Ladylike

I’ll never forget the first time I heard those words…so much excitement, curiosity, and anticipation welled up inside and I could not wait to meet my precious daughter. Then, a few years later, her sweet baby sister.

When they were young, it was very natural for this elementary teacher mom to read great books to them, have them do life alongside me, and have lots of discussions about what it means to be a follower of Christ, and a woman.

But honestly, as the teen and young adult years happened, the generalized questions from me and the one word answers from them became more and more common….
“How was your day?” -Good
“Did you have a good time?” -Meh

What we realized as parents is, this is the most vital time to be having intentional conversations about important matters! For one, our kids are mature enough to grasp truths and concepts they couldn’t as kids. But also, between feminism, the LGBTQ movement, and so much talk of gender confusion, our kids, and our daughters in particular, needed to hear from God’s Word and their parents what being a woman is supposed to look like!

See, Christian women in my generation generally know what we believe. We generally value church involvement, vote our values, and try to live lives that glorifies God. But is this enough to pass down a biblical worldview of womanhood to our daughters? Not a chance!

We can’t expect our daughters to connect the dots between how we do life and what they should believe, on their own. Instead, we must accept the fleece of responsibility that God gave us, as their moms, and speak up with truth if we want them to live out their faith today.

Remember that to be great mothers, we don’t have to bend and sway to every parenting fad. Femininity is not a trend. The Bible is filled with concrete truths about womanhood that are transferrable to cultures around the world, and to all points of time in history. Let’s be brave, and have these conversations!

“Ladylike: Conversation Starters for Mothers and Their Daughters” is designed to give Moms a 5 minute head start and jumping off point for important conversations with their daughters. So set up a lunch date with your daughter, download “Ladylike,” and
get talking. I can’t wait to hear how it goes!

Julie Terry is a child of God, wife, and mother of three. Married to Pastor Zach Terry for almost 25 years, she is a speaker and writer with Maximum Life, and a leader for the Women's Ministry of their home church, First Baptist Church of Fernandina Beach.