Stuck.

This whole "being a Proverbs 31 woman" is a tough thing to do. I'm going to openly admit that I have been a complete and utter failure. James 5:16 says "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." I am going to confess my faults to you all, and I ask in return that you pray for me. 

I've been honest with the ladies in group studies about my depression. It's something I deal with regularly and here lately it has been extremely hard to deal with. It causes problems in my life that are not only mental, but physical and spiritual too. I've gained about ten solid pounds and my spiritual life has dwindled in the last few weeks. It's funny how when you get depressed, Satan seems to pop his head out and he begins to mess with you. I feel like during a bout of depression, I'm playing the whack-a-mole game where you bop the mole on the head but then he pops up in another hole. You never really get rid of him unless you beat the machine to death, or unless you give up. Last week, I gave up. I didn't finish my fight, I didn't keep the faith. These Wednesday night lessons have meant the world to me because I felt that God led me to do them. It's something I have been passionate about from the beginning. At first it was going great. Women were coming, they were discussing God's word, they were fellowshipping with one another, and that's what I had envisioned. The past few months attendance has dwindled, conversation has slowed, and I just feel discouraged and stuck. This past Sunday, Satan got in my ear like a mosquito. I tried to think back to a time when I had ever been so hurt, and I couldn't. I was heartbroken - for my husband. It boiled in me all week.  I had made up my mind that I would not step foot in church on Wednesday. I called Carolyn on Tuesday and asked her to teach for me. She did, so I went home as soon as I got off work Wednesday (yes, my sinuses were bothering me very bad, but I'll be honest, it wasn't the only reason I wasn't there). I let my emotions get in-between my priorities and my spiritual job. I quit. I gave up. I surrendered and waved my white flag. I had been defeated. I was too much of a coward to get over my feelings and do God's will. For the rest of the week I felt horrible. I had debated on even going to church on Sunday because now instead of feeling angry and upset, I felt guilty. I lost my faith and let other peoples actions get to me so much that I lost touch with MY God who does all things and is always there.

Now, I said all that to say this:
The life that a Proverbs 31 woman lives is a hard life to follow. It's hard keeping up with housework, cooking meals, packing lunches, paying bills, working 40 hours a week, and then coming home to make lesson plans for work. Not to mention adding in exercise, studying the Bible, working on hobbies, and being a supportive Preacher's wife when no one else supports him. He gets discouraged (and has been a lot here lately) and it breaks my heart to see him that way because I know how hard he works and studies for the Lord. It's hard to be an encourager and keep everything done, be a dedicated follower of God and work a job. It's even harder to do it all while being depressed, and I know I'm not the only woman in the world who struggles with this. Now since I sat around and felt sorry for myself, my house is a wreck, laundry is piled up, bills were paid late, my studying slacked, and my stomach has stayed in knots. I know that others would look at the situation and think well, God said he wouldn't put more on you than you can bear. He didn't. I teamed up with Satan and together, we put more on me than I could bear. I didn't turn over my biggest problem to God and I didn't forgive. I let something simmer in me so bad that it brought me down. Getting down spiritually will get you down all over if you let it. It's easier to do as God said in the first place and forgive.
"Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." - Colossians 3:13. 

The moral of the story is: Even though we fail and fall on our walk with God, he's always there to pick us back up and set us back on our path. We can't be perfect; never have, never will be. It's hard to accept, but we must and move on. I love you all and hope you continue to have a blessed week.

Weeks 7 and 8: Proverbs 31:18-20

This week we were planning on going through Mary and Martha and their similarities to the Proverbs 31 woman. Due to extra stresses from work and a few other issues, I did not get to devote the time studying that I would normally give to the lesson. We had a few people call us and let us know they wouldn't be able to make it to church Wednesday night, so instead of having the lessons, we played Bible Trivia: Men vs. Women. I learned 2 things: 1. the women that have been attending Bible study have really been listening intently and that made my heart so happy! The questions dealing with the lessons we had been through, they could tell the whole lesson word for word! 2. There are lots of similarities between Shakespeare and the Bible. That round of trivia wasn't quite as easy...

On Wednesday (July 24th), we will continue with the comparisons of Mary and Martha to the Proverbs 31 woman. We'll also be discussing Sapphira during some point of the lesson so be reading up on her as well.

