Woman by Design

Designed to Influence: A Woman and Her Testimony

Contents

Introduction...... 3

Section 1—Women with Faith ...... 7 1—Jochebed—Faith During Peril, Poverty and Persecution...... 9 2—Jochebed—Blessed Beyond Belief...... 19 3—Hannah—Faith at the Heart of a Troubled Home. . . . 25 4—Hannah—Satisfaction Instead of Sorrow...... 34 5—Mary—Faith Fosters Obedience...... 43 6—Mary—An Overflowing Heart...... 52 7—The Samaritan Woman—Faith Heals a Troubled Heart ...... 60 8—The Samaritan Woman’s Soul-Winning Words...... 69

Section 2—Women with Influence...... 79 9—Women: Different by Design...... 80 10—Gathering Stones—Building Your Testimony...... 91 11—The Purpose of a Testimony ...... 100 12—The Plan for a Testimony ...... 111 13—The Power of a Testimony...... 125

Cover Image: comstock.com Bogard Press 4605 N. State Line Ave. Texarkana, TX 75503 Fellowship Bible Study Series

Woman by Design Designed to Influence: A Woman and Her Testimony by Angie Peters

Series Editor, Kyle Elkins Editor in Chief, Larry E. Clements

4605 N. State Line Ave. Texarkana, TX 75503

Phone: 1-800-264-2482 www.abaptist.org

1060410

ISBN 0892113561

Printed in the United States of America. Woman by Design

Designed for Influence: A Woman and Her Testimony

Introduction

“Blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord” (Luke 1:45).

