Martine C.

Today, Martine speaks to us about femininity, her coaching services and her relationship with Jesus.

Tell us a bit about how you grew up and your childhood. Did you grow up with a mom who encouraged and helped you cultivate your femininity? I grew up in ministry, since the age of nine. We had a very traditional family growing up: dad worked; mom was a homemaker; we all served in some way in church. My mom encouraged me to be feminine, because it was the Christian model we grew up with. She modeled admirable traits, like being supportive of my father (including giving him more closet space; I thought that was so unique!), making sure there was always dinner for him if he came home late from work; very practical ways. She also taught me domestic arts (cooking, cleaning, making a home) and etiquette (social graces and feminine manners).

When did you first encounter God and how did you encounter Him? I first encountered God in a personal way when I was a teenager, through regular worship and time with Him in community through the ministry. I did take some time off — around 10 years — not being in church, not reading the Bible (but not straying into secularism either) — to “wrestle with God” and my faith. I found myself coming into a new relationship with Christ in the end of 2019/beginning of 2020.

What is your spiritual growth focus at the moment? It’s “relationship over religion,” which is triggering for Christians to hear, because it’s been connoted with liberal, progressive Christianity. For me, it’s an actual experience. I don’t believe the Christian life is prescriptive — like, “read three chapters a day of your Bible, like you eat three meals a day” (which was an actual thing in my church and ministry life growing up). I find in my forties, my relationship with Jesus is the product of life, death and resurrection of my own humanity. And so, I approach my spiritual life as a birth-death-resurrection cycle, too.

“I find in my forties, my relationship with Jesus is the product of life, death and resurrection of my own humanity. And so, I approach my spiritual life as a birth-death-resurrection cycle, too.”

Tell us about the services you offer and your coaching. How did you get inspired to embark on this journey? I started coaching women in 2012. At the time, I was coaching them on how to leave their jobs and create an online service-based business (which I continue to do, for certain clients). These days (since 2016, specifically), I focus on women staying in their femininity in relationships. My modality is known as “transformational coaching,” and so I support women in understand how they have been ‘programmed’ by unconscious ideas and perceptions (which have, in effect, created the results they are experiencing in their lives). I support them in co-creating re-authored, healthy perceptions of God and their own humanity, so that they can live whole lives as women.

How do you think our faith impacts our femininity? In every faith, femininity and masculinity have certain traits, and I feel that is beautiful. I believe our differences as men and women are a beautiful design, and that femininity and masculinity are how we can carry out our differences in roles and behaviors. As a believer in Christ, I feel my faith in God as Father helps me to stay embodied in my feminine as His Daughter. When I live in the identity of His daughter, I have a ‘frame’ within which I can be “feminine and free” as I like to say.

How can embracing our femininity enhance our spirituality and how we interact, not just with God, but with others? Like I said before: as a believer, my identity as a Daughter of God is feminine both relationally and spiritually even though spirituality is gender-less. Consciously embodying this identity feels like how I feel as my father’s daughter, in many ways, for example. Because my father set a good example as a provider-protector masculine, I felt safe and very “me” as his daughter, his precious one. I feel the same with my Heavenly Father, as I walk this planet: I feel safe and very “me” as a feminine woman towards my husband, my children, my community, even my clients. Everything begins with that identity that is “hidden within Christ” — Christ being the masculine, in this sense.

Is there someone who inspires your femininity? (Someone you see as inspiration) Outside of God, there’s not one person, really. In terms of tangible femininity, I find that to hold just one woman to inspiration is not also the nature of the feminine. I’m inspired by what I feel and notice in the moment: a beautiful snippet of creation, for example, makes me feel open and wide in my body. I’m inspired when I see a woman in devotion to her man: a beautiful snippet of relational design, making me feel effervescent with love and radiance in my body.

What are you currently reading (and what has it taught you?): Top of my list among the books I am reading is Saying No to God by Matthew J. Korpman. I’m learning that the best way to read the Bible is to “wrestle with God,” in the same way Jacob did. For me, tussling with God about my faith, about who He is, about life and my walk with Him: It’s been the healthiest way for me to have a true, father-like relationship with Him. It’s teaching me so much about what the Bible really is, versus what we’re taught it is. It’s written by a theologian and Bible scholar, and I appreciate deep dives like this (rather than just hear sermons from pastors only).

“I’m learning that the best way to read the Bible is to ‘wrestle with God,’ in the same way Jacob did. For me, tussling with God about my faith, about who He is, about life and my walk with Him: It’s been the healthiest way for me to have a true, father-like relationship with Him.”

Top three essentials (things you don’t leave the house without): Cologne, Avene thermal spring water spray for my face, and my iPhone.

Who is your favorite person in scripture? Peter, the Apostle.

What do you want people to learn about God when they look at you? That God isn’t what their church or religion has limited Him to be, and that each of us really is a son or daughter of God. For women, that I can be what I see I am ‘be-ing’, because I have confidence in my Father as His daughter that I am ‘held’ in Him.

A special tradition you and your family engage in or keep: We have our weekly Friday movie night with actual popcorn I make from scratch, and we snuggle in the living room to enjoy a classic from my husband’s or my childhood.

What does your morning routine consist of? (And do you have any tips for a more feminine morning?) I do resilience breathing, called HeartMath. I will go out and sit in the sun, either with my raw milk or a animal-based smoothie : egg, kefir, tropical fruit, honey. I like to just close my eyes, feel the grass between my toes and just ‘be.’ I’ll also exercise, before I shower, do my face and put on a dress. (Wearing dresses all day is a wonderful way to activate feminine energy.)

What is on your nightstand? My HeartMath device, my Avene spring water spray, a lamp. That’s it!

Define Christianity in a sentence: It’s to consciously and moment-by-moment ask God, “What would Jesus do?” and actually do that.

For more Martine:

Website: http://www.martinedeluna.com

Socials: http://www.instagram.com/femininityandfreedom

Martine is a devoted wife and mother, while also a 3x certified Transformational Coach.

She supports women in dismantling unhelpful beliefs against God, men, and ‘masculine principles’, so that they can begin to feel TRUE in embodying their femininity in their life, relationships and business. Since 2012, has also been a Feminine Business Consultant, supporting women in integrating with the masculine practices of vision, direction, branding, structure and systems, so that their businesses feel held & supportive of their family and home life.

Until next time, keep witnessing!

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