Have a good week!

Week 6: Proverbs 31:16 and 17 (part 3)

We'll begin where the other post left off. Jezebel is our woman this week, so I'll start with some facts about her life.

Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Sidon. She was Phoenician. If you look closely at her father's name, you should recognize another. The name of the false idol Baal, who was their god of weather and agriculture. This is who Jezebel grew up worshiping along with the idol Ashtoreth, the fertility goddess. She was raised thinking that it was ok to have sex openly in public with many different partners, and during periods of drought they would go as far as cutting themselves and sacrificing their own children.

She had an arranged marriage (which was common in those days), but hers was an effort at making an alliance with Israel. Her husband's name was Ahab, and the Bible tells us he came from a line of evil. 1 Kings 16:25 describes his father, and a few verses later in verse 30 it describes him. I'll go ahead and let you know that dad was more evil than the king before him. and the son was more evil than his father.

Jezebel's goal as queen was to pull Israel from their god, the one true God. She successfully drew her husband away and many more. She hired 850 "prophets" of Baal and Ashtoreth to spread her beliefs. Ahab was king, so many thought worshiping idols is what they were supposed to do because of his rank and influence he had. Elijah the prophet came through the area and there were only 7000 men who had not strayed. Elijah soon tested the "prophets" and every single one of them was killed. This made Jezebel absolutely furious, and she made it clear that she would be happier with Elijah dead. Even with God on his side, Elijah feared this woman and went on the run. (She had to pretty bad if he was that scared after seeing God send down fire from heaven.)  Her true evil motives come out when her husband desires a vineyard in Jezreel owned by a man named Naboth. Ahab and Jezebel had a main palace in Samaria and had a second one built in nearby Jezreel, about 25 miles away.

Before we go any further, you need a brief history lesson. Ahab was the king of Samaria. (This all takes place about 300 years after King David's rule over Israel.) At this time, the Land of Canaan had been divided into the northern and southern kingdoms (10 tribes in the north and 2 in the south making 12 altogether...the 12 tribes of Israel). Ahab was king over the northern kingdom. They were under the Mosaic Law - a collection of rules that were given to Moses by God. There were over 600 of them. It goes much further than the 10 commandments! Several of these laws were broken in the story we're about to go through. One of them was the issue of Naboth's land. According to the law, no land that was originally given when it was considered the Land of Canaan could be sold or bought. It could be rented, but nothing was supposed to happen to the name of who owned it. It was to remain in the original family and be passed on as an inheritance. Ok. I think we have enough now to get started.

Naboth was offered a good sum of money from Ahab for this plot of land. Naboth declined his offer, which did not make Ahab a happy man. He goes home and refuses to eat and pouts like a child. Jezebel walks in during the middle of his fit. To sum up her words, she told him to go eat, and not to worry because she would take care of it. She writes a letter (in her husband's name of course) and tells the elders that she needs 2 false witnesses to testify that they heard Naboth blaspheme against God and Ahab. The punishment for this according to Mosaic Law was death by stoning. Naboth was killed, and after it happened, the elders notified Jezebel. They knew she had really written the letter and she was the one with all the power in that husband/wife relationship. Naboth had a son who was supposed to get the land, but they had him killed too. This is how Jezebel gained rights over the land.

A little while later, Elijah comes back and finds Ahab in his new garden. He warned Ahab that God was going to punish him for the actions he had made. Ahab repented briefly, but went back to his old ways. Ahab's death soon comes during battle, when he is shot down in his chariot. He knew he would be recognized as king so he dressed as a normal soldier. An opposing soldier shot an arrow at random and it landed right in the bend of Ahab's armor and killed him. The chariot was then returned to a pool where the harlots bathed in Samaria and the dogs licked up his blood.

14 years later, Jehu, captain of the Israeli army came to Jezebel's window and she taunted him the presence of her two eunuchs. Jehu asked who they belonged with and they sided with him. Jehu ordered them to push Jezebel out the window - which they did quickly and effectively. The dogs disposed of her just as Elijah had prophesied. All that remained was her skull, hands, and feet.

