We all know the story of Adam and Eve. God made Adam, then made Eve from Adam's rib. And then the story goes on... We have heard it a thousand times. But have we taken away the lesson God intends us to take away from Him?

"And the Lord God cast a deep slumber on the human, and he slept, and He took one of his ribs and closed over the flesh where it had been, and the Lord God built the rib He had taken from the human into a woman and He brought her to the human (Gen. 2:21-23)."

Don't move on from the story of Adam and Eve quite yet.

Eve was the first woman God created. But that should not be her only title. Eve is God's crown of creation, and you as a woman are too.

I read this stunning book called Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge and I highly recommend it for both women and men out there. I am more in tune with my femininity that I ever have been and now I know what it truly means to be a woman of God. I am going to share a couple things that I have learned from this amazing book that have spoken straight to my heart and have made me so proud and amazed to be a woman.

I found myself asking "what is a woman's role?" Stop right there and ask this question instead, "What is a woman” The difference in these questions is more astounding than I thought. Woman was designed by God. God made woman for a reason.

God had Adam. Everything was perfect; no sin, no brokenness, nothing was wrong. But God still felt like was something was missing. Our founder and creator who is our King and holds all the answers felt like something was missing!!! Think about that. I get so worked up about this because nothing was right until God created Eve. Woman and femininity was our Master's finishing touch on this world.

Woman is the crown of creation. If you are a woman reading this, you need to repeat this to yourself. You are the finishing touch, you are the crown of creation. You are the last piece to the puzzle that paints a beautiful picture. Woman is the most intricate and darling creature here on earth and you are one ladies. The book tells the reader to say this out loud:

"The whole, vast world was incomplete without me. Creation reached its finishing touch in me."

Now if saying that doesn't give you the confidence boost you need, I don't know what will. As women, we often have the idea that we are weaker than man, that we are less than man. If that unbalanced idea enters your mind, remind yourself that God wanted to reveal something about himself, so He gave us Eve. Eve is the final work of God, the final thing God gave to this earth. He is done with this creation with the finishing touch of woman. She isn't an addition to earth. Not a decoration to make the world look better. She holds a place on this earth. She fills up a space no one else can.

We are not weaker than man, but we are not stronger than man or more important than man. It’s the balance of man and woman that makes each unique. You cannot compare apples to oranges because they are not the same thing. You cannot compare women and men because they are differen, made differently and both hold a different purpose. We are in this together, this isn’t a competition.

Adam and Eve both hold the image of God, but in different ways. Eve bears the image of the Lord in only a way a woman can. God speaks through us. God is in us women. God needed to express something about Himself, but He could not do that in Adam. God made women to reveal something about Himself. That is simply stunning.

God has set a femininity that is so uniquely different than man within us women. We are powerful and tender, fierce and alluring. God teaches us so much about ourselves through the story of Eve. If you look closely and openly, you will find that God tells us who we are and who we are meant to be through Eve.

"The desires that God puts into our feminine hearts are hints to who we are and who we are meant to be."

What makes you yourself is written so deep in your heart. We sometimes are ashamed or embarrassed about what makes us ourselves; what our desires and passions are. Little did I realize that God put those desires in us for a reason. Our desires reflect the image of God, so why on earth would we even think to be ashamed of them or hide them from others? "We long for certain things because He does!"

Knowing the story of who is Eve and what she really represents helped me gain a sense of true and absolute womanhood. From this book I have learned that a woman was not made to just complete a man. I learned that there is something so special and unique to a woman. We, women, reflect the image of God. God longs for romance, we long for romance. God longs to have a relationship, we long for a relationship. Do not ever think for a second that a woman was made just to fulfill a role on earth. Eve, woman, is the crown of God's creation.

You, a woman, are the Image Bearer of the Lord Jesus Christ.