Show the way for others, and you will find honor in the kingdom. Matthew 5:19 MSG
As another year of Bible Study begins at my local church I look at myself and feel so unworthy of speaking of God’s Word. I fear I will fail Him.
This led me to look over the second Knit and Crochet Bible Study Book. It is a look at the Proverbs 31 woman.
The class at my church, and I believe many others that host a Knit and Crochet Bible Study, is multi-generational.
Becoming the Proverbs 31 woman is a journey, a road traveled with twists and turns and even a few detours. It is not a journey you need to take alone. Working alongside women of all ages helps us to grow emotionally and spiritually. Titus 2:1 tell us Your job is to speak out on the things that make for sound doctrine. It is my prayer these studies lead you to that sound doctrine.
Then verses 3-5 says Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives.
But the older woman can also learn from the younger. Sitting side by side, many find their lives are woven together through their crafting, through God’s love, through life experiences. With one simple shared gift, knit and crochet, they open a dialog with each other; one that may not have opened in other circumstances.
The Proverbs 31 woman is not born the perfect woman you read about. She grows into that woman through work, friendships, prayer, experience, and learning from others.
Perhaps in your local group you see a woman you look upon as The Proverbs 31 Woman. You admire her emotional strength, her family love, her ability to knit or crochet without even looking at her work. Talk to her. Learn about her life and how she came to this place in her life; the struggles she endured; the losses she has experienced; how she learned to look to God in all things. She is not now the woman she used to be. But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me and not without results.. yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. 1Corinthians 15:10 NLT
Why are we doing all this? Read Titus chapter 2 verses 12 and 13 in the Message. We’re being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now, and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears.
You are a beautiful woman, beauty that radiates from inside. What matters is not your outer appearance-the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes-but your inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. I Peter 3:3-4 MSG
With the passage of time you have grown from youthful vanity to honorable womanhood. Use this time together in the presence of other women to learn how to be obedient to the Lord.
Though I fear failing Him, I continue on, demonstrating God’s love as He allows. He is still working on me to become the woman He desires me to be. I am an older woman to some, who watch me from afar as a witness to demonstrate God’s command. I am also a younger woman to others as I watch them and learn how to walk pleasing to God.
You knit me together in my mother’s womb Psalm 139.13 says. God has not put down his knitting needles yet. There are panels to complete, seaming to be done, a decorative crocheted edging to be added. He is still stitching you and me into a tapestry of life of which we are not even aware.
So, I will continue to knit, to crochet and demonstrate God’s glorious love with those around me. I thank the Lord every day for accepting me as His child and allowing me to speak of His greatness.
Show the way for others, and you will find honor in the kingdom. Matthew 5:19 MSG