The moral of the story - (which is completely true and accurate)...
Elijah warned Ahab and Jezebel several times about the consequences for the decisions they had made. They refused to listen and Elijah's prophesies were fulfilled. We are given multiple warnings in the Bible about the consequences for the choices we make in life. Some are good, some are bad, but the wages of sin is death - our ultimate consequence for turning away from God. Have you ignored any of God's warnings in your life? Are there any of those that you are ready to listen to?

Think of Jezebel's characteristics. She was strong-willed, stubborn, independent, quick to criticize, sharp-tongued, impatient, unwilling to admit her faults, and the list goes on and on. Do you see any of those qualities in your life? If you really think about it, we could ALL be considered a "Jezebel". These traits are not necessarily bad if you know how to use them. Think of what Jezebel could have accomplished as queen if her energy had been focused in the opposite direction. Instead of turning most of Israel away from God, she could have turned many other nations to God. How are you using your characteristics? Can you focus your energy on something more productive for God?

I hope you gained something from this lesson. I thoroughly enjoyed studying this one. This 3 part post could have easily been 10 parts. You're lucky I gave you the condensed version :)

God bless you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Week 6: Proverbs 31:16 and 17 (part 2)

If you thought the lesson on Rahab as a virtuous woman was going to be a stretch - it was nothing. This week we went through the life of Jezebel. I'll break the post up again after the Proverbs section so it's not so much to read in one post.

First of all, we'll go through the characteristics of the Proverbs woman in verses 16 and 17:

1. She plans with purpose. She "considered" the field before buying it. She went to go see the field. You wouldn't buy a house without ever looking at it in person would you? 
2. She is resourceful: she plants a vineyard. This is more than likely a vineyard of grapes. It is what you would consider a "cash crop". It could be used for wines, juices, jams, jellies, medicines, etc. It wasn't just used for one thing. Through the Bible, the church is compared to a vineyard. You can go through and read 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 for the exact description/comparison.
3. She encourages her husband by doing the extra work needed in order to maintain the vineyard. She didn't buy it for him to work.
4. She is selfless. By using her time to profit her family, she is giving up her "me" time. How often do we give up our precious "me" time, if any?
5. She is hardworking. She plants and maintains the land by herself. She uses the strength in her arms. It could also refer to exercise, but for obvious reasons we chose to avoid that discussion...

Now for the comparison of the Proverbs 31 woman and Jezebel. (Honestly there is no comparison. It's more like learning from Jezebel's mistakes and doing the complete opposite that she did.) Before I divide up the post, think about this for a minute:

When you hear the name Jezebel, what comes to mind? Most of the ladies answered with a harlot, someone who is selfish, wears lots of makeup, flashy clothes, etc. In the O.T. the names people had reflected many of the qualities they had. Jezebel truly lived up to her name. Proverbs 22:1 describes how important keeping a good name is.

Week 6, Proverbs 31:16 and 17 (part 1)

Hi ladies,

I just wanted to let you know that this Wednesday (7/10) we will be studying verses 16 and 17 of chapter 31. We'll be using Jezebel as our example, so read up on her and how she dealt with situations. Try to get a feel for her personality. If you have a pair of gloves, bring them with you. It doesn't matter what kind they are.

Week 5, Proverbs 31:14 and 15

June sure has been a busy month. I'm finally getting time to sit down and go through the last lesson that we did. We were out one Wednesday, I had a class one Wednesday and then last Wednesday we played Jeopardy to review since it had been so long since we'd had a regular class. I was actually out for this lesson but Carolyn taught for me. I already had notes taken because this class for work was a last minute thing. I'll give you what I had studied.

Proverbs 31:14 discusses the similarities between a Godly woman and a merchant ship. At first, I was terrified because I had no idea where to go with this. Then I just happened to come across an article that broke this comparison down and made much more sense. It was written up by Dr. Fred John Meldau in Christian Victory Magazine.

(First of all, I thought we might need some information on ships before beginning the comparison. These are some things that I found during my studies on ships in the OT.) Merchant ships weren't used often in the Old Testament. Really, the period of time that used boats the most were during the reign of Solomon. The New Testament has many more mentions of ships - especially during Paul's ministry. A ship "pilot" is not just a captain, but one who guides through dangerous or congested waters. They were expert navigators with detailed knowledge of local waterways. Merchant ships would only set sail a few times a year in order to gain the best deals on merchandise from other cities. They would prepare for extremely long journeys at sea, bringing food that wouldn't spoil easy and being prepared for the weather.) When they would bring the items back home, they took extra caution because the journey was so long, and they wanted to bring it back unharmed. They were always ready for whatever would come upon them at sea whether it was a storm, sickness, etc. When the merchant ships unloaded, they delivered all of their goods. It's almost like when you go to Sams or Costco - you don't do it often, and many times when you go you have things to bring back for everyone else too. Their job was to go get the items for others and bring them back safely.)

