I always thought that the Proverbs 31 woman was the impossible standard of what a woman of God supposed to be. Then, as I learned and studied more I realized that it is just the standard for a godly and biblical woman, and it is actually attainable. God wants all of His daughters to be the very best versions of themselves, and be exactly who He made them to be.

Remember that even though our flesh wants to fit in and not be different, the bible literally calls us to be set apart from the world. We have been chosen to be children of the most high and we must be obedient above anything else. 

So, here are some principles that I abide by to become the woman God created me to be!

• Wake up before 8am every morning. 

For over a year and a half now I have been waking up at 6:30 every weekday. At the beginning it was hard, and to be honest many days it still is, but I have found that this has grown me in multiple ways. First, I use this extra time in the morning to study the bible and spend time in prayer which has been amazing for my relationship with the Lord. Next, this has jumpstarted my day by waking up more in alignment with the sun. This has also made me have more self discipline by exercising control over my body and waking up on time. Now, this is not to say that sleeping in is wrong or sleeping a little bit longer on weekends isn’t allowed. You have to figure out what works best for you. For me waking up at the same time every weekday works the best because that is my normal week for work, school, etc.

Scripture: "She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day’s work for her servant girls."

-Proverbs 31:15

• Spend time with Jesus every morning before your phone or anything else.

For a long time now I have prioritized spending time with the Lord every single morning. I believe this has been so fundamental for me because we are supposed to give God our very best, and when else then the first thing in the morning. This not only deepens your relationship with God by dedicating guaranteed time with Him every single day, but it also strengthens your self discipline. Also, by spending time with God before you do anything else in your day, it really starts your day off right. Instead of going into the next day with the attitude “I am so tired” or “ugh another day”, you are starting your day off with “thank you Jesus for another day” or “God you are so good to me”. Isn’t that so much better? So whether your spending time in the Word, in prayer, or in worship, start your day off with Him always.

Scripture: "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me."

-John 15:4

• Stay active and keep your body healthy.

Our bodies are not our own, they are a gift from the Lord. We were bought and paid for in full by the Creator of the world. This may sound harsh but it’s true, do not let your gift from the Lord waste away because you are too lazy to take care of it. This can be applied to many situations but especially with taking care of our bodies. We have to remember that the bible says we are temples of the holy spirit, we are ambassadors for the Lord, and we are to steward our bodies with discipline. I have never been a sports person, throughout all of school I focused on my studies, learning skills, and obtaining knowledge. But that did not stop me from still stewarding my body well. For longer than I can remember I have worked out about 4-5 times every week. Now that doesn’t mean I am doing cardio and strength training everyday (though some weeks are like that). There are so many ways that you can exercise and keep your body fit and strong. You can do cardio, strength training (weights), running, inclined walking, rebounding, etc. or you can even do simple things like stretching, prayer walks, hiking, etc. I have only been to an actual gym twice in my life, every other time I just workout from my home! So there are no excuses, find what works for you and get going! But, also be mindful of the reason behind your exercise, it’s important to make sure that you are not working out to change your physical looks but to get stronger and steward your body well. We are doing this for the Lord, not for the world.

Scripture: "Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body."

-1 Corinthians 6:19-20

• Consume healthy, real, biblical food.

Another part of taking care of our bodies and treating them like temples of the Lord, is what we are putting in them. We need to be eating healthy and nutritious foods even more than we are working out. I am definitely not saying that you are never allowed sugar or you have to go on a diet. But I am saying that we need to be more mindful of what we are fueling our bodies with. There are obvious unhealthy foods like sugary candies, chocolates, and snacks, as well as, food dyes and synthetic flavours. Then there are much less obvious unhealthy foods and drinks that people completely neglect to realize. For instance, coffee, alcohol, deli meat, energy drinks, etc. These are all things that may seem good on the surface but they are actually not great for you at all. Please note that I am not saying that you can never have any of the things I listed, but I am saying that we need to be more mindful of what we are consuming. If you are unsure about something do some research and find out more about that product and where it comes from. Once I started being more mindful about what I was eating and drinking, I started feeling more energizing, and healthy. I also started reading the ingredients labels on almost everything and started using the app: YUKA, to see how good the products I’m consuming actually are. Personally, I have stopped eating processed meat and started eating real meat much more throughout my days. I eat much more vegetables and fruits, I eat sourdough bread, and stay away from food dyes, processed sugars, etc. this all plays into a healthier lifestyle.