Even if you never have memorized a verse of Scripture before, I pray that the passage above will be buried in your heart and poised at the tip of your tongue by the time we’ve finished the next 13 weeks of Bible study together. These words—nestled in Luke’s account of the birth of Christ—first grabbed my attention while I was preparing material to pres- ent at our church’s ladies’ retreat one spring. They have held me captive ever since. What’s the big deal about this line in the passage of the Christmas story that many of us have read over and over times since we were children? I can’t offer a scholarly analy- sis, but I can give you a few reasons why they matter to me. First, notice the three words that open the verse: “Blessed is she.” These words, voiced by Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, to describe Mary, the mother of Jesus, make up one of the few “blessed is” phrases in Scripture addressed specifically to our gender. Open your own Bible and see for yourself: Isn’t it awesome to see the words “blessed is she” in black and white on the pages of Scripture? I don’t mean in any way to take away from the valuable lessons we’re intended to learn from lives of biblical men, but doesn’t reading those words give you a yearning to belong in that category of women who are blessed? They make me want to read on to make sure I am doing what it takes to be included in that group. The next two words, “that believed,” tell me that Mary wasn’t blessed according to whether she knew the Jewish law (which most likely she did). She wasn’t blessed according 3 to whether she lived a trouble-free life (she didn’t). And she wasn’t blessed because she was a “good girl” (she was, but she was human so she sinned like the rest of us). She was blessed simply because she “believed.” That brings us to the second reason this verse took root in my heart: It reminds me that being blessed by God is so possible. I can’t figure out how to retrieve lost files after a computer crash. I don’t know how to have a conflict-free marriage, even after 18 years. Nor can I manage to work all the sinful thoughts and actions out of my life. Success at those endeavors is impossible for me. But being blessed by God—an eternally significant position—is doable, because I can—and do—believe! Finally, the last phrase of Luke 1:45, “for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord,” reminds me of the surety of God’s Word. He presents what He promises, regardless of whether I believe He will; thankfully, His actions don’t hinge on my attitude. As I began to understand that these 21 everyday words, with stunning simplicity, express the assurance that God blesses women who have the faith to believe that He will do what He promises, I realized that this verse was a solid foundation for my part of our ladies’ retreat. So I studied and prayed, prayed and studied, but I didn’t discuss this key verse with our planning team just yet. We didn’t even have a theme for our event at that point and while I felt that Luke 1:45 needed to be at the center of our weekend’s study, my outline was coming up short. I needed more material to fill in some pretty big blanks. Around that time, I attended a conference about the power of words, a topic that sent me researching in another direction: a woman’s testimony. I learned that by design, women are “influencers,” and because of that we have the potential to point untold numbers to Christ. In a roundabout way, I ended up reading one of the most powerful testimonies ever uttered by a woman of influence: the “Magnificat,” or Mary’s song, which is recorded in Luke 1:46-56. It begins right after the verse I had felt led to use as a premise for our retreat. In studying Luke 1:45 I had been on the right road—I had found that we are blessed for believing. I just hadn’t traveled far enough down the road to see the entire picture that God was trying to show me—that when we are blessed we open our 4 mouths to tell others what He has done; we share our testimonies! The realization filled in the blanks of my outline. I was excited about the topic and ready to talk over my ideas with the planning committee so that we could select a theme and coordinate what I would be teaching with our other speaker’s plans. But that’s not the end of the story. You see, before I had a chance to mention the “woman and her testimony” theme to our team, Ann, the other speaker, called me. Almost if she were apologizing, she said, “You know, I keep trying to come up with material to talk about but God just keeps leading me to share my testimony.” Needless to say, I sat at my kitchen table and told her every detail of what had been going on in my studies. We saw this as confirmation that each of us would be presenting exactly what God intended: a close-up look at the intricate relationship between our faith, God’s blessings, and our testimony. (Read Ann’s story on page 104.) About 40 of us spent that spring weekend in the magnifi- cent Arkansas Ozark Mountains learning about the faith of other women, celebrating the blessings God had been show- ering upon each of us, praying, and yes, sharing our testimonies. As you prepare to launch into your women’s group study for the next 13 weeks, consider this as your own invitation to a more in-depth version of that weekend’s materials. This study doesn’t involve much homework, but I do encourage you to begin keeping a journal if you haven’t already started one. While skipping the “Quiet Time” assignments might be tempting—I know how busy we all are!—try to set aside at least 10 or 15 minutes each week to keep yourself from coming up short of material during the final weeks of our study when you will begin shaping your own testimonies. If a beautifully designed blank book from the stationery store will encourage you to be more faithful about journaling, by all means, spring for one! But if you’re like me, and those fancy books intimidate you because you’re afraid you might have to scratch something out, just get a 50-cent spiral notebook from the discount center. That way you can scribble and scratch without a moment’s thought! Whichever you choose, inside the front cover, you might date it and jot down our key verse inside the cover. 5 Our ministry teams’ prayers for those attending the retreat that weekend were the same as my prayers for those of you taking part in this study. I pray that as we study “A Woman and Her Testimony” your belief will be strengthened, your ability to spot God’s blessings will be sharpened, and that as a result, you’ll be eager to seize every chance you get to tell others of the wonderful things He has done for you!

6 SECTION 1 Lessons 1-8

Women with Faith

Section Introduction Look around the next time you’re in church on Sunday morning and take note of some of the women you see. Is any one of those women leading a “perfect” life? Of course not! All of us have troubles, even those who appear to “have it all together.” When I survey my sanctuary, I see one woman whose marriage has just ended. Another one lost her husband to sudden death several years ago. Yet another is in a family that is financially struggling, and one more is grieving the recent loss of her mom, with whom she was very close. Next make a mental list of the lives that are touched—and potentially touched—by each of the women you see. You’ll find that even though these women are affected by troubles, they nonetheless are influencing the lives of countless others. For example, the woman in my church whose marriage has just ended is teaching her children so much about commitment to Christ in the midst of crisis. The woman who was widowed several years ago leads one of our church’s most thriving children’s ministries, and she recently served on the front lines of ministry to another young woman in our church whose husband suddenly died. The one with financial struggles never complains; her positive words in spite of her hardship elevate the attitudes of everyone she meets. And the woman who is working through the grief of losing her mom never passes up a chance to tell friends and neighbors through her words and actions how much it means to her to live in the comfort and light of God’s peace.

