A different Kind of Woman... Moses's Mom... Exodus 2:1-10

   " But when she could no longer hide him, she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River."... Exodus 2:3


   As a mom, this story is hard to read. Moses's mom was put in one of the toughest situations that a new mom could face: watch my child die by a soldiers sword or put him in a basket to float to who knows where in the river. Both is those are terrible and hear wrenching options in my opinion, but if there was one to choose, it would be the latter. What a brave and tough thing. What trust in her God that Moses's mom had to have in order to bring herself to the above actions. I try to imagine what guts this would take, and put myself in her situation. 
  Imagine if our Oklahoma government decided that no family was allowed to have any more children, and you had just had another baby. You could watch the government take your baby away, or you could bundle them up in their carrier seat and take them downtown and put them on the train, so be sent to safety who knows where. AND you send your little girl with the baby to watch over him! Your little girl returns to you later that evening to say that the governor's daughter found your baby on the bus and wants you to nurse him until he is old enough to be weened and then you need to give him to HER for forever to be HER child. Ahh! Heart wrenching! Moses's mom was a different kind of woman. 
   Her trust and resolve and bravery is amazing to me, and I can only marvel at it and try to learn from it. And we all know that her bravery paid off, because her son, HER son became one of the most admired men of faith in the Bible. The apple did not fall far from the tree. Moses himself took on some very impressive heroics, but he would have never even had had the chance if it was not for his momma. 
   What a different kind of woman Moses's mother was. Lord please help me to be brave like her. Help me to trust you above all my circumstances, especially when it comes to my children. You have entrusted me as my children's mother, and trusting You with them can be one of the hardest things to do, not because I do not think that You are trustworthy, but honestly I just have a hard time giving up control. Help me to see the bravery in Moses's mom and when You ask me to trust in You to take care of my children, and to loosen what I think is my control. I am their mother, but You are their God. I trust you, please continue to give me grace to Trust You and be brave. 

A Different Kind of Woman... Rebekah... Genesis 24:15-20

^"15 Before he had finished praying, he saw a young woman named Rebekah coming out with her water jug on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, who was the son of Abraham’s brother Nahor and his wife, Milcah. ¹⁶ Rebekah was very beautiful and old enough to be married, but she was still a virgin. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up again. ¹⁷ Running over to her, the servant said, “Please give me a little drink of water from your jug.”

¹⁸ “Yes, my lord,” she answered, “have a drink.” And she quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and gave him a drink. ¹⁹ When she had given him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels, too, until they have had enough to drink.” ²⁰ So she quickly emptied her jug into the watering trough and ran back to the well to draw water for all his camels."

   Rebekah is my woman of the day. I only read the first part of this story, and could not get past just a few simple things that make a big impression on me as a seeker and reader. So, let us dive into what we can learn from Rebekah about being a different kind of woman...

   Someone was praying for Rebekah. They did not know who Rebekah was, they were just praying that the Lord would bring a wife to Isaac. And Rebekah seems to be the one that the Lord had chosen for Isaac. I love all of this so far. I think I am more of a romantic than I would claim to be, but not a romantic as the world sees it, romance set up and blessed by God! That kind of romance is very exciting to me. Probably because it is the kind that I believe that the Lord gave to me when He set up me and my husband to meet. Rebekah found herself, and had no idea, in the middle of being a very clear answer to prayer. 

   I find it so interesting though that Rebekah had an action that she had to take in order to appear to be this answer to prayer. She was not simply to walk out to the well, this servant of Abraham had prayed specifically that the woman take a certain action of servanthood, to give him AND his camel a drink. Now, I have no idea if offering the camel a drink was a common occurrence, but it seemed quite over and above to me! Where do I go over and above my call to servanthood?

   This really hits home with me. As a wife, and mom of three kids most of my time is committed to serving in some capacity. But, what would "over and above" look like on a daily basis? Would that make me a different kind of woman? And to have the seemingly VERY willing attitude of Rebekah as the cherry on top? Well, let me just look at it practically... Giving Abraham's servant was the easy job, the somewhat clean job, but then she chose to continue to the not so clean, and probably not so easy job of giving the camel a drink. What do I do that is somewhat easy and clean? (Laundry, dishes, all those house chores) What could I be doing "over and above" that is not so easy?Maybe...doing all of the chores with a cheerful heart, treating my kids with kindness as much as possible (I imagine that trying to get a camel to drink is probably about as much as biting my tongue during the day would be when it comes to my children :)

   Rebekah was a "over and above" different kind of woman. And for that she was blessed beyond what she probably ever imagined for herself. The Lord used her to be an "answer to prayer" for Isaac and Abraham, AND that servant! How can we look at our every day situations and choose to be a different kind of woman and go over and above the normal call of duty...

   Lord, please help me to see the opportunities in my day as a chance to be a different kind of woman for Your glory. To go over and above what You are asking of me so that I may be an "answer to prayer" to someone hurting, seeking You, or just needing some encouragement. May it be so in me Father, may it be so.