She girds herself with strength, and strengthens her arms. She perceives that her merchandize is good, and her lamp does not go out by night. She opens her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness. Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Giver her the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates. Proverbs 31: 17, 26, 30-31
Happy Mother’s Day! I have reflecting on the amazing women that God has placed around me though out my life, and I will be the first to tell you that I would not be the woman I am without their influence. Starting with my own mother, who made huge sacrifices that me and my sibling had what we needed. She supported my dad, started her own business, sewed our clothes, taught Sunday School and Children’s Church and instilling in us the love of and for God and a heart for people, especially the lost. Even at my age today I get several encouraging texts from her a week and I know she is still praying for us. Thank you, Mom! I was blessed with amazing women Sunday School teachers and Pastors’ wives who took the time to help me to fulfill the call of God on my life. I so not think we ever grow to old to be influenced the female pioneers of the faith, in the last 5 years, God has brought two of my aunts back into my life and they have strengthened my resolve to fight for our nation and one sees visions and when we pray together in tongues, she tells me what she sees in the Spirit and it has enforced my prayer life because I see things I never saw before. One of her daughters in laws got a bad case of COVID, over a phone call we began to pray and as I was praying in the Spirit, she saw a vision of a honeycomb looking substance coming out of her daughter n laws lungs. She got a phone call a few days later from her daughter in law and she told her that she was spitting a honeycomb looking substance and immediately she started to recover. The women that have impacted my life are not all family, the church I grew up in in Colorado was cleaned every Thursday by the little old ladies (Ha ha, I would fit in now and I do not feel old) and as they wiped down tables in the children’s areas or vacuumed the floors, they prayed over every person who would enter the church with tears streaming down their face. The church has a258-30 foot wall of fame that pictures all the people God has called into a fulltime ministry and the last time I was there, the wall had pictures all up and down it of people that were faithful to the call of God on their lives. I taught with a precious group of women at the Christian School that showed me that denominations are not barriers, that all churches are full of people who love God.
My heritage goes back even further, the Bible is filled with women who were history changers, mighty women of God who chose obedience over comfort. Ruth’s faithfulness to her Mother in law and her God, put her in the ancestry of Jesus. Deborah led the army of Israel as they delivered the Israelites from the oppressor. Esther overcame the fear of being the second wife her husband the King would have killed and called for a nation wide fast and boldly confronted Hamman with the wisdom the fast had brought about, preserving the next generation of Jews in Persia. Then there were women like Moses’ mother who had the audacity to hide her child and preserve his life so he could bring deliverance later to the Jews from Egypt. Jesus even experienced the fierce loyalty and love of the women who traveled with Him and the disciples. They were allowed to sit at the feet of Jesus when He taught, the place reserved for the best of the students. They were the last to leave the cross and the first to arrive at the tomb. In Acts 1-2 and the Holy Spirit feel on the upper room the women there were filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Jesus told us in Acts 1:8 why it was so important that the Holy Spirit to fill them, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” Jesus would never they took care of the poor, started home churches, pastored, taught the messages Paul wrote to the Roman church (Phoebe), taught the ministers like Apollo the word of God. I am so thankful for the women who have had a mother’s heart and poured into me in my life and I am thankful for the Women of the Bible who were recorded in History to change their worlds and leave an example of what a Godly woman looks like. If you are still breathing, there have been some amazing women who have blessed you and helped you become the person God has called to be, they are the Daughters of the King! Proverbs 31 takes the restrictions off a woman and gives her the freedom to be who God called her to be. She supported her husband, raised her children, had a business, made sure the household staff was fed, sewed her own clothes, and manages the household. I see the women of our generation trying to do all those things as well. Genesis 2, Eve was created to be a “helper comparable” to Adam. She was not given the task of keeping the garden together, or doing everything Adam did not like to do, she was created as a comparable helper, a companion who would work with him, give him fellowship and help with the task of taking dominion over all God’s creation. Proverbs 18:22 “He who finds a wife finds a good thing. And obtains favor form the Lord.” The Bible does not say He who gets married, but it says he who finds a wife, someone who unites with a man in a marriage covenant, designed to be his partner, helper, and coheir in life. She was to share in ruling over creation. She was called to be take dominion and was not designed to be subject or ruled by him. In fact, Proverbs 12:4 calls her “the crown of her husband.” I know so many women who are great at being an “Ezer” in their husband’s life. Ezer is not a word of submission or a second-class citizen, God uses the word “Ezer” to describe Himself and He is not under man to be controlled by a man. Women were created to be a co laborer, to partner and too often (even in our churches) she carries a heavy load and takes care of everything not one else wants to do. No matter how amazing a mighty woman of God is, there are things she was never designed or called to do alone. God designed us to be co-labors and not to carry it alone. God created marriage as a partnership, caring deeply for one another and taking our responsibilities serious, walking through life together. I think it is interesting that Paul compared marriage to the relationship Jeus has with the church. “Husbands love your wife s, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water of the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies, he who loves his wife loves himself, For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church” God is serious about the way a man treats his wife determines how his prayers are answered. 1 Peter 3:7, Peter admonishes the church, “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.” Wow! When a man is not understanding or does not honor his wife, his prayers will be hindered. Scary thought. One of the biggest things you can do is pray for the amazing woman God has placed in your life. (Sadly, in too many homes and churches the intercessory prayers fall on the woman or women’s group. We had a women’s conference last week at church and while many of the men showed up to the day of prayer beforehand, one man made the statement that “the women are leading us to revival.” We had an amazing move of God and part of the reason was the men that cared enough about the women in our church and came to join them an hour to pray for God to do something special. There are three instances in the Bible that the woman’s life was not complete until a man prayed for them. In Genesis 25, Rebekah was barren and could not conceive. (Maybe your wife can have children, but there are other places in her life that are barren and your prayers will bring forth fruit.) The Bible says “Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife… The Lord granted his plea.” Then in 1 Samuel 1 Hannah went to the Tabernacle to pray and in her anguish, Eli the priest heard her prayer thinking she was drunk, but she explained she was earnestly praying, Eli came into agreement that the Lord would answer her prayers. Prayers for the woman in your life is not just a onetime thing, a man should know the woman God has given to him and he should be sensitive to what is hurting her. Elisha prayed for the Shunamite woman in 2 Kings 4 even though she told him she did not need anything, God blessed her with a son. Several years later the boy fell ill in the field and the husband sent him to his mother. (How often do you send the problems and leave it to your wife to deal with it by herself?) She was not deterred even when the child quit breathing, she mounted her donkey and set out to bring the Man of God back to pray for her son. When Elisha prayed, the boy came back to life again. Not only were the women blessed in these examples by their husbands, the church leadership also prayed prayers that changed their lives. Today I not only celebrate the amazing women of God and our mothers. I encourage those who love her to not only say you love and celebrate her, but to honor her and find ways every day to help her with the load she carries. Ask God to show you what she is needing and find ways to bless her year-round. The most important thing you can do is pray for her. Thank God for the men who are serious about their families and already pray. I am praying blessings over this Mother’s Day, may it be a new beginning and God will do something special in every family. Cathy Nesmith