1. Merchant ships must have a pilot - A true Christian woman must have Jesus as the pilot of her heart and home 2. Merchant ships are guided by a compass and the North Star - A true Christian woman guides her home by the Word of God. (2 Timothy 3:16) 3. Merchant ships carry precious cargo - True women of Christ transfer the blessings of heaven to the lives around them. 4. Merchant ships endure storms at sea - True Christian women have divine protection when moral and spiritual storms threaten the welfare of her children and family. (Psalm 34:17-20) 5. Merchant ships are ever active and well-stocked for long journeys - True Christian women are always on duty to cheer, comfort, exhort and encourage. (Ephesians 4:29, Hebrews 3:13) 6. Merchant ships head for a harbor to unload their cargo - True Christian women seek to bring those around them into the harbor of safety and security of Christ. 7. Merchant ships keep nothing for themselves - What they carry is for others. When their destination is reached, their cargo is unloaded for the benefit of others. (Philippians 2:3)

Verse 15 speaks of something a little different. However, it still goes with verse 14. All of those points describe the same woman in the following verse. The main part being "she riseth also while it yet night." This woman doesn't overindulge in sleep. She woke up early to prepare things for the day. I'll always remember the stories my mom told me about my great-grandmother when I was younger. She would speak of how early they had to get up in order to get chores and farm work done. If the whole house had to be up 4 or 4:30, my mamaw would have to get up much earlier. They couldn't grab pop tarts and grab a bowl of cereal. She made pork, bacon, biscuits, gravy, etc. She was this woman in the verse. The remainder of the verse describes "and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens." This woman had to start her day cooking for a majority of people. In between cooking huge meals, she had to dust, do laundry, clean, entertain children, and who knows what else. In a house with a dirt floor, rocks for a wash cycle and no daycare, women in our generation would say forget it and find somewhere to hide. We think we have it rough with cars, ceramic tile/carpet, automatic wash/dry cycles, and putting our kids to bed. Boy, when you put it that way, we ought to be ashamed.

These days you don't hear of any of that. Even the farms don't operate the way they used to. It's not family working together anymore. Everything is computerized and we have the mentality of wanting things immediately. Who gets up any day of the week now and cooks like that? Much less doing it every single morning?! In Forbes magazine, there was an article proving that there were benefits of waking up earlier. They counted at least ten benefits to waking up earlier. They are:

1. More productive, 2. Anticipate problems and solve them, 3. Better planning, 4. Time to excersise, 5. Get better sleep, 6. More optimistic, 7. Easier commutes, 8. Time to meditate/pray, 9. More family time, 10. Prepare for upcoming appointments and events.

The most important of these 10 is more time to pray and meditate on God's word. If you take the time to spend your morning with God before you begin the rushed day that's more than likely ahead of you, your day will go better. I promise. You'll be at peace before you have to encounter those who make you upset or mad. You'll have the opportunity to ask God to guide your day and be in the center of all that you do. This is not an archaic verse that doesn't apply to our lives today. Although the 1700's seem like a long time ago, it wasn't. Even Ben Franklin once said "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." He obviously saw the benefits in rising early. God hasn't changed since Biblical times, sure didn't change before the 1700's and hasn't changed in our times today. Our God isn't changing. We are the ones that keep changing the rules. We make them to be what we want them to be. We have begun deciding what is acceptable behavior and what is not. Most women that read these two verses would probably glance over them and then try to erase it from their memory. I have some friends who won't wake up until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. They would roll their eyes at the thoughts of getting up before the sun. I could keep going, but I'll stop.

Week 4, Proverbs 31:13

As an avid crafter and one with a basic knowledge of sewing, knitting and embroidering techniques, I had been looking forward to this verse. I was really thinking "yay! Now I will have a better excuse for spending too much time on crafts - because it says so in the Bible." On the surface, this is a job that a woman is supposed to have. However when you break it down a little further, it goes into something much bigger than sewing a pillow or knitting a scarf.

