Welcome to my first adventure into blogging and getting out there! I have discovered that I get most excited when I get to teach others about the women of the Bible and their amazing accomplishments in spite of the patriarchal world that tried to hold them back. If you share that interest or are curious to learn more, then follow this blog and we’ll explore the lives of these women together.

The background photo on my title page is a detail of an icon of Mary Magdalene fulfilling Christ’s commission to her to “go tell my brothers that I am ascending” (see John 20:17-18), making her the FIRST person in history to share the resurrection news. This is a life-changing moment for her and for all women in that it demonstrates Christ’s willingness to break down the cultural, religious, and gender barriers of his day to empower an unlikely messenger with the most important news in history: Christ is Risen!

You see, the Risen Christ could have chosen to make his first appearance to his male disciples or even to his mother, but instead, he chose to appear first in his resurrected body to Mary Magdalene, one of his faithful disciples and supporters (see Luke 8:1-3), and entrusted her with this incredible news. What makes this effort on Christ’s part so encouraging to women is that in the culture of that day, a woman’s testimony was not accepted without male corroboration, and yet Christ chose a woman to be the first to share that testimony–with men! And, of course, the men did not believe her. And we see in Luke’s gospel that Christ chastised the disciples for not believing the woman’s testimony (see Luke 24:22-27)! Jesus had full confidence in women and their ability to share the Good News!

Question of the day: What has God asked you to do that others have questioned or doubted and where did you find the courage to do it anyway?