Today's Word of Encouragement

WOMANHOOD RESTORED
Sunday, April 10, 2020

    Her children rise up and bless her; her husband also, and he praises her, saying: "Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all" (Proverbs 31:28-29).

    The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew text) says it this way, “Her mercy raises up her children, and they grow rich, and her husband praises her. Many are the daughters who have done bravely, but you have raised yourself above them all together.”
    An honorable woman who has command of her own spirit, who loves the Lord with all her heart, who is industrious and never idle, who is uncompromising regarding the principles of God’s Word - such a woman is a rare find. She is of inestimable and unspeakable value to the home. The man who has such a wife will show her great kindness and respect. The child who has such a mother will ‘rise up’ (be stirred up; motivated) to emulate her in his/her own life. Together they will bless God for her.
    Such a woman is almost unheard of in the Old Testament. But Jesus changed all that. He elevated the status of the woman that she might occupy and adorn her rightful estate as a wife and a mother of a household.

    “Youth fades, love droops, and the leaves of friendship fall, but a mother’s secret hope outlives them all” (Oliver Wendell Holmes).

    May the Lord bless all who have invested their lives into us as faithful, loving, and compassionate mothers.

Pastor Martin