You are a woman of virtue...

Yes. You are a woman of virtue.

Nowadays when I think about the women in the bible, I do not think about them like someone who is distant and unreachable.

She is you and I. 
Happy International Women's Day

I see them as women who were a part of the hall of faith in Hebrews 11 not because they had no challenges but because in spite of the challenges they faced in their world, they still became great women of faith loved and supported by the Lord. 

I see Mary

She was a young girl pregnant out of wedlock. Let's face it, men who scorn women who are pregnant out of wedlock did not start today, They were still there in her world double daring her to fulfill the purpose of God for her life. She did not birth Jesus because it was something handed to her on a platter of gold. There were challenges that came along with fulfilling the purpose of God for her life and she did it. It was not perfect but it helped God bring salvation to the earth.

I see Esther

She was an orphan with no parents and an older cousin Mordecai. Together they lived in Persia among the heathen. Isreal was on punishment from the Lord at the time. She could have decided that serving God was no longer worth it, after all, were they not all under punishment being ruled over by Persia. What benefits could possibly come from serving the Lord? Against all odds, Esther serves the Lord and when it comes time for King Xerxes, a wicked and influential king by the way (who may not have been handsome or very entertaining), Esther was chosen from a thousand girls and eventually did what needed to be done to preserve Israel when wicked Haman arose to destroy the Israelites.

I see Rahab

No one knows what it feels like to be wanted at night so passionately and ignored by day by all of society more than a prostitute. What must it feel like to be wanted for your body and your beauty? She must have been loved by some and hated by many. On the one hand, she has the power of her beauty, men will love her and do whatever she says. On the other hand, women will hate her for the same beauty. With a life of vanity in front of her, Rahab saw her chance when it came and chose to save the two spies believing that Jericho would be destroyed and the God of Israel would rescue his people. She made the right choice to follow the God of Israel. She fulfilled the purpose of God for her life when the opportunity came to her.

I see Bathsheba

She was a woman married to a good man and coveted by another good man. In greed, one killed the other and created a great deal of confusion in Israel. The latter man was King David. When the time came, she saw that her purpose was to raise the next King of Isreal. In spite of the complications created, God caused all things to work for her good. Eventually, her son Solomon became one of the wisest kings in the world, and certainly one of the richest.

I see Abigail

She is married to a fool. The bible says this in explicit terms. How can a woman stay with a fool? She fulfills the purpose of God for her life and prevents David from fighting his personal battle instead of fighting the Lord's battle as he had always done. She is eventually saved from the fool when he dies at night. Whether for fear of David or because the Lord kills him, no one knows. She eventually marries David.

I see the woman at the well

I have often seen women talk about how people treat them because they are divorced. some people think someone who has been divorced once has more value than someone who has been divorced many times. I am grateful that the bible says that the woman was divorced six times and living with a seventh man. She knew how to pick them. What is more amazing is that Jesus believes that this woman is worthy of the water of life. The water that gives eternal life was offered to a woman with six husbands. what exactly did Jesus say to her to make her turn? With the biases in the church of who deserves this and who does not deserve what, the scripture in John is very instructive, that worth is not determined by what you have done or what you have not done.

I see Junia

She is a female apostle in the early church. I can imagine the kind of biases that she must have gone through and how the first thing that people do is not to value the word being shared or preached but to challenge the vessel from whom the word comes. I do not understand how the most important thing is the vessel bringing the word and not the word itself that is being preached in places that others may not be able to reach. Many men to date still argue that Junia is a man. In John 2 when John greets her, he says the word "she". I am not really interested in convincing whoever does not believe but it is sad where the emphasis is placed.

I see Chloe

Chloe is a beautiful woman who lends her house to the church. People, men, and women come to her house not for political gatherings but for a chance to bask in the presence of the Lord there and have beautiful worship where the Lord gives preeminence. 
In John 1 or 3, John greets the church that meets in the house of Chloe.

There are many more

There are many more women to admire, there is Deborah and Jael. There is Phoebe and Abigail, the mother-in-law of Peter. My favorite has always been Lydia because she was a woman who did business and contributed to the furtherance of the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus. 

There are so many women in the bible and they were ordinary like you and I and sometimes had challenges. 

They had faith in the midst of these challenges that caused them to overcome and become women of faith, who were in the hall of faith.

Do not distance them from yourself. They are just like you and I./ What will make us special is the God who will stand and back the faith that we will have in Him even in our seeming ordinariness.

So I say, Happy International Women's Day. 

Your challenges will not stop you. By faith in God and the help of the Holy Spirit, you will overcome those challenges and make it into God's hall of faith. 

Dear Woman of Faith, keep believing!