Certainly the most memorable part of this week’s readings was in the first chapter I read. Jarena Lee’s chapter started, for me, quite like all of the others. My attention was caught, however, by a particular quote: “For as unseemly as it may appear nowadays for a woman to preach, it should be remembered that nothing is impossible with God.” (Sernett 173).

This quote, and the verse that it references, is one of my favorites. This quote is incredibly inspirational and heartfelt, and reveals the true dedication and wisdom of Jarena Lee. I have always found the verse referenced here to be incredibly encouraging, and I love that Lee uses it to argue for the rights of women to preach. Reading these chapters this week and discovering the struggles and obstacles faced by these women who wanted to preach and to be a bigger part of their church was both fascinating and disappointing, however. It was fascinating to read of the women’s strength and determination despite all opposition, but disappointing to read the accounts of prejudice and opposition against equality.

The accounts this week of overcoming obstacles is incredibly inspirational for the women’s courage and heartfelt determination, but this opposition is further disappointing when added to the growing list of opposition to equality that we have encountered in our readings thus far this semester. Each week, we read more accounts of people that faced hardships and struggled against bias on their paths to hope and to their goals, and it is distressing to read of the injustice that they faced. On the other hand, though, each of the accounts that we’ve read, especially this week, has been incredibly inspirational in that each of the authors believed so strongly in what they sought that they were able to face the obstacles nonetheless.