Life is a marathon. The moment our feet hit the ground, we’re running. Cue the never-ending to-do list of workout routines, Bibles studies, new dinner recipes, work emails, social activities, and family—and don’t forget quiet time with Jesus.
Saving Superwoman
He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him.
superwoman syndrome
It’s not hard for us to imagine how Peter’s mother-in-law must have felt when Jesus and the disciples arrived at the house. It’s our worst nightmare—having a house full of guests and not being able to serve them.
We’re daughters, mothers, sisters, wives. We run hospitals, classrooms, boardrooms. We carry the world on our shoulders—day in and day out—without breaking a sweat because, as everyone loves to remind us, this is what it means to be a woman. So, when we read that when the fever left her “she rose and began to serve him,” we’re not surprised, because we think we get it. It’s what we would do if we were in her situation. It’s all part of the myth: the myth of the Superwoman.
If anyone felt the pressure to be a productive member of society, Peter’s mother-in-law did. All the odds were against her: she was a widow and possibly had very few family members to care for her. As a woman, she was limited and she was vulnerable. And though we don’t care to admit it, we all know that feeling. It makes us feel small. It makes us feel exposed. So we run from it. We hide it. We’ll do anything to convince the world, and our selves, we’re invincible. We’re Superwoman.
saving superwoman
Try as she might, Peter’s mother-in-law couldn’t hide her vulnerability. Not anymore. In these two little verses, what we catch is a glimpse of a quick but tender moment wrapped in a seemingly ordinary act of recognition. Jesus saw her and, in a time when men and women had clear and defined boundaries, he reached for her hand. He recognized her weakened state, with all its cultural baggage and, because of his compassion, made her well. So she got up, and we’re told she served Jesus, but everything must have been different now. She wouldn’t be able to hide her weaknesses anymore. Everyone would have known now. She would have to own her vulnerability. Her limitation. She still served, but she could now do so not out of pressure to prove herself, but out of gratitude for the one who noticed a weak and vulnerable woman and did something about it.
And the thing is, Jesus has done the very same for us. God sent Jesus to do for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. We don’t have to bear the weight of the world on our shoulders, because Jesus has done that for us. So, as we move throughout our days, working and serving, we can do so knowing we have nothing to prove. We don’t have to be Superwoman.
Watch Session One
Jesus Responds to Our Need
Daily Question
Are you still trying to live out of your own strength ? What’s standing in the way of owning your limitations before Jesus and before others?
Comments (10)
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Despite my knowing the truth that our weakness is perfected in Jesus’s strength, I still try, in great frustration, to do
many things from my own very limited power. Pride and fear of being seen as a failure prompt me to hide and to
appear to have everything under control.
It is hard for me to ask for help, but I have learned that I need it in many situations…. hut it is still really hard for me to accept that I have a “new normal” and cannot do all the things I want to be able to do and use to be able to do… so I am standing in my own way and need to allow Jesus to take the wheel and trust Him to run my life…. it will work out and there is purpose, I have purpose!
I was before I got cancer. I was expected to by family and then my ex. I realized that I was carrying a lot of burdens that were not meant for me to carry. It is a lot of pressure I put on myself for most of my life without realizing I was doing it. I felt I was always in a race almost above water but not quite. Thank God he delivered me from that. I always have to check my heart to see if I’m still carrying burdens or giving them to God.
I am trying to lean on Him more. I am trying to ask Him to ask the Father to work through me. It’s His power that turns the ordinary into extraordinary.
I feel like I have been attempting to be a superwoman for my entire life. I had to prove that I could do it all. Those attempts to live out of my own strength have taken a toll on my body, health, and spirit. It’s not how God wants us to live. I got to point where I could not physically do this anymore. I was forced to slow down and depend on Him. It is still a struggle though because I feel like as women in our world, we think we need to do this to prove our worth. We constantly need to be reminder that our worth comes from Jesus.
Yes, I also try to be a superwoman. Trying to please & serve all I come in contact with. However, I love to help others but probably try to do too much & push myself until I’m worn out. This has also caused me to spend less time on Bible reading & a quiet time with Jesus. I really need to focus on spending more time with Jesus, who is always there for me whenever I need him. He’s probably looking at me & saying “Slow down & seek me first”.
Sometimes, but I truly have spent the last couple years trying to rewrite the negative narratives that play on loop in my head. I don’t have to be perfect, seem perfect, or do all the things. Furthermore, there are many things I cannot do without the Lord’s help. I can deny it and ignore that fact all I want, and I can be incredibly lazy and/stubborn, but it is taking away from time I could be enjoying what was truly meant for me to handle, and letting go of the things that the Lord can/will take care of.
This passage spoke right to me! I’m learning to lean into God vs what society projects woman to be , which is SuperWoman!
A huge struggle for me! I wake up and immediately run through the list in my head of all the things I need to accomplish and in my mind I will accomplish and don’t rest until the end of the day when everything is complete then I turn to exhaustion and frustration and sometimes get angry because I’ve done so much and I don’t see others doing the same it’s a struggle and I would love to know a little bit more how to slow down how to pace myself I really love the study because it’s stopping me from doing other things and focusing on Jesus my list got bigger and bigger and Jesus got further and further to the bottom and it’s not gonna be that way anymore
Wow, this choice of word – Superwoman, is a big hit to me. At work this has been a common word used by others and though I looked at it as good, this opened my eyes to the strength I have been leaning on is on my own, not his which is why I’m exhausted. Instead of getting up early and being in his word, I rush to everything. School drop off, work, kids activities and feel accomplished that I made it, but I’m exhausted because I didn’t sit before my King and pray for his strength. I didn’t ask him if I should do this or that, I just did, because I think I can or have to.