(The Lion) — With the lowest birth rates in the country’s history, the American population is rapidly decreasing as young women drink the feminist poison of self.

But Erika Kirk offers the antidote: marriage and motherhood.

The stats indicate a massive discrepancy between Gen Z men and women regarding the importance of marriage and family. The beauty of biblical marriage and family was Charlie Kirk’s anthem, and Erika promised to sing “endlessly about it for years to come.”

Charlie won the young men. Now, Erika will win the young women. As a pair, the couple is transforming Gen Z.

Poised and selfless, Erika displays the determination of Esther, who fearlessly said “if I perish, I perish,” before her confrontation with King Xerxes. Esther saved her people, the Jews, from complete annihilation.

The words of her cousin Mordecai (Esther 4:14) also characterize Erika Kirk thousands of years later:

“And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

In both of her national addresses following Charlie’s death, Erika characterized the beauty and freedom of biblical femininity – not as oppressive, but as glorious.

“Women, I have a challenge for you too: be virtuous,” Erika said at Charlie’s memorial service. “Our strength is found in God’s design for our role. We are the guardians. We are the encouragers. We are the preservers.”

She encouraged everyone to “experience the joy of God’s design for marriage,” explaining how a husband and wife “work together for the glory of God.”

Erika shared how devoted and sacrificial Charlie was in loving her and their children, always asking how he could serve them better. Erika exhorted the men listening to “accept Charlie’s challenge” and “embrace true manhood.”

“Be strong and courageous for your families,” she said. “Love your wives and lead them. Love your children and protect them. Be the spiritual head of your home, but please be a leader worth following.”

Erika provided a home for Charlie to rest from his work, saying she never criticized him for his extended travel. She exemplifies the biblical wife in Proverbs 31:

“She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life . . . she looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness” (Proverbs 31:12, 27).

Erika shared that Charlie wrote her a note every week – it’s not a far leap to assume he praised her often with these words: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all” (Proverbs 31:29).

Erika’s godly example of kindness, love and wisdom, however, exceeds even her beauty as a wife and mother.

The Proverbs 31 woman is praised, not only for her role in the household, but also for her character.

“She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue” (Proverbs 31:26).

A simple survey of Erika’s social media posts displays this wisdom and kindness. In the three days before her husband’s death, Erika posted three scripture passages on her X feed. Scripture is always on her lips.

The morning of Sept. 10, two hours before Charlie was shot, she posted Psalm 46:1: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

A woman’s character shapes the kind of wife and mother she will become, and Erika is a living example of this truth.

“Guard your heart. Everything you do flows from it,” Erika told women at the memorial service.

Erika before Charlie

Erika spent years refining her character, proclaiming this wisdom and kindness before ever meeting Charlie.

From her apartment in New York City, she launched a Bible-reading organization, Biblein365, and a Christian clothing company, PROCLAIM. While exhibiting Christ’s love through these ministries, Erika spent hours in prayer for her future family.

“These doors behind me, once the threshold to my independence, are now the backdrop to a younger version of myself, a shadow of the woman I’ve become,” she wrote in an Instragram post. “And in this moment, I see it clearly: my greatest work, my truest calling, is found not in the rush of the city, but in the stillness of holding my children, shaping their hearts, and living out the very prayers that were birthed in this place. …

“New York City you sure shaped me. But my goodness did the Lord fulfill me.”

Erika counters the feminist lie that tells women to reject motherhood for money, recognition and accomplishment. Even in her “successful career era” Erika was praying for a husband and family. She knew her deepest calling and desire was to love a man of God and raise children with him.

“Our life is built on covenant, and I follow him, because he follows Christ,” Erika wrote in a post in June. “To submit to him is not weakness…it is worship and a humbling blessing. This love is not ours … it’s God’s, on display.”

‘Clothed in strength and dignity’

The choice of a spouse is one of life’s greatest decisions, and Erika encourages women to choose wisely.

“The right man will steady your heart and your home as the leader of it,” she wrote, calling women to be examples to their daughters of good wives.

“Remember, true deep covenant love for your husband is NOT passive, love is a verb, it is the active choice, daily to pray for him and with him, respect him, extend grace to him, show gratitude for him, support the calling God entrusted to him, be present for him, dream with him, honor him … daily.”

Despite feminist claims that this serving love is oppressive and derogatory, Erika defends the freedom and fulfillment of biblical marriage.

“Your wife is not your servant. Your wife is not your employee. Your wife is not your slave,” Erika said at the memorial service. “She is your helper … And if you’re a mother, please recognize that is the single most important ministry you have.”

“Weak” could never describe Erika Kirk. “Strength and dignity are her clothing,” as Proverbs 31:25 says.

In fact, Erika was named Miss Arizona in 2012. While no one can deny the perfection of her smile, the words “she laughs at the time to come” deepen the beauty of that smile.

Despite the tragedy of this past month, Erika still smiles with hope and dependence on the Lord.

“Through all the pain, never before have I found as much comfort as I now do in the words of our Lord’s Prayer: ‘Thy will be done,’” Erika said at Charlie’s memorial service.

Erika’s children will certainly “rise up and call her blessed,” as should all young women across America. She will be the voice to turn a generation of women – lost in worldly gain – into faithful wives and mothers.

Erika’s faith magnifies her outer beauty one hundred-fold, as Proverbs 31 concludes:

“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.”