The Spitfire Heroine

I've had to literally tear myself away from an absorbing book series to write blogs this weekend. If you've ever read a book that causes you to loose track of time, hygiene, and food, then you understand my plight.  :)

I read A LOT. Some of you have probably seen my book reviews or random posts about books that I couldn't help but gush about to you. I read a wide variety of books, too. Historical romance. Contemporary romance. YA. Dystopian. Fantasy. Biblical fiction. The set of books I working on right now is a dystopian series that is awesome. I notice that whenever I read dystopian books, I always get very reflective. On our nation. On people. On myself.

I've come to a conclusion.

In dystopian books it's always a futuristic society that arises out the ashes of devastated nation. Usually, the nation that comes about is unfair, corrupt, and held together with manipulation. There's always unrest among the people, and almost always there is a spitfire heroine. Often she is a somewhat unwilling hero thrust right into the middle of the situation.

She is always so relatable. Fearless. Headstrong. She doesn't turn a blind eye and just take stuff. A born leader. She fights for what she believes.

Like Katniss.  :)

So many times I run and hide. Keep my mouth shut. Give up. This girl isn't relatable because she's just like me. So why does a part of my spirit just get her? She's relatable because there is part of my spirit that longs to be the special spit-fire heroine. I think it's that way for a lot of people.

I especially want to be like that for God. Brave. Unwilling to let evil win. Bold. But there's always that voice in my head that says, "God didn't make you for that. You are just you. Nothing special. Nobody important. You are the perfect mouse, so just be content with your ordinary roll in life.

I am so tired of listening to that voice.

"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." Psalm 139:13-16

 

 

Five years ago, when I first started teaching in the youth group, I was preparing a lesson. I had an idea in mind, but it was just an idea. I was spending some alone time with God, praising and worshiping. Then WHAM! He gave me an awesome idea, tying the whole lesson up with a nice little bow.

I brought a ton of hair brushes and a cd with me. After dragging a couple volunteers up with me, I told the kids to pretend they were at a concert. My volunteers and I used our hairbrush microphones, and we rocked out to Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me."

They thought I was a little crazy, but I always have a point.  :)

God's crazy, undying, you belong with Him, love. The song is about a girl who is just hopelessly in love with the boy next door. His girlfriend is terrible and doesn't love him. She knows that she's perfect for him. God looks at us, and He's thinking the same exact thing. He loves us so much. He knows that we belong with Him. He's waiting for us, always trying to woo us, always trying to tell us just how amazingly special we are. Sometimes, we are just too attached to that voice that tears us down and breaks our hearts. But why? The voice doesn't love us.

The little voice in my head tells me I'm not hero material. I'm not worth it. That I'm just ordinary. But God tells me the exact opposite. That I'm special. That I'm loved. That I am hero material. God's voice is what gives me the strength and courage to be the spitfire heroine for Him.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:5

Whether it's just a few people, or whether it's an entire nation, I know that I make a difference. God says I make a difference.

I'm the star of my own dystopian story.

V. Joy Palmer