The verse states: "She seeketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hands." First, we'll break down the verse to understand it better. In the Hebrew, "seeketh" means "to find or to look for." It can also mean "care for". I feel like we'll go with the first definition because it could be a seek and find mystery mission. aka, shopping. If we go with the second meaning, that'll mean laundry, and I am anti-laundry. Ok. Why would someone go looking for wool and flax? well, for one thing, these fibers were from plants and animals. They were abundant, could be transformed into textiles and then made into clothing. The word "willingly" comes from the word meaning "delight or pleasure." (Look at Isaiah 1:19 for further explanation). Now for the biggie: worketh. Who likes to hear that word other than when you are commanding someone to "get to work!"? The Hebrew word is Asah. In order to be working, something has to be active. In a clock, it needs batteries to keep it ticking. A car needs gas in order to run. Our bodies need food in order to keep us running. Some guy once said that an object at rest stays at rest, unless acted upon by an outside force. In our case, we put off "working" until we can't stand our filth anymore or if there's company coming over. Especially if you also work 40 hours a week.

At this point of the lesson I stopped and went to the closet where we keep our cleaning supplies at church. I got one for each lady present and handed it to them. When everyone had one, I told them that we were finished with our lesson and would now be cleaning the church. Man, you should have seen the looks I got. The Bible says that a woman delights in working with her hands. This includes cleaning, cooking, crafts, gardening, etc. (the looks I received were not quite delightful...) After working all day and then getting supper ready and then driving to church, cleaning was the last thing that anyone wanted to do. Think about the things you do with your hands. Do you have a hobby or skill that you enjoy doing? Where did you learn it? For me, sewing is one of the things I enjoy doing and I learned from my mom. These days when someone wants to pick up sewing its because they want to get on Project Runway. They don't do it because there's no other choice. In those days it was cheaper to make your own clothes. Today we can get a dress from the red dot sale at Belk cheaper than we could buy the material needed to make it. Now it's not only time consuming but expensive. In our world of "instant gratification, time and money are things that can't be spared. The convenience of an instant purchase is more than we can turn down. We can have it in 5 minutes (once you make your 2 hour trip around the store debating) as opposed to hours of time and labor. If you have a yard sale, are you more likely to hold onto an item bought on sale or an item that you received hand made from someone? Most women said that they would give up the sale item way before the handmade. Typically lots of love, time and effort goes into a handmade item. It can be made to fit your specifications and measurements. The same pattern can be used because the sizes are usually grouped from 4-10 and 12-18. The pattern has to be cut to fit YOU. Salvation is the same way. Everyone has the ability to obtain it (the pattern), but there is only one made just for you. What works for you might not work on someone else.

Now onto our Bible lesson. Lydia is the woman we studied. Lydia was a Gentile from Thyatira. She worked in the city of Philippi and ends up moving there. Around her where she lived were mostly Jews. She was a very successful businesswoman. In Acts 16:14 she is called "a dealer of purple". She created, sold and traded linens that ranged from blue to purple to red. In Thyatira the water was well-suited for dying. No other place could create colors so brilliant as the ones dyed in this water due to the higher salt content. The dye process was hard work and time consuming. The colors came from the shell of a murex. It looks like a conch shell with a gooey creature inside. They are considered snails and they had to be killed in order to obtain the ink. They only mated in the summer and were harvested from October to March. It took around 400 shells to dye one 12 oz. skein of yarn. The colors were in high demand from the royalty in the area. This is why Lydia was so successful. She had the good stuff.

Lydia is in the area where Paul and Silas were preaching. She was selling her linens. They caught her attention and she listened intently. In verse 15 of Acts 16 it states that she was saved, baptised, and had come to her house to explain the message to her family. It says they were all saved too. Not long after this Paul and Silas were thrown in Jail. When they were freed from prison, Lydia's house was the first place they went. (Acts 16:40). Although Lydia got saved, she still worked. She opened her house in Philippi to people so they could pray and fellowship. It is mentioned that this could have been the start of the first Christian church. She earned money from her linens and used it to take care of Paul and Silas and the visitors in her home. She worked both spiritually and physically. No matter what you do - housewife, businesswoman, etc., you can always work to glorify God. In the Bible it says that if a person won't work, they won't eat. Many times in Proverbs sluggards are talked about, and not in a good way. A sluggard was someone who was lazy and wouldn't work. In Ecclesiastes 10:18 it says "By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through."

