Being a Lady in a Modern World A practical guide to wisdom and virtue

This work contains a rich deposit of instruction in wisdom and virtue of a mature godly woman. Every girl and young woman wants to grow up to be what she believes to be "a real woman" - this is natural and by design. And whether clearly stated or implied, every culture upholds a model or standard of what it means to be a "real women." Nowhere is this model or standard communicated more clearly and consistently than through the medium of television, film, and pop music. The message of our culture is clear. A real woman is a woman who possesses the power to garner the attention, desire, and admiration of men by just the right display of her physical assets, or sexiness; she calls her own shots always, and is free from the need to live in healthy inter-dependence with others or submission to any authority; she is free from the old-fashioned bondage of moral standards of sexual purity and therefore does whatever feels right for her; she possesses a sharp tongue and prides herself on her ability to give anyone who rubs her the wrong way, "a piece of her mind"; her self-worth is directly related to her net-worth and material possessions; and like her male counter-part, she who has the most toys wins. In the wake of this modern standard of womanhood are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of younger and now older women who live with emotional and physical brokenness, guilt, disappointment, heartache, and shame, having been misled by the message of our modern culture. Indeed, "there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. - (Proverbs 16:25, NIV)" Against the message of modern culture lies the enduring wisdom of the scriptures that "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. - (Proverbs 31:30, NIV)" The Scriptures challenge our modern culture's idea of womanhood and reveal that real womanhood, and real power is rooted in virtue, humility, and self-control. The fact that Paul charged the mature women to instruct the young women is evidence that the younger women would not instinctively know how to govern their lives as it pertains to spirituality, domestic responsibility, sexuality, marriage, and friendship (Titus 2:3-5). Young woman do not obtain these life-lessons automatically; young girls will not become wise women simply because they grow older. Indeed, young women that are un-taught grow up to become "silly and weak-natured and spiritually dwarfed women... - (II Timothy 3:6, Amplified)" who are easily deceived and taken advantage of in life by men, or anyone for that matter, with evil intentions. If godly women do not intentionally disciple young girls and young women in what it means to be a woman, then television, film, and pop music will. The astounding statistics of sexually transmitted diseases, teenage suicides, un-wanted pregnancies, abortions, high-school drop outs, and hopeless and directionless young women is evidence that our culture's School of Womanhood is not producing the kind of future we would desire for the young women in our lives. What is needed in this hour, and for the sake of the young girls and young women of our generation and the generation to come, is to raise, or more accurately, to re-establish the standard of what it means to be a woman. This book goes a long way in doing just that and it will bless the lives of the young women who take hold to its instruction.