes for some obvious truths to slowly sink in. And in this process of losing ourselves, we sort of gain ourselves through God. It is only through brokenness that our lives become acceptable to God and useful in Kingdom purposes. Our weakness and vulnerability remind us that we are dependent and God is sufficient.
I soon reached the epiphany that our ultimate desire is not to find the perfect man, but our ultimate desire as Princesses of our King is to seek God first. And we can respond to His pursuit of us by living out our lives as He intended- to live out a life of romance with Jesus, to allow Him to unveil our beauty and to play that irreplaceable role we were called to live. Our goal is to pursue an intimate relationship with the Lord. His commandments, His desires, His love, should all be the center of what we are and desire to be. Let Jesus Christ be at the forefront of your thoughts and the guide of your heart. He’ll put everything else into place. “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4
For the worthy and gracious princesses of Chapter A1 & A2, it is not a discovery per se, but more of an affirmation of who we think we truly are; the Princess Diaries provided an honest outlet for that expression of who we believed ourselves to be as a Woman.
“You are not a perfect person and won’t ever be, but you will always be a princess of God because you are a child of the King”
And for that may God be praised.
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