If you leave a building empty or unoccupied for a period of time, it quickly starts to fall apart. When no one returns to take care of it, the whole thing starts to crumble. That's what the verse from Ecclesiastes is saying. Relating to church, if you have a talent given to you by God and you don't use it to benefit Him, you will lose it. He'll take it away. Relating to life, if you become inactive and stop trying, your body will begin to lose function and eventually, you'll die. God gave us hands, feet, brains, hearts, voices, and everything down to the breaths we take to glorify Him. Not just on Sunday morning either...but I won't get into that now. That's for another lesson on commitment and your zeal and love for Christ.

God Bless!

Week 3, Proverbs 31:11 and 12

I was discussing this lesson with some of the ladies at church tonight and was expressing to them how horrible this one went. I felt it was doomed from the beginning due to the silence of everyone. Then it was interruption after interruption, people coming in and out, strangers coming to the door, and people getting up to leave before I could finish explaining what we would do this week. Being a bundle of nerves, having social anxieties, wanting everything to stay on track, and having a fear of public speaking all of this was extremely frightening and was a huge distraction (I guess having the attention span of a 4 year old doesn't help either) - Man. I have some issues huh? :/ (thanks dad - most of those come from him). Needless to say, I lost all hope in the lesson and almost cried all the way home. Hopefully while writing this all down, someone will get something out of it. I'm praying (and I hope you do as well) that this Wednesday will go MUCH better.

To get started, this lesson was on verses 11 and 12. They speak of being a good wife. I don't have the most experience in this field, but I do have Christ in the center of my marriage and I feel that this is enough reason for me to teach on the subject. That is our goal after all - Christ should be in your relationship BEFORE you get married (dealing with being equally yoked - check out II Corinthians 6:14), and should remain in the center of that marriage until "death do you part". People's commentary on the verse from II Corinthians gives plenty of reasoning on the process of being equally yoked and what it means.

"2 Co 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. The figure is drawn from the prohibition of De 22:10 Le 19:19. The meaning is that Christians are not to pair off with unbelievers. All intimate associations are forbidden. The primary reference is to intermarriage and to association in heathen festivals. All close fellowship with unbelievers is included. Saints should choose Christian alliances and associations. NOTE ON MIXED MARRIAGES.--"The unequal yoking" covers the question of marriage between Christians and irreligious persons. The whole spirit of the Bible is against the practice. Marriages of the "sons of God" with the "daughters of men" caused the sins which brought on the Flood (Ge 6:1-7). Alien marriages were forbidden to Israel (Ex 34:16 De 7:3,4); this was the pit into which Samson fell (Jud 14:3); to this cause was due the fall of Solomon (1Ki 11:1-10); Ezra made the Jews put away alien wives (Ezr 9:10), and in the discussion of the subject in 1 Corinthians 7, the whole implication is that intermarriage with unbelievers was out of the question. The widow is only allowed to marry a Christian (1Co 7:39)."

When I taught the lesson, I used Abigail and David as the married couple to look at as a model couple. Mainly Abigail as the model wife. She was strategic, met David's requests, emphasized the positives of David's character, reminded David of his values, and realized the effect his decisions would have on his future. The woman knew how to calm the man down and rationalize with him. She was a very good communicator. She could tell you exactly what you needed to hear to build up your ego while giving advice and her opinion at the same time. Most of us get just as agitated as the person we are dealing with who is angry in the first place. David was running on a short fuse due to Nabal's sarcasm and he was ready to kill not only Nabal, but all of the men that worked for him. Abigail brought out the best in David. They worked well together and were complimentary to one another. We should be that way with our spouse. It shouldn't be all one-sided. You should make decisions together, pray together, work well together, etc.

