Women Teaching Women

The Bible does not address infertile women directly; rather, as we have seen, there are general truths that apply to any believer in any hardship. But there are examples of would-be parents scattered throughout the Bible’s pages, and from these beautiful women of faith, we can learn much of how to respond to the difficulty of childlessness. I encourage you to spend time this week reading these passages from God’s Word and considering these lessons. 1. Hannah: A Prayer with Pure Motives  (1 Samuel 1-2) Of all the examples of infertility, Hannah stands out with godliness at every turn. Like us, Hannah received no promise or prophecy of a child, and thus had no room to assume that God would provide her a child. Let’s learn what we can from her. Hannah had a hard life; whatever the social stigma of barrenness, she had a deeper thorn in her flesh than that. In her own home, where many can hope to find comfort, Hannah received provocation, irritation, and affliction from her husband’s ot...

Has your husband ever disappointed you? Oh, my dear friend, I know what a silly question that is. Well, how about this: How recently has it been since your husband last disappointed you? Well, not that long ago…. Unfortunately, I am too easily disappointed by the man to whom I gave my heart. Holidays like Valentine’s Day can be effective catalysts for feeling that our men have failed to do something for us… again. Why do we struggle with this sense that everything is not the way it should be? Selfishness In our flesh, that is, before we knew God and whenever we fail to rely on His Spirit, we are selfish. We really want to be loved, but we don’t want to put in the effort to love . Fellow wife, if you look at the advertisements and messages, Valentine’s Day is a test, set up to see if our husbands love us in a very generic, spoon-fed way. And we eat it up. And they often fail. Many marriages—even solid, Christian marriages!—are treated as a see-saw. One day,...

Ever since I was a little girl watching "Fiddler on the Roof", I have loved Hodel, the middle daughter, and her devoted spirit. Her key song, "Far from the Home I Love", has always given me tears, but now that I am married, it means much more to me than an emotional movie plot element. The lyrics paint a genuine picture of what God wrote in Genesis 2:24: Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. So, what wisdom does Hodel share about "leaving and cleaving"?  1. It's unforeseen "Who could see that a man would come who would change the course of my dreams?" We don't know the future, but we know a God who does. Whether I feel that I've missed the boat or jumped on the wrong one, accept that His timing is right. 2. It's life-changing "A man... who would change the course of my dreams.... Other dreams grow dim." Whatever I was...