Book Club Thursday- Chapter 5

This chapter covered my absolute favorite passage of Scripture, Proverbs 31:10-31. When I was blogging on Yahoo 360, I did a series based on Proverbs 31, so needless to say, I was very interested to see what Miss Joyce (as I refer to her when Addie and I sit down to watch her daily program) had to say. It was very insightful since she approached certain passage from angles I had never heard of. Don't forget to check out Kristi's blog to read her insights. As always, Miss Joyce's words are printed in bold type.

The woman in question is such a famous confident woman and yet her name is not mentioned. I am certain this is because God wants each woman to be able to insert her name in this woman's story. Okay, Ladies, be honest. As much as we all admire Mrs. Proverbs 31, she can be a bit intimidating. She is amazing! She does it all! However, I never thought about the reason behind her name not being given. Now I realize that this passage is a mother describing to her son the kind of woman he should be looking for, but isn't it wonderful that God in His love and mercy has given us each the opportunity to have our name inserted here? As a young girl growing up, Mrs. Proverbs 31 was the woman that my mother taught us to be like. We even memorized the entire passage over a period of 21 weeks when we were teenage girls. Why? Because when we went about our daily chores, my mother wanted us to remember the kind of woman that belonged in a palace. A hard worker, a go-getter, a sewer, a gardener (my least favorite aspect of this passage), a shopper (with integrity!), a loving wife and mother, a cook, and an honorable woman. She is still the woman (besides my own mother) that I try every day to model myself to be like. Do I fall short of my aim? Oh, yes. But am I discouraged by it? Absolutely not! I just get up the next day and try a little harder with God's help. It is a process and an adventure, and I absolutely love both.

She also has a plan for the day. Have a plan and work your plan. If we do what we can do, God will always do what we cannot do. Okay, you know I loved this phrase. Having a plan is so important to accomplishing your day to day and long term goals.

I want to encourage you to take charge of your life. A great confidence booster is to feel that you are doing with your life what you know you should be doing, rather than wasting it being disorganized and vague. I absolutely love the version of the passage the Joyce included in this section. I am going to repeat it here. It really needs no further explanation. I think she uses the Life Application Version.

Ephesians 5:14-17 Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise [sensible, intelligent people]. Making the very most of the time[buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil. Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is.

She considers her present duties and is careful not to neglect them by taking on new ones. In other words she seriously thinks about what she is about to do and does not act emotionally without forethought. A sure way to lose your confidence is to have so much to do that you are not doing any of it well. I believe that being fruitful makes one confident. Everyone has the same amount of it (time) and yet some do so many things with theirs while others do nothing. One of my pet peeves is when people tell me that I have too much time on my hands because of all of the things I do throughout my day, from chores to things I enjoy doing. It is not a matter of having too much time, it is a matter of how you use the time that God has given you. By taking care of responsibilities and not procrastinating, you have more time to do other things. This is something I learned from my mother. She never sat still! She was always doing something and people were always amazed with how much she managed to do in short periods of time. For example, in one summer, she redecorated our former church's nursery, school office, church office, and pastor's office, plus she still had dinner on the table for Dad and Faye, house cleaned, laundry done, and her garden was amazing (I did not inherit her green thumb)! How? Because she took advantage of every second that God gave her.

When people are doing something better than we are, we should not reject them- we should be smart enough to learn from them. Another thing I learned from my mother, if you see someone with a gift, learn from them. When we were younger, a woman in our church knew how to bake the most amazing bread. Mom asked her if she would be willing to teach the three of us (Mom, Faye, and me) how to make bread. We need to be humble enough to recognize the gifts in others and then have a teachable spirit to learn from them.

One of the things you can do as a confident woman is apply the blood of Jesus Christ by faith to your household. On a daily basis, we need to pray for our homes, marriages, spouses, children, and families. We live in an evil world, and the blood of Jesus is the only true source of protection that we have.

Make a decision to be the kind of wife that will cause others to believe your husband is blessed because he has you. This is my daily goal. Do you remember when you were first married (those of you who are married)? Oh, you were so excited to do special little things for your husband! We need to make sure that we continue to do the special little things for our spouses. Sometimes those little things show just how much they are loved and needed. And our husbands need to know that we appreciate them for more than just the paycheck they bring home every week. They need to know that they are loved for the men that God has made them to be.

As I said before, I loved this chapter. If you haven't read it before or haven't read it in a long time, I would encourage you to read Proverbs 31:10-31. And don't forget to insert your name in the blanks!