In our first year of marriage, while we were living in Simon’s cute little hometown just northwest of London, I co-founded a women’s bible study at our church with another American girl who’d moved to England with her husband, too. Jenni, who’s from Texas, had a 10-month-old and a shared love of Bible teacher Beth Moore. We chose “A Heart Like His,” about the life of King David, and announced it at church. We were scared to death. Two American girls, new to the country and new to the community; young girls, offering to lead women of all ages through a study of the most popular Book in the world, offering to lead a study written by a big-haired Dallas lady with a rich Southern drawal…
We hoped five women would sign up.
But then there were 10. And then there were 15. And they were women of all ages, and they offered their homes, and brought cakes, and opened up their hearts to us. And invited us to do the same.
It was then that I found in my heart an intense compassion for women. Our relationships are special, sacred, and our hearts are full of praise heaped on top of worry heaped on top of hope. I love the beauty and the transparency of deep, intimate female friendships - my close girlfriend-ships are one of my most prized posessions.
And I love watching the way God, when He calls you to something, opens up doors you didn’t even see, didn’t even imagine could be opened. I love the way He uses girls like me the way He used David: heart pitter-pattering, nerves a mess, standing on His irrefutable calling on our lives to stand up to a giant – or to a room full of expectant British women.
