She is Strong

              Dear faithful readers I come before you to talk about some of the strong women of God that we read about in the bible.

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. Proverbs 31:25. The title of this blog is another version of Proverbs 31:25.

A strong woman of God is grateful.

The woman at the well after speaking with Jesus goes back to the village and tells everyone about Christ. This woman moved forward with gratitude and shared that the Messiah might be among them.

The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah? John 4:28-29 NLT

A strong woman of God is brave.

The woman with the blood issue braved the crowd, moved forward and touched Jesus’ robe and was healed. She was considered unclean and wasn’t supposed to be around anyone yet she braved possible death to get to Jesus.

                        She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.”  Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition. Mark 5:27-29 NLT

A strong woman of God has courage and a great love for others.

Esther was a Jewish woman who was able to marry King Xerxes who did not know her heritage. Haman a man who was advisor to the king was jealous of Mordecai Esther’s uncle who was Jewish so he wanted to wipe out the Jewish people. He took his request before the king and the king approved the request. Esther had to go before the king and petition him to save her people. The challenge here was that the king had to summon Esther for her to be able to be in his presence. She could die if she burst into his court without being summoned. She went into the outer courts to see if the king would call her to be able to see him. The king did and he overturned his decree to kill the Jewish people. Esther had great courage and a great love for her people.

A strong woman of God is loyal and kind.

Ruth was married to Naomi’s son. Naomi’s husband and both her sons died leaving her in despair. She told her daughter-in-laws to go back to their own families and leave her since she couldn’t produce new sons for them to marry. Ruth refuses to go.

But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Ruth 1:16 NLT

Naomi and Ruth go back to Bethlehem. There Ruth is kind to Naomi she gathers food in Boaz’s field and takes care of her mother-in-law. Ruth marries Boaz and Christ’s lineage comes from their union.

A strong woman of God is humble. We find out in the other gospels that Mary is the woman who knelt at Jesus feet.

When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.  Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

A strong woman of God sacrifices her own desires to serve the Lord.

Hannah was barren and relentlessly teased by her husband’s other wife who could bear children. She was in distress. She goes to the temple to pray and makes this promise to God.

Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord.  And she made this vow: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut.” 1 Samuel 1:10-11

A strong woman of God is favored by the Lord.

 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. Luke 1:30-31 NLT

A strong woman of God is servant to the Lord.

Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her. Luke 1:38 NLT

A strong woman of God is righteous in God’s eyes.

Elizabeth was barren. She and her husband Zechariah were:

…righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. Luke 1:6 NLT

A strong woman of God recognizes God’s kindness.

…Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.” Luke 1:24-25 NLT

Elizabeth’s son is John the Baptist who made the way for Jesus by telling people to repent of their sins. Luke 3:3

Can you relate to any of these women?

Just know that you are a strong woman of God chosen by him to serve a great purpose.

Do you share their attributes?

Will you share with me?

Genuinely Yours,

Amy Z