Another couple that I should have mentioned (and didn't realize it until this morning) was Aquila and Priscilla from the New Testament. They were friends and supporters of the apostle Paul. If you want to see a couple who really compliments one another while keeping God in the center of their marriage, check them out. They worked together, served the Lord together, and brought out the best in one another. I'd love to get into them more but this post is already getting long. Maybe we will have the opportunity to go through them in detail while we are going into another verse. Their story can be found in Acts 18. Paul brings them up again in Romans, I Corinthians, and I Timothy.

I apologize for the scattered thoughts of this post. I'll admit, I waited too long and crammed a lot of information for this one lesson and it did get jumbled up. That's why there was no heads up for what were doing.

This week (June 5th) we will be studying verse 13 and focusing on Lydia from the New Testament. Ladies who come to class, bring in your favorite thing to wear. I pray that you all have a good week.

Week 2, Proverbs 31:10

Just so I didn't bore everyone to death, I began with the second part of the verse: ..."for her price is far greater than rubies." We took a few minutes to discuss how we think companies price their various products. The answer was: They take the identity of the company, the value of the product, and the purpose of the product and come up with a price. I also found a formula for pricing hand made items on etsy. It was:

materials + labor + expenses + profit = wholesale value. If you multiply this sum by 2, you get the retail value of your product.

There's a game on Price is Right that deals with determining how much a grocery store item is is what we used to illustrate this. We had 5 items - generic and name brand mixed together. The name brand is generally more expensive due to the name and the advertisements used on the product. I also did an activity out of our book and had everyone bring in an obituary of a woman whose description stood out to them. We determined that the qualities a woman possessed are what drew us to that certain woman. Some of the qualities were: wife, mother, teacher, steadfast, zealous, christian, kind, loyal, faithful. The list could go on and on.

The main thing I wanted to get across with these activities was quality and determining value. Both monetarily and personally. You can take the formula from etsy to determine value of your life too. Materials = lessons you have learned, your personality, and knowledge you have acquired. Labor = the work you put into your life. Expenses = what you have given up when making decisions and when you have compromised. Profit = what you have gained when you gave up the things you did. Wholesale Value = your life in general; the things everyone around you sees everyday. Retail Value = the best you have to offer.

The more you look at it, the more it makes sense. It's in the right order too. Sit down sometime and think about what your value would be if someone were trying to price you. Would your price be far more than rubies? Speaking of rubies...did you know that their price is valued more than diamonds? It is due to the rarity of finding them in larger sizes. The ruby is mentioned 6 times in the Bible - each pertaining to wisdom. The royal kings and queens requested rubies when making decisions. The diamond is only mentioned 4 times, in reference to the stones on the robe of the high priest. A ruby is found naturally in a hexagonal shape and is hard to spot. It takes a lot of work to get them cut and shaped without breaking them (this is where the title for the blog comes from - Finding the Ruby Through the Rock. We are the ruby and Christ is the rock.) This is why a virtuous woman is considered worth more than rubies.

You would think that the woman chosen to go with this scripture would be someone like Esther who seemed to have it all - Looks, brains, beauty, Christ, a kingdom, and a husband. Nope. The one that stuck out to me was Rahab, also known as "the harlot". When I mentioned this I feel like the ladies thought I had lost my mind. Stick with me though. I won't go into detail of the story of Rahab - you can find it in Joshua 2. Here's the short version:

Joshua sends two spies into Jericho. The people of Jericho were preventing the Israelites from getting into the land of Canaan. This was the promised land that God gave to Moses in Genesis 12:1. The geographic area was laid out and would be considered modern day Israel. The two spies went out in the night and came upon Rahab's house. She kept an inn which made it more convenient for her chosen night time profession. Rahab hid the men because they knew the king knew they were in Jericho, and she hid them on the roof. They made a deal that if she hid them, they would save her and her house when the Israelites attacked Jericho. To let the men down over the wall, Rahab let down a scarlet rope made from flax. When the men came back over the wall to attack, they would see the rope hanging in her window and know not to destroy it. The rope symbolized the blood of Christ similar to the scripture in Exodus 12. The angel of judgement couldn't touch the doors that had the blood applied.

The scarlet rope indicated the covenant made with the two spies. Everyone in Rahab's house was spared. She was in the right house at the right time. In Acts 2, the disciples and some others were gathered in the upper room praying. The Holy Sprit came upon them because they were all in the right house at the right time. Had they not been, they would have missed a blessing. We need to hide our scarlet ropes in the window of our life so that we can let our friends and family know to get in the house. Meaning, they need to get saved before Christ comes back. They need to be in the right house - God's house - so they will be spared.