When We Believe God’s Promises, We See His Blessings Believing that God will keep His promises—in spite of our troubles and in spite of our circumstances—converts our fear 7 Woman by Design to faith when things get tough. In this section, we’ll benefit from the century-spanning influence of four women of the Bible who believed in God’s promises, and were given all kinds of blessings, including the blessing of having the kind faith that changes lives. Three of these women, like many of us who are mothers, are known as much or more by their children’s names as they are by their own names: • Moses’ mom, Jochebed, a woman whose faith prompted her to take a history-changing step of obedience in the midst of a terrifying and troubled world; • Samuel’s mom, Hannah, whose faith gave her the “peace that surpasses understanding” and the desires of her heart in the midst of a troubled home life; and • Jesus Christ’s mom, Mary, whose faith gave her the ability to submit with serenity to her awesome—yet in many ways troubling—circumstances. The other woman we’ll meet is one we don’t know by her child’s name, but by the place where she met her Savior and ours face to face as she went about her daily chores: • the woman at the well, whose faith sprang from a super- natural healing of her troubled heart.

When We See God’s Blessings, We Tell His Truth! Not only will we look at the faith and subsequent blessings of the four women listed above; we’ll also look at the testimonies they shared and left behind to turn countless hearts toward God. May your study of these believing women strengthen your faith and more finely focus your spiritual vision so that you may better see God’s work in your life—and so you’ll be ready to give your testimony every chance you get!

8 1

Jochebed

Faith During Peril, Poverty and Persecution

“The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: What can man do to me?” Psalm 118:6

Talk about troubles! Peril, poverty, and persecution best describe the circumstances one Hebrew woman, her family, and other Hebrew families faced as a nation enslaved by the Egyptians. Join me in taking a close-up look at her world for the next few moments.

Jochebed Jochebed, whom we find in Exodus 2:1-10; 6:20 and Numbers 26:59, lived around 1525 B.C. Her name, pronounced “JAH-kuh-bed,” means “Yahweh is glory.”

Jochebed’s Challenges Jochebed lived in peril simply because of who she was: a Hebrew in Egypt. Danger and hardships were part of her everyday existence.

An Evil Authority We read that just before this young Levite woman married and started her family, a new Pharaoh had risen to power in the flourishing nation of Egypt. This ruler feared that the

9 Woman by Design growing population of Israel spelled trouble for his kingdom. He said: “Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land” (Ex. 1:10).

Hard Labor Pharaoh’s wise idea for dealing with the Israelites involved organizing them into gangs, placing them under the supervi- sion of taskmasters, and putting them to work building cities. The nation that had enjoyed privilege and plenty in Egypt under Joseph’s influence centuries before was now required to do the filthy, grueling work of digging up mud and making bricks: “Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses” (v. 11). While Pharaoh was heaping trouble and persecution onto the Israelites, however, the Israelites were reaping the God- promised blessings of a baby boom. That made Pharaoh angry, prompting him to fiercer measures. He required that they work harder and harder every day: “The Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour” (vv. 13-14).

A Deadly Decree Next Pharaoh tried to stunt the growth of the Hebrew population explosion by issuing a dramatic decree. He summoned the Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah and ordered them to kill all the baby boys they were called to help deliver. This plan didn’t succeed, however, because the midwives were God-fearing women who refused to murder the male infants. When the king demanded to know why, they said that they weren’t being called to the delivery room in time. Because of their faith, God “dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, then he gave them houses” (vv. 20-21). 10 Jochebed Then Pharaoh really became upset. He intensified his orders, saying, “Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river…” (v. 22). He took the responsibility for murdering the babies off of the midwives and placed the shocking and formi- dable task into the hands of the families themselves.

Jochebed’s Choices

Now that we’ve become familiar with the troubled world in which Jochebed was living, we’re in a better position to understand the significance of her actions in the subsequent verses.

