God sometimes uses the least likely people to further his kingdom. That's what led Liz Higgs, author of 23 books with three million in print to write Bad Girls of the Bible and Really Bad Girls of the Bible.
Taking her presentation on the road, Higgs most recently appeared at Cool Spring Baptist Church in Mechanicsville.
The beginning film set the stage for an enlightening and often lighthearted approach to spiritual education. Blessed with a contagious sense of humor, Liz regales people with her wit. A video clip showed there were bad girls on the Andy Griffith Show. Other clips showed the witch from the Wizard of Oz, a vase-slinging Scarlett O'Hara and a wild woman turned nun, played by Whoopi Goldberg. She discussed imperfections on the inside and the outside.
“We go from the imperfect to the perfect when we leave [Earth] so I figure in heaven I'll be a size six,” she joked. “We're all gorgeous to God. We tend to look in mirrors to find problems. People who love us see past our flaws. What God could sing to you is the song, ‘You are so beautiful to me.' The day God made you, he said, ‘You're exactly as I wanted you. You are the definition of beautiful for you.”
A catch phrase Higgs repeats is “Ta-Da,” a sentiment found on magnets sold at her book signings. She instructs women to look at themselves and say, “Ta-Da” with a hand flourish. The translation of the expression is “Thank you, Father.” This theme of gratitude is coupled with encouragement.
“Encourage each other. Our Lord holds our future and empowers our present,” said Higgs. “Show joy in your face, even in tough times.”
Higgs's joy is obvious as she shows how God has used women through the ages.
She jokes that the apple mentioned in Genesis must have surely been made of chocolate. She went on to say that forbidden fruit is different for everybody, men and women. It's human nature to want most what we are told we can't have. For instance, she noted that Delilah's head was turned by money, one of her downfalls.
One of Jezebel's downfalls was nagging. Higgs laughed and referred to herself as something of a steamroller at times. “Strong willed women can relate to Jezebel.”
Noting that no one is perfect, she calls some women in the Bible “FBGs,” Former Bad Girls. That led her to discuss her own past. She shared some of her own painful experiences during a time in her life when she did a radio show on a network that also aired Howard Stern. Stern did the morning show while Higgs did the afternoon show. She admits to having been a little lost at that time and even Stern once commented to her about it.
“Jesus is the one who never gives up on us,” she said. “Someone on the wrong path can be someone who ultimately could get very close to Jesus because he or she is searching for something.”
A good example of a biblical female whose actions women would want to emulate is the woman who washed and kissed Jesus' feet, who may have been Mary Magdelene. This humility shown by one that others may have considered lowly touched Jesus in a real way. She used her perfume to honor the Lord.
Looked down on by society — although she didn't arrive at that position alone — Jesus' appreciation for her elevates her to a whole new level.
A woman previously possessed by demons, she came to live a much improved life following contact with Jesus. She was the one at the tomb, the first to see Jesus after he had risen and was instructed to “go and tell the others.”
The biblical focus shifts from women being responsible for sin (as in the apple of Eden) to the message given to a woman by the resurrected Christ: Go and tell.
This is Christ's command to every Christian whether male or female: Go and tell. <
Phyllis Johnson is a member of Jackson Memorial Baptist Church in Chesapeake.