Proverbs 31... a real woman?!?!

Here's some of my musings on the Proverbs 31 woman...

So many Christian women are trying to figure out what it means to be “mature.” Often times they will turn to Proverbs 31 to read about the “woman of noble character” and hurriedly run the other way. At first glance the woman in this passage looks like a June Cleaver makeover, but that is not what or who this woman was. June Cleaver is far from the ideal woman. Many have suggested that this poem is simply a picture of wisdom personified and as such it summarizes the whole of Proverbs. However, others have argued that it is a picture of a wise woman of God. Here, as a conclusion to the book of Proverbs, Lady Wisdom is indeed personified and as such gives the readers a concrete example of a wise woman. The standards for Godly wisdom and maturity are beautifully laid out in this poem. If our goal as Christ followers is to become like Christ and true wisdom comes only from God (as the Bible says), then Proverbs 31 “certainly presents a pattern for women who want to develop a life of wisdom." It can be used as the measuring rod for godly maturity, for wisdom. A mature woman is a wise woman. Many women in scripture have exemplified the qualities embodied in this text [Deborah (Judges 4), Ruth, Abigail (1 Samuel 25), Elizabeth and Mary (Luke 1-2)].Today’s women should strive to do no less. I could be wrong, but for now, I'm thoroughly that this woman was real.

The Proverbs 31 woman will look different just about every time you see her, but the same qualities will shine through. We know that the foundation of her life is a healthy fear of the Lord. She is strong, honorable, and virtuous. She knows her worth. She respects her husband and he trusts her. She is strong physically, mentally, and spiritually. She watches her tongue and speaks carefully. She uses her blessings wisely and realizes that she has been blessed to be a blessing. She prepares for the future and has a joyful disposition even in the face of hardship. Finally, she leaves a legacy for others to follow.

God does not expect perfection, but he does expect perseverance. David is heralded as a man after God’s own heart, yet he failed miserably at times. Biblical womanhood is much more than the do’s and dont's of character attributes and outward changes. It’s a matter of the heart. It’s a mindset. A heart set on Christ. The whole bible supports and exemplifies biblical womanhood. A biblical woman is one who seeks Christ first and forsakes all else. All are welcome to join the pursuit. Isaiah 55:1 says “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!”

I have enjoyed my study. It has challenged and stretched my faith and my prayer life. There are many things I need to work on when it comes to being like Christ. The 2 chapter of my thesis will probably turn into a Bible study in the near future. I've been wanting to write my own, perhaps this will be the first. We'll see where the second half of this chapter takes me.

time management

What an easy concept to understand, but such a difficult one to put into practice. You’d think there’s not that much to do in a day. Take care of Marranda; keep the house clean; and do my thesis; keep up with church stuff; read my Bible and pray; and keep my sanity. Really those few things shouldn’t be all that hard to accomplish within a weeks time. I know I can’t do everything every day, but seriously. As I sit in my chair writing this Marranda has created another tornado. There are two basket’s of laundry sitting on the floor in the bedroom and more in the dryer. That pile never ends. The kitchen table has playdough caked on it and the dining room table has all of my thesis books on it. I’m not complaining, I’m just reflecting. Granted, when I get up from my chair in a few minutes I will begin to remedy the situation, but it will all be back in a mater of 24 hours… if I have that long. Some days I do well managing my time others need serious help.
This is all fresh in my mind, because of two reasons. First of all, Marranda woke up screaming before 5 this morning and none of us got back to sleep and have gotten little accomplished today. Second, I just finished a big part of chapter 2 of my thesis that describes the proverbs 31 woman. A big reason she was able to accomplish all that she did was her ability to be efficient and organized; to plan and manage her priorities. I really think that she is the picture of a mature Christian woman. I’ve got more to it than that, but her efficiency is mind boggling and is probably the thing I struggle with the most in that whole passage of scripture.
Well… James is now calling for lunch, so the tornado will have to wait and it’s time to go add to the dishes in the dish washer. …which I really think the proverbs 31 woman would have had, had it been available.

2 things...

We got a new car today. Our car was beginning to make those noises... you know... the ones you hear right before you start to dump all kinds of money into it. So we decided it was time to look for a new car. To make a long story short: we drove and drove and drove on Friday until we were sick of car salesmen. They are an interesting bread... i discovered i don't like dealing with them much. When we got home we found the perfect car on the internet, at least we thought it was perfect, but it was at a dealer in Peoria. So, at 7:30 this morning we took off for Peoria. The car in the picture is not the car that we went to look at. As it turns out, internet prices are not really negotiable at all and all they wanted to give us for our car was $50. We wanted to cry and we left disappointed once again. We found this car in the trading post. It was in peoria so we decided to check it out. I knew that when we needed a car, we would find what we needed, God's pretty cool like that. He never fails and has provided once more. The guy we bought it from was selling it for his mom. His dad died a couple months ago. They are christians and when they found out James was a preacher he offered the car to us for 7000 instead of 8500. Its an 04 chevy impalla with 40,000 miles and in perfect condition. It's a great car. We were very blessed by that family today. It wasn't what we were looking for, but its what we needed, when we needed it. Although, my heart broke for the sweet lady who had to sell her late husbands car. It was hard for her. Once again God used a bad/sad/difficult situation (death) to bless someone else. We were blessed to be the recipients. God is so good.

We also had fun taking Marranda trick or treating tonight in Hudson. Here are a few pics. Sarah was Popeye; Jake was a carpenter; Caleb was tigger; and Marranda was Little Bo Peep. Marranda doesn't like scary things, so we skipped the houses that were making scary noises and went to the nice ones. She had a lot of fun. So did we. Of course we all dug into the candy when we got home. :)

Fall...