A Marriage with a Firm Foundation The headlines of Jochebed’s day don’t appear to have set a very pleasant backdrop for a wedding day. Many people wait for “just the right time” to get married. Especially during times of political oppression or economic instability, many couples might be inclined to hold off on marriage “until things get a little better.” Yet at the beginning of Exodus 2, we read of two people of faith who were stepping to the rhythm of life regardless of the world conditions at the time: “There went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi” (Ex. 2:1). We learn later in Scripture the name of this man— Amram—and this woman—Jochebed. We also learn later in Scripture one important fact about this couple: They were faithful. We know this because they landed a place of honor in the Hebrews “hall of fame” (see Hebrews 11:1, 23). It’s important to note that the kind of faith this pair must have demonstrated in order to earn this Hebrews “honorable” mention was uncommon during their time. In fact, Ezekiel gives us a vivid snapshot of the disturbing nature of the reli- gious landscape of the day: “Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt” (Ezek. 20:7-8). Most of the Israelites had left their God behind; they had fallen into apostasy and were worshiping idols alongside the

11 Woman by Design Egyptians. Jochebed and Amram must have truly felt like “strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Heb. 11:13).

Living as Strangers Do the world conditions of Jochebed’s ancient day strike a chord familiar in today’s world? Let’s start with apostasy, which simply means “falling away” from faith. Does this nation appear to have “fallen away” from the faith? Much of our population does indeed seem to have tossed out tra- ditional Christian values and taken up the guidelines of a conveniently revised, less restrictive Bible, if it follows any guidebook at all. What about idol worship? I can think of many “idols” that draw our time and resources away from the Lord. Work, com- puters, television, sports, and the constant pursuit of “more” and “better” come to mind immediately. Then there are other, less conspicuous idols. For example, don’t our kids become “idols” when we focus every ounce of our energy and attention on them and allow them to become our main priority? Even service in the church can become an “idol” when it takes pre- cedence over the priorities God has ordered for our lives. As God’s people living in the midst of the many signals of declining spiritual morality, how different we must remain from the “Egypt” around us! We must speak differently, make different decisions, spend our time and money in different ways, and use different guidelines for raising our kids. These differences might make it tough for us to fit in with those we live around and work with. But knowing that we’re heading in the opposite direction than the rest of an increasingly unsettled world gives us reason to be at peace, because it means we’re headed in exactly the direction God is leading. James reminds us that it’s only when we start blending with the world around us that we should start being concerned: “…know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with 12 Jochebed God? whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4)? I pray my family and yours will stand out more conspicu- ously than ever before in the coming days!

A Godly, Growing Family God truly blessed this couple for being faithful to Him! We read in Exodus 2:2 that “the woman conceived, and bare a son.” Against the shadow of death, apostasy, and oppression, we see the bright silhouette of a family of God that was flourishing. What an unlikely combination of joy and fear must have gone through Jochebed’s mind when she realized her family was growing by yet another child! • Joy: Since children are indeed blessings from the Lord, this pregnancy was yet another indication of God’s love and care for her and her family. She already had expe- rienced the joy of having and building a relationship of love and trust with her daughter, Miriam, and therefore knew the indescribably wonderful privilege and pleasure of bringing a new life into the family. • Fear: The baby that Jochebed was carrying could be a boy and would therefore have to be drowned in the Nile as had many of her friends’ and relatives’ infant sons. She had seen firsthand the anguish—it’s likely she her- self had tenderly wiped away the tears of grief-stricken friends—and we can imagine her thinking, as we might, that she wasn’t sure how she would survive such a trial. The conditions under which Jochebed married and started a family seem shocking when we consider the enslavement, danger and evil that were running rampant around her. But society today isn’t all that different: Satan, the “prince of this world,” still reigns and perhaps none of us saw it illustrated more vividly than when we watched news coverage of the horrific events of September 11, 2001. 13 Woman by Design Yet, thankfully, God continues to bless this dark world with the light of His goodness. Just as Jochebed’s family was prospering in spite of the atrocities of terror of the world in which she lived, many American families were celebrating new life on a day that will forever be etched in our memories as one defined by death.

