Real Women

Contrary to what some may think, I am not a typically ambitious person.  When I see other women doing amazing things….writing books, starting their own companies, running marathons, submitting their scholarly papers, speaking/teaching around the world….women who actually make their own bread, or even worse…those that make their own clothes, or re-upholster their sofas, and especially those who are “foodies” and write about food and how much they love to make it and say things like “when I really want to relax I just love to bake!" Don’t even get me started on those of you who love Pinterest and organise your likes and dislikes and creative inspirations…and then actually DO things with that creativity like decorate your house in stunning ways or sit together and make crafts or jewellery …the kind that you would love to buy at a swanky shop!

Honestly, I just view in awe from afar and wonder how in the world those women got all that in their package when they made that trip down from heaven?  As much as it might be easy to just go ahead and seriously dislike these women for just being so darn wonderful...I kinda do the opposite.

The truth is I am a huge fan of women and all that you/I/we seem to be able to do… for ourselves, for our families and for our friends, our communities and, lets face it… for the world.  

I confess. I am a Women Superfan. 

I mean, while I say I’m not ambitious, I somehow seem to be able to be incredibly ambitious for others.  I’ve even wondered why is it so much easier for me to see in others all the awesome stuff and potential in them, while I look at the ready-meals in my fridge and the receipt for those trousers I had to take to the shop to be hemmed and sigh?  But the truth is, I have to admit, I really don’t mind ME. 

Now, I’m never gonna be the MacGyver my mother is (you know the kind… the woman that can literally fix and make anything!) or the creative, organised genius my sister is, or the foodie so many of my dear friends seem to be… or even the scholars or the teachers that I follow and love to hear from, or the ones of you that seem to be able to lead 10 people to the Lord each week or minister to and heal those with broken hearts or bodies so much more and better than I hobble along doing.

I’m just not all that.  

But as I get older (ok, I’m gonna go ahead and say it...I’ll be 42 in July and so far I'm loving this decade, and I hope we continue to get along!) I have seemed to “warm up” to the package of skills, personality, etc. that I got.  What’s the point of wanting to be all those other women, when I figure I have a Father who knows exactly what He is doing?  (After all, I think we can clearly give Him 5-stars for the universe and creation and baby ducks and bunnies… clearly!)  

I think warming up to the idea of ME maybe has more to do with the fact that I’m increasingly impressed with HIM. 

He made me passionate and straight-up emotional about a BUNCH of stuff…. mainly things like social justice issues, and poverty and children and women and Africa and learning and physical disabilities and wanting people to connect with their Creator so that the part of them that’s disconnected gets connected to their true source.  And then I got the cherry-on-top stuff like… songwriting, worship and singing and a kind of obsessive admiration and love of all kinds of music (I’m a total nerd like that). 

I'm also a big nerd about historical documentaries and health stuff and other random issues that my family and friends are probably tired of hearing about.  And I love, love, LOVE my family and shamelessly dote on my incredible and darling husband who has never and likely will never fit neatly into ANY box and the two children I didn’t deserve but somehow won the life lottery and got.  Really… they are the best things I’ve done.

So this, my friends, is me. 

I decided to start this little blog because I really am a Women Superfan.  And I think it’s a good idea for us to be real with one another.  I think one of the greatest things we can give to each other is just the "realness" of who we are and who we were made to be.  And I think I’m ok with wanting others to know that it’s ok to just be whatever "package" we came with. We are, every one of us,  here at this place and time in history for a reason.  So we better get to being super OK with exactly who we were born to be. You know… "original design” stuff.

It’s no good for me or you or any of us to waste even a minute being jealous of all you amazing women doing amazing things out there.  We should just get down to the business of figuring out our own “amazing” that God gave us and start living our lives in light of that. 

In the words of youtube star, Kid President:

"A poem: ‘two roads diverged in the woods.. and I took the road less traveled..’ And it hurt, man! Really bad! Rocks! Thorns! and Glass! …waahh! Not cool, Robert Frost! But what if there really were two paths? I want to be on the one that leads to awesome.”

So yeah, I’m a Superfan of Women (in truth I'm actually a Superfan of Men too...why shouldn't we all be in on the mutual celebration... right?)  I love that my job is to oversee the Women’s Ministry at CCV because I really do want us all to be the women we were designed to be: women on the road that “leads to awesome.”

And I know this:
  

To get there, we have to be real.  

A real movement of real women who believe there is a real reason to live and a real source of love: a real Saviour with real power to change and heal lives and communities and yes, the world. 

So keep your eye out for this blog. Don’t fret, it won’t just be my ramblings!  I want us all to hear from other women on the road “to awesome.” But there is one thing it will be marked by… it will be real… because if I’ve learned anything along the way,  I'm convinced we are the best versions of ourselves and make the most difference in the world when we are just REAL WOMEN.

Cheering you on,

Tori Sheppard

P.S.  Foodie friends...I need your help! (and your brownies) 

Psalm 139:14-15  The Message

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;

    you formed me in my mother’s womb.

I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!

    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

    I worship in adoration—what a creation!

You know me inside and out,

    you know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,

    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.