The name Eve means life, and women bring such vivacious life and beauty to the world. 

And yet, there’s that time of the month, the one we dread: our period. It can sap our energy, throw us into an emotional whirlwind, and separate us from life. What could possibly be the blessing in such an ugly business? 

In Genesis 3:16, we see that part of women’s curse is pain in childbirth. This is not only when a baby enters the world but includes all the emotional and physical pain leading up to that moment and the journey of loving that child afterwards. We see this curse continue as menstruation is considered unclean by the law of Moses, and there is a running theme throughout the Bible of women in pain, whether it be Hagar, Naomi, or the bleeding woman of the New Testament. 

So where is God in all of this? Does he care about something so ugly and gross? How could this pain possibly be beautiful? 

1.  We know God more deeply through our vulnerability 

Women, like the moon and seasons, are cyclical. We do not have consistent bodies, but ones that fluctuate depending on the time of the month. It is a beautiful thing, to move with and embrace the changes, because this is how God designed us. Yes, we wish we could thrive all the time, being the strong women we are, but periods are a time of purposeful weakness. 

In this weakness, we are forced to rest. We become vulnerable, acutely aware of our needs and humbled into being still. This softness is a gift. It is a time where women care for each other and when the men in our lives have an opportunity to do whatever they can to provide help. We recognize our dependance, not only on medicine and other people, but on God. I have found that it is in my most vulnerable moments that I cling to God’s love most deeply. He is, after all, “The God who Sees Me”, named as such by the slave Hagar in her most painful hour (Gen. 16). He knows the hurt like no one else because he knows us – and knows pain – like no one else. 

2.  Jesus is the ultimate broken body bringing life and love 

My friend and I were walking across our college campus several years ago, and what she said has stuck with me ever since. She was recapping a podcast she had listened to “Everything points to the Gospel in some way,” she said, “...even periods.” I gave her a look and she laughed. “But think about it! It’s literally the shedding of blood for the bringing of life.” My jaw dropped. 

In all the raw bloodiness of being human, of being woman, enter Jesus. The God of the Bible became one with the uncleanness of this world, how? As a screaming baby covered in blood from a woman’s body. He would go on to heal women and girls throughout his life, caring for them emotionally, spiritually, and physically, in such a way that meeting him made them whole.  

And then, in fulfillment for all of humanity, he let his own blood be shed. In the law of Moses, women were considered unclean while on their periods. Those who were unclean could not be near God, not be in fellowship with others, and had to perform a sacrifice in order to a part of God’s community again. There were even times when they could not be in the same camp with their families. Numbers 5:2-3 says “’Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge [includes women on their period, see Lev. 15] …that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell’” (ESV).  

Periods were a time of dirtiness, of shame, as represented by being sent out of the community – and that is where Jesus went. “Under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, and the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. So also, Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make the people holy by means of his own blood. So let us go out to him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace he bore” (Heb. 13:11-13, NLT). He is not only the God who sees our pain but takes it upon himself. He joined us in our curse so that he could break it for us. He joined us in our own filth, our sin, our shame, our nakedness, and made the ultimate sacrifice of blood.  

Why? 

A woman’s body bleeds for a reason – to bring life. We do not have children just to obey God’s command in Genesis to multiply and fill the earth, but to fill the earth with His love. Whether we have children or not, to be a woman in pain means to follow God’s example of death-defying, selfless love. We join him in his suffering, and in the process, our pain is resurrected. Our beauty, humbled and broken, is simultaneously redeemed, restored, and full of his love. To mirror Genesis 3:16, there is also John 3:16, where the God who loves the world enters our pain in order to bring his life. 

To shed blood for love is not weakness, but the most glorious kind of broken strength, for our God meets us there and sits in the blood with us. And more of him is all we truly need. 

So when your days of weakness come, whether physical, emotional, or a crazy mix of the two, I pray you let yourself be weak. I pray you allow God’s grace to care for you in that moment, and that you would let yourself feel loved. No matter what your pain is, you are seen and felt by the God of the cross, by the God who will walk with you through the valley of death into his beautiful life using each step to fill you with his humble glory.