Well, fall is definitly here. We have a yard full of leaves and a house full of chaos. It's been about a month since I updated so I thought it would be a good time to do that. Marranda's goin home soon. To make a long story short: We had her first and last dispo hearing a couple of weeks ago. They found her mom fit and when we met later that week to figure out a schedule we talked about a return home date for around December 19th. That's when Marranda gets out of school. We are all ready for this to be over. Marranda's been strugglin lately. She's not eating or sleeping well. She just woke up from her nap crying. We're not sure what all is going through that little girls head. Here's a couple of pictures of Marranda. She's chowin down on some corn on the cob from the apple and pork festival. Her class also took a trip to the firestation.






She's got a visit in an hour with her mom and her sister. James and I have a gift card to J. Bucks so we're going to go on a date. I had an interview with State Farm last Tuesday. We should hear something back from them in a couple weeks. Marranda and I will be in Lincoln for Harvest tomorrow. Next weekend we'll take Marranda up to James parents and hit all the rich folks up for candy so that we can confiscate her plunder. :) My sister's wedding plans are coming along nicely. James will be officiating their wedding on New Year's Eve. Should make for a good New Years Eve party.









I've got corn, pumpkin puree, and applesauce overflowing my freezer. We had free corn, apples and pumpkins given to us, so I made sure to put them to good use. We could really use more freezer space. I've been keeping my eyes out for an upright freezer. James said he doesn't want to break his back for the next ten years digging around in a chest freezer.



I can't believe the holidays are almost here. Crazy times.

boating...

This afternoon we decided to take the boat out one more time before we put it up for the year. We got it going and we got about 300 yards out and the motor died. We sat there for a minute trying to figure out what to do. We eventually got the two oars out and started rowing back to the boat launce. It took us a while but we got there. I really wish we had a picture. I'm sure we were a sight to behold. We loaded the boat by hand and came home. James proceded to mess with the boat and we found out that somehow the gas switch got turned off. We ran out of gas with a full tank right next to the motor. Who'd woulda thunk it. There's a sermon illustration or two in that story. Just thought I'd share our latest boating adventure. I'm glad we got through this one without voices raised and a fight... maybe we're starting to get the hang of this whole married thing. Have a great day.

prayer requests

I have 2 prayer requests: My mom called last night to tell us that my brother and sister-in-law had a miscarriage last night. Shoshannah was about a month and a half or two months along. They weren't trying to get pregnant, but were both very excited about becoming parents. My heart aches for them.

Marranda has been having a hard time lately. Her separation her mom is beginning to take it's toll on her. I think school hasn't helped that. She loves going to school, but I think that it has contributed to her anxiety. James suggested it could be that all the kids at school talk about their mommy's and daddy's. James and I are in agreement that it would be more beneficial for her to go home sooner rather than later. I just pray that Mary has learned what she needs to because of all this. It's gonna be painful and we will miss her; we have learned so much about ourselves and parenting while she has been with us. She has been such a blessing.

thanks for praying

Fall...

Hey Everyone. It's been a while since I've posted so here's an update on...

Me: Well, I turned 27 last month (the 29th). I gotta say I don't feel a whole lot older. I ended up having a good birthday. When I talked to Amy that afternoon, it hadn't been a great day, but it got better. (Amy, Thanks for listening to my rant.) That Wednesday night I had a cyst rupture in the middle of the night and spent Thursday at the Dr's and being sick to my stomach. On Friday James skipped school to work on his sermon which he really wasn't working on. grrrr. We had a meeting about a visitation plan for Marranda. We met up with James parents for some Tobin's pizza later that night. Gotta love Tobin's. That was a pretty long week, but it ended well. The last couple of weeks we've been enjoying the last of our summer freedom. Tonight we kick-off Youth Group. Tuesday night we kick-off women's Bible Study. Wednesday we kick-off Beacon Kidz. We've got a pretty good plan for the fall so we're looking foward to it all getting going. We're still working on the whole getting pregnant thing. Looks like it's not going to be as easy as we had hoped. However, that is not the case for my brother and sister-in-law. They called a couple weeks ago to announce that they were pregnant. We're happy for them. I really can't believe that my brother has reproduced... Lord help that kid. :) My brother's kinda nuts. I'll be getting the proposal for my thesis back tomorrow, then I get to write the second chapter. If they accept my proposal I'll be 20% of the way through the writing process. Yeah!!! It's about time.

James: James started school a couple weeks ago. He's enjoying getting back into the swing of things. This is his last semester of full time school. He'll do his internship here at the church next semester under the supervision of Greg Taylor. He's looking foward to that. He had a good morning this morning. He had a good Sunday School lesson and a really good sermon. I'm proud of him. The last year has been a good, but trying year. We got the truck out after lunch and took a trip to McDonalds for some dessert.

Marranda: Marranda also started school a couple weeks ago. She goes to Douglas Elementary every morning. She get's on the yellow van at 7:30 and get's back around 11:30. She has homework everyday. We have lunch and then she takes a good nap. She loves going to school. The next court date for Mary (mom) is set of October 14th. We'll have a lot of answers as to how long Marranda will be with us after that day. If Mary is found "fit" Marranda will probably be home by December. If not she'll be with us at least through the holidays. I don't know how I feel about all of that. I'm gonna miss her like crazy. We both are.

Well, that should do it for now.