Hello Beautiful Sisters,
I don’t know about you ladies, but I’ve certainly had moments in my life where I felt inadequate for the task that was before me. I felt to “too”…young, different, shy, unknowledgeable about a certain topic, you name it! But yesterday I was reading through Luke Chapter 7-8 and was so encouraged because I found women who could have easily fallen into the trap of “too” but instead they were bold brave women who were desperate for and dedicated to God. And because of that, despite their past and shortcomings, God was able to use them in mighty ways!
In chapter 7, we see Jesus eating when a Pharisee, when in comes a woman who “lived a sinful life.” the Bible says she “found out” that Jesus was there, so she surely wasn’t invited to come, and because of the emphasis on her life being sinful, I imagine the welcome committee wasn’t there when she arrived. However, this sinful woman didn’t allow her stigma, reputation, her hang-ups, her past, and her sin keep her from pursuing Jesus and showering him with her love and affection. She became undignified and she washed the Lord’s feet with her tears and hair, kisses him, and pour out her perfume on him. Her faith was so notable that Jesus used her, a sinful woman, as an example among distinguished “religious” men. And because of her boldness to come to Jesus and her great faith in him she was set free!
Luke 7:44-47
44 Then, turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “You see this woman, don’t you? I came into your house. You didn’t wash my feet. But she has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. 45 You didn’t give me a kiss. But ever since I came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You didn’t put any olive oil on my head. But she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 That’s why I’m telling you that her many sins have been forgiven. Her great love proves that. But whoever receives little forgiveness loves very little.”
Just a few sentences later we see more amazing women!
Mary, Joanna, and Susanna dealt with serious challenges! These women wrestled with evil spirits and illnesses. But they had all experienced great restoration and not only became dedicated followers of Jesus, but they also helped to fund his ministry!
Luke 8: 2-4
2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
How easy it would have been for these women to be so focused on who they used to be or the struggles they had to overcome that they would have missed the opportunity to literally walk with Jesus and use their own resources to support him and his disciples!!!
My take away was simple, but a truth we can sometimes know in our minds but unknowingly reject in our hearts: it doesn’t matter who you were, what you did, what you had to overcome, and what you feel you lack. If you are desperate for God and bold enough to show up where he is to pour out your love on him, if you follow him and embrace what he wants to do in your life, he will use you in great and mighty ways.
Oh the God we serve!!!!
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