-A Woman Who Fears the Lord-
Whenever I end a journal, I leave a quote in the back which I saw reflected throughout it... and whenever I begin a new journal, I pray about a quote to leave in the front. When I started my current journal on February 28th, I neglected to find a quote in which to begin that really spoke to my heart; but recently, in flipping through old notebooks, I found one. This is the true lady of true beauty, truly Proverbs 31; truly Titus 2;
Truly~ the lady I pray to be.
And so, I wrote it in the front of my journal for this season:
"They say there is a lady in New Haven who is beloved of that Great Being who made and rules the world.
They say that He fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that hardly cares for anything except to meditate on Him. If you present all the world to her, with the richest of its treasures, she disregards it. She is unmindful of any pain or affliction.
She has a singular purity in her affections.
You could not persuade her to compromise her True Love even if you would give her all the world.
She possesses a wonderful sweetness, calmness, and kindness to those around her.
She will sometimes go about from place to place, singing sweetly.
She seems to be always full of joy and pleasure, and no one knows exactly why.
She loves to be alone walking in the fields and groves, and seems to have Someone invisible always conversing with her..."
//Jonathan Edwards on his wife, Sara Edwards//
At last week's on-site Capstone for the third of three Leadership Courses, I met a woman (my facilitator's wife) who fits this description, and was so blessed to have a Q&A with her.
Two of the questions asked were ones I was curious about, but hadn't gotten a chance to submit.
First, how did you practice leadership as a single and married woman? And secondly, what have you been learning in Scripture through which you currently see G-d working through your life?
I wrote as quickly as I could as she told us, in her soft-spoken, accented voice: Pursue G-d with all your heart. Follow the visions He gives you.
Soak up His love like a sponge; discover what His love looks and feels like... and then squeeze that sponge on those around you."
I smiled to myself as I listened to this. "L-rd, let me be a sponge," I prayed, and tears of such... oh, wonder of this principle filled my eyes.
Let me be a sponge.
We often, I think, think of serving G-d, but asking the question how we can be like Him causes us to reflect Him in our servant-hood as young ladies.
Knowing who G-d is emotionally reflects into everything in your life. Everything you know and do depends on how you know G-d.
Just as with Mary and Martha.. there's the time to be sent out... but then, oh, friends- there's the time to be a woman who fears the L-rd. And in order to be a woman who fears the L-rd... we have to sit at the feet of Jesus. We have to rest in His arms, truly.
I wish I could be more poetic. Or more... something, especially after my little hiatus. But this is something else.
In all of those sessions at the Capstone in Colorado... I almost believe this short session was among the ones that I will consistently remember throughout my life. Because... it was real. The other ones, while truthfully were real and honest and beautiful... this one was... alive. I could take each piece of wisdom shared, and apply it to my own life, present and future.
While I do have my own plans, which I know G-d has planted in my heart... I want to be open. And in all this life, if I complete none of those but to be a woman who fears the L-rd, as what the world considers wildly strange, a stay-at-home mother, as one who soaks up His light and love... my life would be complete.
We often, I think, think of serving G-d, but asking the question how we can be like Him causes us to reflect Him in our servant-hood as young ladies.
Knowing who G-d is emotionally reflects into everything in your life. Everything you know and do depends on how you know G-d.
Just as with Mary and Martha.. there's the time to be sent out... but then, oh, friends- there's the time to be a woman who fears the L-rd. And in order to be a woman who fears the L-rd... we have to sit at the feet of Jesus. We have to rest in His arms, truly.
I wish I could be more poetic. Or more... something, especially after my little hiatus. But this is something else.
In all of those sessions at the Capstone in Colorado... I almost believe this short session was among the ones that I will consistently remember throughout my life. Because... it was real. The other ones, while truthfully were real and honest and beautiful... this one was... alive. I could take each piece of wisdom shared, and apply it to my own life, present and future.
While I do have my own plans, which I know G-d has planted in my heart... I want to be open. And in all this life, if I complete none of those but to be a woman who fears the L-rd, as what the world considers wildly strange, a stay-at-home mother, as one who soaks up His light and love... my life would be complete.
