Warm hellos once again friends, brethren, fellow laborers, spiritual family, and scattered children of God from here on the Gulf Coast of lower Alabama. My wife and I pray and hope this finds you doing well, and that again your week has been blessed.

A few short weeks ago I was again blessed to visit my daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren who live over a thousand miles from us for a couple of weeks. My 4 ½ year old granddaughter simply loves to wear dresses, the frillier the better!

Each time she would proudly display her attire, sometimes spinning around, Grandpa would say “you look so pretty and feminine and it IS what little girls and ladies do!” Her smile would beam from ear to ear, and it brought warmth to my heart to see what God intended from the beginning to be recognized and shared with her family.

What about you my friends? Do we promote the fact that girls are girls, boys are boys, and they’ll grow up to be men and women? Do we encourage it?

And so the question arises. What’s a woman?

Now you and I might think that this is an easy question to answer. In the last few years, however, it has become as hard to answer for many people as a trigonometry problem, the kind some of us once struggled with in high school or college. Thankfully, most Christians clearly know what a woman is. And it’s not because of our intelligence or even necessarily our “opinion”. It’s because God’s defined womanhood in his Divine Word the Bible.

Might we review His Word? “So God Created man in his own image, In the image of God he created him; Male and female, he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

God created and then he defined womanhood in Genesis 2, (the foundational text for understanding the sexes). From Genesis 2, you and I can read and understand the precious truths about womanhood.

One of the things that disturbs me the most about this whole transgender thing is that many “Christians” are afraid to speak up, and simply go quiet and shy away as to avoid embarrassment or ridicule of any kind.

You and I have some major challenges in front of us today! I can’t articulate that well enough. We have to as parents and grandparents walk our kids carefully through the gender confusion playing out all around us. We’ve got to help our kids know and celebrate the greatness of God’s design.  To do this, we communicate and support simple truths like God clearly shows us. And as parents we must communicate this well.

Here’s some things to consider. Maybe this will help our parents and grandparents. Remind them often that:

• God created you as a girl or a boy. He had a reason for doing so.
• It’s both unique and a blessing to be a girl or a boy. And you can’t be both by design.
• Your Dad and Mom love the fact you are a little girl or a little boy. It’s not a control thing, it’s a fact designed by our loving God.
• We can’t do anything we want with our bodies, even though our sinful nature might tell us we can. God doesn’t think or work that way. That’s not His nature.
• We need to always use our bodies in a way that will glorify God according to Scripture and reflect what He created in each of us.

Never mind the jargon that is rumbling in this nation. Our identity is not based in how “we might feel” – it’s based on 1) God’s Creative Design and 2) the physical body that God gave us at birth. Again, God did that.

Now I know there’s no perfect formula for raising and training our children to solidify the truths listed above. And, might I add, I know it’s not easy. There’s not one specific foolproof method that will always ensure that our children grow up to be godly men or women.

So, what is so awesome is instead of an “equation” if you will, God has created the family. He desired that from the beginning of time. God wants a family! It’s the whole purpose for mankind. And, the family is where children learn the goodness of God’s design as their father and mother both teach it, but also live it out in their daily lives with genuine joy and with determined conviction.

If your child is dealing with a fairly recent clinical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, we also must understand the depth of this mental and emotional struggle. And, it is real for some. Yet, even in these frankly limited situations, (never mind what the media might convey that it’s widespread) the spiritual reality of God’s creative design is still present. This is where the insight of a caring Christian Counselor, and/or pastoral guidance, and the unending love of parents comes into the equation.

Friends, you and want our kids to understand God’s plan for the sexes do we not? We want them to know God’s perfect truth. But in order for this to happen, we need God to work in their lives. And yes, we have our part.

Our adversary is working overtime to destroy the family and everything God created designed around it.

All of this drives you and me to our knees in heartfelt prayer. We pray that as God works in their heart and mind to help them, that each child will understand and rejoice in being a boy or girl. From there, we pray that they will live as a man or a woman in adulthood to the glory of our loving Father and His Son. God’s Word is filled with examples where He says just that. (The Proverbs is a great place to review). And please don’t ever take prayer for granted, it is the most powerful gift we have!

In today’s modern cultural terms, yes, all this may seem sincerely impossible, but let’s not forget what Scripture tells us – “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God, all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

So again, the question – “What’s a woman?” It seems many either don’t know how to answer this question today, or they don’t want to answer it.  We live in a very sad time in history. I sigh often and reflect deeply on where this nation has gone just in my short lifetime.

However, never should our primary response to this modern day “gender confusion” be “We don’t know how or don’t want to answer for fear of ridicule”. Your and my primary response should be to speak the truth, stand for the truth, and then watch as God lovingly works to lead people out of the mental turmoil and into true hope, genuine love, and the peace of our Father and His Son. Someday things WILL be normal once again. God speed that day!

Arms up friends! Our sincere prayers and thoughts are with you daily. Thanks in advance for your heartfelt prayers for us