He did all things well

I was watching a video this morning about the miracle of Jesus healing the bleeding woman.

As always, I marvelled at the woman's faith and identified with her desperation as she begged for a cure. And as always with Jesus, she was healed and comforted and assured that she was loved and no longer unclean.

Mulling over the scene, I wondered if she had any fears when her normal courses returned. Was she still healed? Was the blood going to stop? And I imagined that each day of her period would be fraught with anxiety as she waited for it to complete its natural course.

Really, she would only be human to detest her monthlies recommencing, taking her back to 12 years of bleeding that made her unclean and an outcast. Surely, she would relive it each time.

I think this woman of faith would have asked herself questions but inevitably would have decided that this was only now the 'way of women' and that the flow would soon abate as in the natural course of events.

Her journey of faith did not end at her healing, but would rekindle every month and cause her to joyfully relive her encounter with Jesus her Healer,  remembering that He did all things well. 

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.  Matthew 9:20-22

Go forth and multiply

I was going through some family photos yesterday and it brought back a lot of memories. One thing in particular made me think. In my younger days there were lots more babies than now.

Over here, there aren't a lot of pregnant women or babies. In fact, a lot of people are fascinated and stare at someone carrying an infant in arms.

Bringing an infant anywhere creates a lot of attention. For the most part, people are fixated on the tiny fingers and rosebud mouths and eyes are on it most of the time. 

For the other part, particularly if the infant is being fussy, people can get annoyed, as if its crying is just to annoy them. They are the ones through whom motherhood is under attack. 

So rare is it to see a baby these days, older women are experiencing baby hunger. It is real and distressing.

As I looked at a photo my then husband had taken of me breast feeding my first child, I was sad to realise that most children don't know that a baby can be fed by its mother. They are quite surprised if they see a child being fed without using a bottle.

Such is the distaste for all things maternal in our society today, some nursing mothers have been asked to leave restaurants and so on for feeding them. 

Like everything else God has said is good, motherhood has been denigrated to a low job that has to be fit into the work schedule and if possible avoided except for the one or two times strictly necessary to procreate and give a woman a sense of accomplishment. Something to be ticked off the To Do List before she finishes her maternity leave.

Having children is a life long commitment and in today's society thanks to feminism, most women either don't want to commit or hand over the reins to child care to  bring up their child.

Without seeing the beauty of motherhood and biblical womanhood, we are doomed to resent pregnancy and training of our children. Feminism's lies have succeeded in blinding women to this and having them prefer to pursue career paths that are outside the home and nursery. Abortion has enabled this as well.

God is pleased when Christian women accept the arrival and nurturing of children and acknowledge that they are indeed a blessing from the LORD.  He created womankind to be a part of His creation and has created us to go forth and multiply.

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: Genesis 49 25

I am not happy about this

I have recently read that the Bible has been republished to be more politically correct and inclusive.

There's never been a more inclusive faith than the Christian faith. Women are loved by our God. There's no need to change the Bible- in fact, it is forbidden that we add or subtract anything from it..

Women hold a very special place in God's Heart. Many feel that He is a misogynist or woman hater, but nothing could be further from the truth.

God knows that women are entrusted with an eternal purpose of life: to serve Him, love their husband and nurture their children. And to be keepers of the home. "Therefore I desire that the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house...' 1 Timothy 5:14c

Jesus in fact respected and loved womankind, and entrusted His first visitation after His resurrection to Mary: a woman.Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.  Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethrenm and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. John 20:16-17

He interceded for the woman who was chided for breaking forth the alabaster jar of precious and expensive ointment, anointing His feet with it and drying them with her hair. It was He Who said that what she had done for Him would be spoken of forever. Love. Respect. Mercy. Grace. (Luke 7:37-50)

Forgiveness and grace were shown to the woman caught in adultery: respect and love from God meant her life was spared. (John 8:3-12)

He created Woman to be loved, to be loving, to be nurturing, to be protected and to be respected. To us He gave to us the ability to bear a child and then to raise it for His glory.  Any man can father a child, but it takes a loving woman to bear and raise it. No small matter. It takes a woman.

God knows that He can entrust women with eternal treasures, that's why He gave us the protection of marriage and the creating and keeping of a home: godly foundations on which to build a new generation of sons and daughters for Him.

Whilst men go to synagogues in Judaism, whilst men go to work and whilst men go to war, it is the women who carry the home, teach the children and bring them up unto Him. A worthy calling.

It is here that God meets with women in the mundane things of life, for He knows that the mundane is of great value, and so is a woman's service. And from love for womankind, comes a God Who meets us where we live: in our kitchen. In our baby's nursery. In the laundry.

To believe that women are forgotten by God is a gross misrepresentation of His love. It is we who keep the home fires burning and keep it all together when the world falls apart. No wonder God loves womankind.

 

To change the Word is a heresy and it implies that God is a misogynistist. Nothing can  be further from the truth. I am not happy about this at all...

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

 

“Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.” Proverbs 31:10