A woman from my church who'd been reading my book So You're Not Wonder Woman?: How Your Super Power Can Change Your Life, about my past life, wanted to know: "Did you really have lots of moldy laundry and piles of dirty dishes?"
She clearly didn't believe me. I understand. I look like I have it all together. I have six children, I homeschool, speak on organization, lead Bible studies, blog, play tennis, and scrapbook. I'm one of God's Wonder Women now, but I wasn't always...
My Roommates
"What did your roommates think of your mess?" the woman from my church wanted to know.
I couldn't help but laugh. "You mean my roach roommates?" I asked. They were the only roommates I had in my pre-Wonder Woman days. There were thousands of them in my dump of an apartment. I tried everything to get rid of them, to no avail. They weren't just behind cabinet doors; they crawled on my bed at night. But they weren't the only nightmare I experienced.
Credit Crisis
My roach-infested apartment was all I could afford on my graduate school salary. When my old car needed an expensive repair, I maxed out my credit card to pay for it. When my second credit card reached its credit limit, I started getting cash advances from one credit card to pay off the minimum balance on the other. Let's just say I'd never heard of Dave Ramsey!
Jerk Jam
After getting dumped by my hometown boyfriend, I met a fellow graduate student I was interested in.
A friend warned me that he had a girlfriend, so on our first date, I made sure to ask about her. My new love interest assured me that there was no girlfriend to get in our way. I was head over heels in love until he told me he was leaving to visit the girlfriend he'd promised didn't exist. I told him he had to choose. When he returned, he told me he couldn't live without me. I was ecstatic! But I forgot to ask if he could live without the other woman, because he apparently couldn't. I found myself obsessed with a jerk.
Fat Failure
I'd battled my weight since high school.
I hoped my mental health training would help me break free of my addiction to food. However, the stress of my living conditions, finances, and relationships drove me to eat even more. I joined a group of fellow psychology students who were all trying to lose weight, certain that social support was what I lacked. We not only failed to lose weight and keep it off, we used our accumulated weekly dues to go out to eat.
How I Was Transformed
The woman from my church wanted to know if my life was really as bad as I portray in my book. I had to tell her honestly that it was much worse. I had never been lower…
I went to graduate school certain that I could change my life on my own. Although I had attended church regularly before beginning my studies, I quit soon after starting school. And while I had never been an avid Bible reader, I exchanged the biblical wisdom I heard at church for the worldly wisdom of self-help books. I thought a Ph.D. in psychology would give me a 3-step formula to life change that I could share with others. Instead, I learned that only one step was needed—one step back toward God. I admitted that my ways didn't work and I started looking for true wisdom in prayer, Bible reading, and fellowship with other Christians. Some of the changes in me were sudden; others have been more gradual.
Turn Around
Are you living like the Wonder Woman God created you to be?
Or are you secretly living in despair like I once was, feeling powerless to overcome problems with eating, organization, and relationships? If you're a Wonder Woman wannabe, do what Diana Prince did. When she was ready to be transformed into a Wonder Woman with Super Power, she turned around. Turn your back on your own way of doing things and turn to God and His Word. You don't have to homeschool, have a large family, or have lots of interests to be Wonder Woman. You just have to be willing to accept the mission God has for you!
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
Dr. Melanie Wilson is a Christian psychologist turned homeschooling mother of six. She is the author of So You're Not Wonder Woman?, donating the proceeds to charity. Find her sanity-saving ideas at Psychowith6 and daily encouragement at The Inspired Day. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
photo credit: The Costume Guild via photopincc