Perfect. Skinny. Put together. Good with kids. Beautiful. Smart. The world has a lot of ideas about what a woman should be, and we are constantly bombarded with images of the world’s standards for us.

It’s a bunch of lies. What we need is to restore our identity of true femininity because we have an important mission as woman. The truth of who God created us to be can change how we navigate the confusing messages of the world. God created male and female with a specific purpose in mind. When we root our sense of identity in the truth of what God intends, we find freedom to be ourselves.

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This summer, Chika Anyanwu is speaking at Steubenville conferences for the first time! Before lunch, she shared some beautiful insights with all the ladies, providing a vision for what authentically restored femininity looks like.

She began by reminding us that we were created good. In the book of Genesis, Adam looked around at all the creatures and named them. He saw that he did not belong with them. That’s when Eve entered the picture. She was good, and Adam saw in her a companion. Eve’s first identity is in being found and being seen as good. As women, we claim that identity, too.

Unfortunately, one little lie about our identities can spread. We start thinking that because we don’t have the same gifts or life as other people, we aren’t good. In the same way that Satan planted seeds of doubt in Eve’s heart about the goodness of God, we doubt our goodness.

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“Before the creation of the world, God had a plan, and you were part of it.” 

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For the women’s session, the men left the building so Lisa Cotter could just address the ladies. She stressed the importance of our female friends because being feminine can be complicated and only women truly understand what it is like to be a woman. We need each other. But how do we create deep and lasting friendships?

Three Types of Friendship

Aristotle said there are three different types of friendship:

Friendships of Utility– This type of friendship is based on someone being useful to you, like a friend from a class.

Friendships of Pleasure– These friendships are based on the fun times together (teammates, friends from a club, etc.)

Friendships that are useful or pleasurable are not necessarily bad, but as soon as the usefulness or pleasure is not there, the friendship ends.

Friendships of Virtue (Excellence)– These friendships are based upon doing the right thing at the right time, in the right way. These are deepest forms of friendship.

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