Catherine Parks - Empowered: How God Shaped 11 Womens Lives (And Can Shape Yours Too)

Copyright 2019 by Catherine Parks

Illustrations by Breezy Brookshire

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

978-1-5359-3455-8

Published by B&H Publishers Group

Nashville, Tennessee

Dewey Decimal Classification: 248.83

Subject Heading: GOD / CHRISTIAN LIFE / GIRLS

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible, Copyright 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible and CSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Acknowledgments

E ach woman in this book was only able to do what she did because she was empowered by God and encouraged and helped by others. Im so thankful that God gave me the opportunity to write this and sent the helpers I needed along the way.

The team at B&H understood the vision and worked with me to refine and produce it. Thanks to Devin Maddox, Holly Spangle, Michelle Burke, Dave Schroeder, and many others. Your excitement and encouragement have been sweet gifts during the process.

The extremely talented Breezy Brookshire created the beautiful images that surpassed what I had imagined. Thank you for using your gifts on this project! Im so grateful.

Thanks to those who helped me land on these eleven women, particularly Kristie Anyabwile, who recommended Phillis and Charlotte, both incredible women.

Im indebted to the many biographers whose countless hours of research and writing allowed me to produce this book.

Ava Newell and my daughter, Sophie, were willing early readers, and their feedback was so helpful.

Thanks to my Saturday morning girls, who prayed and cheered me on.

Im thankful for the many women in my life who embody so many of the qualities of these women, especially Laura, Liesl, Jen, Amber, Trillia, and the ladies of the I.D.K. Society.

My family has been so supportive. Thank you, Mom, Dad, Roger, and Carol for your interest and prayers.

Sophie and Micah, I hope learning about these women encourages you about what God can do. You are recipients of a great heritage of faithful women who love Jesus. Your Father is shaping your lives and working in you, and I love watching it happen!

Erik, you have empowered me to do what I love. Thanks for giving your time and energy to help me get this done. Many of the women in this book were married to men who greatly cheered and supported their wives ministries and vocations. Reading about them made me even more grateful for you. I love you.

For Sophie, our Wisdom Child.

Being your mother brings me immeasurable joy. Our Father, who empowered each of these women, is working in you, and Im so thankful I get to be a witness to His work.

James 3:17

Read This First

I m so excited you picked up this book! Ive spent months learning about the women in these chaptersso long, in fact, that Ive started referring to them as if they were my personal friends. My kids often hear me saying things like, Listen to what Annie wrote to a friend, and Can you believe what Phillis got to see in England? And now its a joy to introduce you to my new friends. You may have heard of some of them, while others are probably new names and faces.

We remember these women because of events in their lives that made them famous or noteworthy. But I want you to meet them before those events happened. When Joni Eareckson Tada was seventeen, she wasnt trying to become an internationally known speaker and artist. Before the Nazis took over Holland, Corrie and Betsie ten Boom hadnt planned to save hundreds of peoples lives. When Fanny Crosby was a little girl, she wasnt thinking about writing thousands of hymns.

Not one woman in this book planned to become famous or change the world. Their lives took them in many different directionsas missionaries, artists, prisoners, teachers, poets, songwriters, martyrs, speakers, and mothers. They lived in different places, spoke different languages, wore different clothes, and had different ethnic backgrounds.

But all of them had one thing in commonthey truly knew God.

If you went to a store today and read the messages on T-shirts for girls and teens, or walked through a bookstore and looked at books for girls, youd probably see a lot of the same thing: messages saying your purpose is to do something, dream big, make a difference. You might even be reading this book because it seems like a good way to learn how to accomplish big things with your life. After all, each of the women in this book is famous for doing something important, so maybe you can learn something from their lives that will help you.

In fact, you can . But its not what a lot of people might expect.

The Bible doesnt tell us our purpose in life is to do big things or change the world. Instead, it says were created in the image of Godwere made to show the world the glory of God!

Just like the women in this book, we do this first and foremost by knowing God.

When the women in the following pages were tested by suffering and difficulties, they had the tools they needed to stand up under pressure: they had hidden Gods Word in their hearts, and they knew God answers His childrens prayers. They didnt just know about God, they knew Him personally.

While many people call these women heroines of faith, they were actually a lot like you and me. One of the most encouraging things I discovered when reading about these women was not how amazing they were, but how normal they were. They had fights with friends, acted selfishly, wanted to be liked, were afraid, didnt like certain subjects in school, etc. They were normal girls and women, empowered in supernatural ways.

And heres great news: you can have the same supernatural power! My hope and prayer is that as you read about each of these women, you will see who the true hero is: God.

God created you in order to have a relationship with you. But because you (and I and everyone who ever lived) broke Gods LawHis plan for how we should livewe cant be in that relationship with Him. So He made a plan to fix the things we all messed up. He sent His Son, Jesus, to earth to become a man and live a perfect life, never sinning. Then, because the punishment for our sin is death, Jesus took all our sin upon Himself and died in our place. But to show that He has victory over death, God raised Jesus back up from the grave, and He went back to heaven, where He waits to one day come back and unite with the Father all those who have trusted in Him as the Way to God. But Jesus didnt just leave us without helpwhen He went back to heaven, the Father sent us the Holy Spirit. This means that when we trust Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit living in our hearts, helping us daily to understand the Bible and to follow Jesus.

The Spirit of God living inside you?! It doesnt get more supernatural than that.

This is why the book is called Empowered because God daily gives us the power we need to reflect His glory, to love Him, and to love others, just as He did for all the women in this book. This love takes many forms, reflected in the different qualities we see in each chapter. Loving God and others means standing up for justice, being selfless, using our gifts, and many other things. But the power to do those things comes from God, not from our own strength. We wont ever do these things perfectly, but the good news is that God forgives and uses imperfect people!

Be encouraged to recognize the unique way in which Hes made you. You are exactly who youre supposed to benot the next Elisabeth Elliot or the next Pandita Ramabai or the next Charlotte Grimk. God created you with your unique abilities and desires. Your job isnt to be like these women; it is to bring yourself to the table and ask God how He wants to use younot necessarily to change the world in a grand way, but to do the little things that add up to a faithful life. Real change happens in the world when were faithful to do what He gives us to do in His power.