Godly Women

I've been preparing for Ruthie's Bridal shower devotion.  My sister Tonya is doing two parts and I'm doing two parts.  We divided it up into the word "wife", Tonya doing W and F and I'm doing I and E.  So I've been going over it again and again, saying it in the shower, as I'm drying my hair and whenever I'm alone.  Of course, this makes me conscious of how I'm doing as a wife in those areas.  How convicting this has been!  I realize my failures as I become more aware of it.  This morning I was reading from a book and I found it so challenging and encouraging!  It's about the life of Sarah Edwards.  I thought it was neat, she's from New Haven, CT the very town I was born in :)   Sarah married Jonathan Edwards, a Pastor.  Jonathan seemed like a "difficult" man to be married to at times,, kind of moody.  Yet, Sarah decided to meet his needs even in his moodiness and the difficult times of marriage.  They lived in the 1700's when the conveniences of life weren't available.  Johnathan and Sarah had 11 children!  This is a part taken from the book," In our centrally-heated houses, it's difficult to imagine the tasks that were Sarah's to do or delegate: breaking ice to haul water, bringing in firewood and tending the fire, cooking and packing lunches for visiting travelers, making the family's clothing (from sheep shearing through spinning and weaving to sewing), growing and preserving produce, making brooms, doing laundry, tending babies and nursing illnesses, making candles, feeding poultry, overseeing butchering, teaching the boys whatever they didn't learn at school, and seeing that the girls learned homemaking creativity. And that was only a fraction of Sarah's responsibilities.  Once when Sarah was out of town and Johnathan was in charge, he wrote most desperately, 'We have been without you almost as long as we know how to be.' " 

The book says this about Sarah, "She had an excellent way of governing her children; she know how to make them regard and obey her cheerfully, without loud angry words, much less heavy blows... If any correction was necessary, she did not administer it in a passion; and when she had occasion to reprove  and rebuke she would do it in few words, without warmth and noise...   Her system of discipline was begun at a very early age and it was her rule to resist the first, as well as every subsequent exhibition of temper or disobedience in the child... wisely reflecting that until a child will obey his parents he can never be brought to obey God."

Sarah often had guests in her home, as the pastor's home was viewed as a welcoming overnight place.  Sarah seemed like an incredible servant for the Lord!  As a result, all of her children and many generations after were productive citizens and influential in the community.  Many of the guests that came into their home, went on to serve the Lord as a result of Sarah's encouragement! 

I haven't finished the book but the few pages I've read so far have been such an encouragement to me and challenge to me to be a more selfless wife,, giving more to him and not my selfishness!   And realize the importance my life has on the boys the Lord has given us!   I'm thankful for the Godly women from the past who stuck it out and used their surrendered life ALL for the Savior!