Rahab might not have been what we would consider the ideal woman at the time this first started. However, she had a few virtues that changed her life. She was trustworthy of the spies, dependable, and loyal to the spies. If she hadn't had these virtues, she would have probably gotten the two spies killed and changed the course of the history of Israel in a negative way instead of the positive. After the fall of Jericho, Rahab married Salmon (one of the two spies) and had a child named Boaz - yes, the one from Ruth. Boaz and Ruth married, had a son named Obed. Obed had a son named Jesse, Jesse had a son named David - yep, king David. This started the lineage of Christ. Rahab became a pretty virtuous woman. She is mentioned again in Matthew 1 in the lineage of Christ, and again in Hebrews, and again in James. What virtues do you possess that are not currently being used for Christ? How could you use them for Christ? How could you show others how to put their virtues to work for Christ? You can be a great person and do many good deeds on this Earth, but those won't get you to heaven. You have to believe that Christ died for you. You have to have a relationship with Him. Let Him into your heart so that you can show others. The virtues you possess will then be used for Christ as you work for Him.

If you go by the KJV of the 10th verse in chapter 31, there are 14 words. God gave me tons of ideas to go with those 14 words. My goal with all of these lessons is to match up a woman in the Bible with the characteristics mentioned in each verse of our scripture we are dealing with. This Wednesday we'll focus on Proverbs 31:11 and 31:12 since they go together.

Committing to the Search

Tonight began the new study in Proverbs 31 - I think it went wonderfully too! Just from researching what the chapter entails, I got convicted quickly. There is so much to live up to when it comes to those guidelines to live by as a Godly woman. Although all the verses come together as a whole, we focused on the importance of commitment. We will move at a slower pace and will be looking at the lives of some of the women through the Bible that lived up to these standards of a Godly woman.

Before any study, hobby, job, project, or anything else you plan on doing in life, you should plan on doing it well and carrying through til the end. These verses are SO incredibly important for a woman of any time period. It doesn't matter if it's someone in the 1800's or if it's in the 2000's - a Godly woman is a Godly woman no matter what. Yes, according to Bob Dylan "the times, they are a-changin'". However, our God hasn't changed and His requirements for what he expects of us have not changed. Tonight we did a visual to explain commitment: If you have people coming over that you care for and want to impress, you aren't going to serve them takeout food in a Styrofoam container. More than likely, you will pull out the nicest stuff you have and will make sure everything looks appealing. Even if you do order takeout (like I would because I don't cook), you won't leave it in the box it came in. You'll put some effort into making it look nice. Tonight we took the same meal and one was thrown in a takeout box and the other was on Dollar Tree dishes. The same commitment is required of us when it comes to our relationship with God. He doesn't want our rushed efforts at an attempt to please Him. He would rather have your heart and time that was spent putting forth the small effort to make that takeout look the very best it could in your Dollar Tree serving dishes. You get more out of studying one verse for 10 minutes at a time than you do when you try to read a chapter in 10 minutes just to say you read it. God is pleased more when you spend your time wisely in the scriptures and actually strive to learn rather than just skim through it to check it off your list of good deeds for the day.

So...What's gonna work? TEAMWORK! If everyone takes one verse at a time and truly studies it, we will all gain more from it. When we come together to share and discuss you will be able to give more input and share what God has shown to you. We don't all see things the same way. Bible study is one of the few times where this comes in handy as a useful tool. Anything you can add is going to be beneficial if you've actually studied and prayed about the lesson.

We committed and finished Esther, and I'm very proud of everyone sticking with it and staying until the end. I think it went very well, but now we are in the hang of studying a little more and I want to slow it down and do a smaller section of scripture. This scripture is up for more personal interpretation and for you to observe your life and figure out where you need to improve and what things you could be doing as a Godly woman for Christ.

I hope you are looking forward to this one as much as I am. I promise I'll keep this blog more up to date than the other because we won't be doing such a large amount of information at a time. Plus, I'll have my extra time that was spent burning DVDs. God bless everyone who has read this and I hope you keep our ladies group in your prayers that we could learn and grow as God would have us to.