Life continues to be full. RM made it back from his trip, the kids and I kept super busy, the weekend came and went and then we went full on into haying. The summer just brings lots of things to do, but we like it this way.
A quick recap on the women's weekend. Jen Wilkin spoke on 3 different women in the Bible, Sarah, Leah, and Rahab. She gave such an interesting new perspective on each one through her own personal study.
This was something I didn't know about Sarah, she got more space in Scripture than even Mary - 12 chapters in Genesis and then even in the New Testament. She referred to one of my favourite verses in 1 Peter 3:4-6, but especially verse 6, "...as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening." I am a daughter of Sarah. It's the law - I'm not allowed to be afraid of ANYTHING that is frightening. Everything is frightening if you think about it! We can sit here all day and just think of all the things that could happen to us, to our kids, to our husbands, but we can't do that. We are daughters of Sarah! That was one of the key verses that got me on my path to being free from fear.
Earlier on in the verses, Sarah is described as one of the "holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves" with a "meek and quiet spirit". But Jen took us back to Genesis and the whole way through she is not meek and quiet. Beautiful, yes, but not meek and quiet. She gets herself into a lot of hot water actually as she finds out about the promise of a child, but then as the years go by and no promised child appears, she starts to take matters into her own hands, giving her servant to Abraham, then treating the servant badly....she went on and on being a very unkind woman, even using physical force, indicating how bitter she was, hardly meek and quiet.
Eventually she does find out that she will have a child within the year and she gets caught laughing, which she denied. But miracle of all miracles, she does have a baby and life comes out of a dead womb. After this point in Scripture, you don't hear about her anymore until the New Testament. We see no proof of this meek and quiet spirit that is talked about in 1 Peter, so when did that happen? When did the shift take place? How did she go from being a very bitter, harsh woman to one famous for not being afraid of anything or of being this meek and quiet-spirited woman?
Abraham, too. He was also looking for Plan B. He gladly took Hagar in order to have a child - he figured he would have to help God out, just like Sarah thought. Yet Abraham is also remembered in the New Testament for his faith, "being credited it to him as righteousness". Yet he also had no faith, at least not in the early part of Genesis. He kept making plans that would get himself out of trouble. Plans that God had not told him to do, like getting Sarah to lie and say she was his sister. It caused even more problems for them. But then, God asks Abraham to offer his son, Isaac, on the altar and he willingly obeys, going right to the point of lifting the knife above his head to slay him. When did Abraham's shift come? Though there is no record of Sarah's side of that story, we read that Abraham no longer questioned God or looked for Plan B. He had come to believe God's way was the best way. How and when?!
Jen's thoughts, and I fully agree with her......the day of the shift for both of them? The day of Isaac's birth. Where? In the tent. Why is that so clearly the answer? Because on that day, God brought life from death. Abraham and Sarah are literally described in the Bible "as good as dead", past childbearing years. And not just past a little bit, but nearly dead!!!! I've said this before, but God does that so it is CLEARLY a miracle. If she had never had children, but had still been in her 30s or 40s when Isaac was born, people would have still said, "Wow, that's great," but would never have given God the credit. When you are 90 years old, then it is more obvious - God did this.
When God does a miracle, it changes you. I've been changed. I've seen miracles. It created a confidence for Sarah and Abraham that gave them the reputation they have in the New Testament. They could be told, "Go and sacrifice your only son" and be ok with it. They had seen God perform a miracle by bringing life to a dead womb and they knew if God wanted them to sacrifice Isaac, then He could resurrect him. He had brought death to life before, He could do it again. We shouldn't need these miracles, but they are given to us by God to give us faith. That is why she was no longer afraid and that is a big part of the reason why my fears are gone. Satan still sneaks in on me to try to get me fearful, but all I have to do is recall His faithfulness and the miracles I've seen and then the fear disappears. Everytime something came up in Sarah's life after that moment that could have possible challenged her faith, she must have just thought, "No worries, God can handle this. He brought life to my dead womb. I will never forget what He's done for me." Thus, she became a woman known for her meek and quiet spirit and full of faith, not fear.
The really great side of the story which can easily be missed is how long it took for her miracle to happen - 25 years!!!! We're in the middle of trying to finish this debt thing once and for all. I had really hoped it would have happened in the short time frame of 1-3 years. To think I might need to wait 20 plus more years is DEFINITELY not my timeline! I keep thinking, "Plan B, Plan B......surely there's a way to find a Plan B and help God out a bit...." But no, I need to remember there is only Plan A, God's plan. As soon as I start making another way (let's say robbing a bank!), then I immediately step out of God's will. I must remember how God has been faithful all along the way. I've never received a promise, per se, that guarantees we'll get out of debt 100% in my lifetime, but I cling to the passages that speak about debt being bondage and the borrower being "slave to the lender", so I know I must keep a Biblical perspective on debt. That is what keeps us going. It may just take 25 years sadly, but that was Jen's encouragement, we need to remember we don't live in a Disney movie where the plot line always resolves at the end! Sometimes the plot line doesn't resolve.....that isn't what we want to hear.
She also reminded us of Abraham's name and its meaning, "A father of many" and then "a father of a multitude", yet he died with only 1 son (with Sarah), Isaac. His plot didn't end with him seeing what God had promised. That must have been so frustrating! Yet, years later, we are all called children of Abraham, those who call themselves believers. There are millions of us, definitely a multitude. I have to believe that there will be plot resolution for me, but perhaps not in my lifetime. I have to trust God that my children won't fall into the debt trap or my grandchildren, even if I don't see that.
The ultimate plot resolution is when Christ returns. And the other miracle that I must cling to the most is that He has brought life where there was death when I was saved, when my heart was changed. This is also what must keep me full of faith, not of fear.
So that was Sarah, a woman who went from being hardly meek and quiet, hardly a woman of faith, but instead of fear to being known as one of the holy women, full of faith, a meek and quiet spirit and not afraid of anything that is frightening. All because of a baby born in a tent when she was 90. Yeah, that would do it.
I continue to ask God for miracles, to keep my faith strong, to remind me of the miracles that have already happened, but then I also thank Him for the ultimate miracle of His Son being resurrected changing my life. My bank account might not be fully alive, yet, but I am!
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