SCRIPTURAL SISTERS

I never had a real life sister but I have a precious aunt only 7 years my senior that has seemed like an older sister to me most of my life. I have friends that I love as dearly as sisters and many many precious spiritual sisters to whom I am related by the blood of Christ Jesus. Where would we women be without our SISTERS??

I have also come to realize that I have sisters I have met only on the pages of God's Word. We are studying a few of these scriptural sisters from the book of Genesis in Sunday School this month (and next) and I thought it might be fun to blog about them as well.

In our real life relationships we learn from our sisters' examples. Sometimes the examples are good and we learn "because of" what we have seen exemplified. Other times the example might be less than good. What then? Well, then we learn "in spite of" our sister.

Such is the way of learning from our scriptural sisters as well. Sometimes we learn because of their example and sometimes we learn in spite of their example. I don't know about you but I'm SO glad God didn't fill His Word with perfect people whose perfections I could never possibly attain. Instead, the Bible is filled with recounts of flawed people who were loved by a flawless God.

I look at the mistakes some of my scriptural sisters made and see that God didn't give up on them and it assures me He won't give up on me either. I watch as He sovereignly redeems their shortcomings and uses them for their good and His glory and realize He will do that in my life too. As a mother, I have prayed for years that God would allow my children to see His will in their lives in spite of my example as much as He does because of it.

Some of my scriptural sisters are not even called by name in the Bible but instead are referred to as someone's wife or daughter. Does that mean she wasn't important? NO! Her story was important enough that the Holy Spirit moved the men He chose to pen God's Word to include her. That says to me that unnoticed does not mean unimportant. There are times we may feel unnoticed . . . appreciated only because we are someones wife, or mother, or secretary, or assistant. What joy to realize that even if we are unnoticed, we are not unimportant. God has a specific plan and purpose for each of our lives!

The people recorded in God's Word were not plaster saints. They were REAL people. REAL men and REAL women who filled a REAL place in their world . . . and more importantly, they filled a REAL place in God's plan. The women mentioned - our scriptural sisters - were not an afterthought with God. They were not secondary to His plan. They have always played an integral part in God's plan and purposes.

Genesis 1: 27-28 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it...." (emphasis added)

We need to realize that, since the beginning of time, God has had a special purpose in His plan for women to fulfill. We were not an afterthought. We have an integral part to fulfill. There is much we can learn from our scriptural sisters and the stories recorded about them.

Just like you and me, our scriptural sisters' lives were composed of very few great deeds. Rather, they were filled with the commonplace - the little things that still make up life today. Our scriptural sisters were busy with endless housekeeping, laundry, cooking and the multitude of chores that childcare involves. They coped with their emotional lives, their likes and dislikes, and their frustrations and fears just like we must today. They were flesh and blood women with faults, passions and virtues.

The real issues of life have not changed since the time of Genesis. Women today still want to be happy. Women today still want peace in their lives. Women today still struggle to walk consistently in faith. There is much we can learn from our scriptural sisters.

I'm ready to see what a few of my scriptural sisters have to say to me in this new year of 2011. What about you?