Scripture: "If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord."

-Romans 14:8

• Stop watching/listening to what God hates.

What you are watching and listening to is changing and affecting you every single day, whether you want to believe that or not, it is true. If the Lord was sitting beside you right now, would He approve of what you’re listening to or watching? Your father knows what’s  best for you, so if He’s telling you no, you better not be doing it. You need to understand that the saying “the heart wants, what it wants” is completely false. Your heart wants exactly what you feed it. For example, if you're wondering why you’re only dating losers, reflect on what music you listen to and what shows/movies you are watching. It is likely that you are consuming secular content that doesn’t align with God. By doing this you have trained your heart to only be attracted to losers. If you want to be aligned with righteousness then feed your heart the things of righteousness. I am not saying that to be a woman of God you are not allowed to listen to any music or watch anything that isn’t faith based, but we need to be better at filtering what we consume. The bible says that God hates sin, so why would we want to put ourselves in a situation where we are watching and listening to sinful things as entertainment. That is not only offensive to God but also destructive to our own selves. I think that the saying “you are what you eat” should be changed to “you are what you consume” because it carries the same meaning and more. Whatever you are spending your time consuming is what your are slowly becoming. 

Scripture: "... Run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness."

-1 Timothy 6:11

• Dress modestly always.

I have already talked about the topic of modesty in depth in another blog post, so please go read that if you want a deeper look into modesty. In short form though, modest is holiest. First,  we are children of God, and we are ambassadors for Him down on earth. This means we need to be reflecting Him in all aspects of our lives, in the way we speak, in the way we act, and definitely in the way we dress. Honoring God and ourselves by dressing modestly is a true reflection of a heart aligned with God. One of my favorite pastors, Paul Washer, says "If your clothing is a frame for your face, it’s of God. If your clothing is a frame for your body, it is sensual and God hates it".  I completely agree with this, the clothes we wear shows draw people to our character and not our physical looks. We need to start wearing clothing that promotes modesty, discretion, wisdom, beauty, elegance, and refinement, rather than sensuality, luxury, or extravagance. If people can't see a difference between you and the world then that is a problem, and you need to check your heart posture. 

Scripture: "And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes."

-1 Timothy 2:9

• Learn and cultivate a spirit of growth.

Cultivating a spirit of growth and continuous learning is so important and valuable. I used to not really value knowledge at all, and learning seemed almost dreadful. But, then I stopped affiliating desired learning with forced learning, and my perspective shifted. I do believe that there is a time and place for forced learning, like basic human skills of reading, writing, and math. But, desired and self led learning are so much more fun. When you want to learn, and gain knowledge about something you are interested in it becomes exciting! I have gained so much knowledge from researching things that I am interested in or curious about. As women of God it is important to continue to grow and flourish throughout life, and part of this is learning skills that can bring value to the people around you as well as yourself. Baking, cooking, crocheting, knitting, sewing, cleaning, building, and more are all skills that can bring joy to your life and the people around you, by fostering a servant's heart and spirit. Never stop learning and growing!

Scripture: "Intelligent people are always ready to learn. Their ears are open for knowledge."

-Proverbs 18:13

"Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance." 

-Proverbs 1:5

Overall, as important as all of these things are, we need to be very careful that we don’t begin to idolize any of it. If we aren’t careful, what we do  to glorify God, can quickly be twisted by the devil into a form of idolatry. God calls us to follow Him, and we trust that He knows what’s best for us. He is still above all of these things, and He needs to always come first.