What can we learn from childless women in the Bible? Here we look at Hannah’s story and learn the power of being honest with our emotions, to count our blessings as well as acknowledging out pain, and a reminder to trust God as he knows the ending to our story.
Rachel is another example of a childless or barren women in the Bible. In her story we see how jealousy can consume and overwhelm a relationship.
We often want what we don’t have. Leah was desperate for the love of her husband, and Rachel was desperate for children. They both grumbled and complained and were envious of each other.
There are at least 6 stories of barren women in the Bible. This is the first in a series where I review what key takeaways we can learn from other barren women and from God.
We can very easily equate blessings with a sign of God’s favour and difficulties as a sign of his displeasure. When I was praying about this last weekend a friend said, “Helen, you’re chosen, not punished. Whatever my purpose is God has chosen me and he is with me every step of the way, and I am grateful for that.
Have you ever felt betrayed by God? Let down by him? Felt like he has forgotten you or is ignoring you? I’ve been there. Can we trust God? Is God trustworthy? How do we heal from betrayal? This is my story.
I had all but given up hope for my squash seedlings, so imagine my surprise when they kept sprouting everywhere! I was left with more than my garden could contain. What a reminder to me, that God can take our dried up, dead and discarded dreams, and breathe life into them.
When I started this journey, I actually started with a focus on fruit. Fruit for me represented many things, but especially my desire to see fruit of my womb.
Now that has changed.
Once I had not only established roots, but also started some great disciplines, like regularly reading my Bible, journalling and quiet times alone, I was impatient for the fruit. But I quickly realized that I needed to abide. I needed to take time to just rest in God’s presence. To get to know him better. To be sustained in him. To abide.
It hit me that you don’t get fruit if your roots aren’t healthy. So I focused on putting down deep roots with Jesus. The more rooted in Christ I became, the more I started to hear the word “abide”, so this is the first of a three-part blog: Roots – Abide – Fruit.
A faithful friend said to me that she felt God was asking me to bury my desire for children. Did burying my dreams mean planting them, nurturing them and seeing fruit, or did it mean burying and mourning them?