Susanna Cancassi Wife, mother, editor Following 41 weeks of a problematic pregnancy, my mid- wife scheduled an induction for the following week. For 200 some-odd days I wondered who my baby would look like, what her hair and eye color would be, whether she’d like me … Naturally, everything had to be perfect when she came into the world, from a nursery decorated with stuffed-animal representatives of every species Noah loaded into the ark to a “coming-home” outfit that would, we found out later, match her sapphire-blue eyes. I took charge of every detail of my daughter’s birth, making sure that my precious baby would be born under perfect conditions. Before my husband and I headed to the hospital, I took one final look around the house. I expected to be home in 24 hours. But sometimes things don’t work out the way we think they will. Even though I had done everything in my power and I had taken care of all the practical preparations surrounding the delivery of my daughter, I had no control over what was going on outside of my birthing room. My induction was scheduled for Tuesday, September 11, 2001. On the day I was laying in bed, waiting for my precious baby, 3,000 people were viciously slaughtered. My dad is a New York police officer. I thank God he was visiting me when this atrocity took place. I am a native New Yorker whose office window had afforded one of the most 14 Jochebed breathtaking views imaginable of the New York City skyline. My husband and I just kept rattling off names to each other: “I wonder if so-and-so was there.” Each of us knew so many people who worked in or around the World Trade Center. Such incredible devastation left me feeling guilty to be standing on the threshold of one of the most important moments in my life. How could I be happy when there was a gaping hole in the sky and a madman who hated us on the loose? We watched the news that entire day. I didn’t have my baby, Mikayla Rose, until the wee morning hours of the 12th. When I saw her face, and realized that she was healthy and beautiful, God really gave me peace that even though I had this eerie, end-of-the-world feeling, He was still bringing life into this world.

A Mother’s Discernment Of course we all think our own babies, or our own nieces and nephews, or our own grandbabies are adorable. From that first glimpse of their tiny, wriggling bodies, we fall madly in love. They are simply the most beautiful babies in the world! But in this instance, most commentaries note that the phrase in Exodus 2:2—“she saw him that he was a goodly child”— means more than that the baby wasn’t wrinkled and red like most others. The phrase suggests that Jochebed recognized that this child was set apart by God for a special purpose. Indeed, he was. In growing up to become the deliverer of his people, he would also give us a foreshadowing of what was to come in Christ, our Savior. Jochebed’s perception of how God viewed her son gives us two clues about her character. We can safely assume that: 1. She was so close to her Lord that she could see her son through God’s eyes. 2. She was so observant of her son that she recognized the traits in him that were pleasing to God. What an example for those of us who are moms! To “train up a child in the way he should go” (Prov. 22:6) requires us to 15 Woman by Design be close to God by immersing ourselves in His Word (through Bible study) and by pursuing His presence (through prayer) so that we can see our kids through His eyes. It also calls for us to have an up-close and personal relationship with our kids.

Dramatic Disobedience We know that Jochebed was a woman who was living out a life of faith. But we’ve come to the point in her story when we see her do what many call “putting feet” to that faith: “she hid him for three months” (Ex. 2:2). Given the choice of whether to obey the Pharaoh’s decree—kill her son—or to fol- low the prompting of God—save her son’s life by keeping him hidden—she chose life. (We read those three words uttered by the tiny boy himself decades later when, as a grown man and mighty leader, he urged his people to “choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him” [Deut. 30:19-20]).

Patiently Waiting We may not be able to identify as closely with the persecution and turbulence of Jochebed’s day as we can with her more down-to-earth dilemma: Waiting for the next word of instruction from God. What patience Jochebed must have been developing as she waited for God to show her the next step in His plan! The days she spent cloistered away with baby Moses were likely long ones, full of mixed emotions as she washed her tiny son’s soiled clothes in secret and never took an eye off the doorway for fear she and her baby would be discovered. God may not have given her an instant solution during that time of uncertainty as to what might happen next, but He did give her precious time with her son that other Hebrew moms weren’t allowed to have. Surely that blessing from God helped sustain her faith until the moment she heard that 16 Jochebed stronger-than-ever cry, the one signaling that it was no longer possible to keep the infant’s presence a secret. Those hearty wails were God’s way of letting her know what He wanted her to do next.

Letting Go Any mom who has sent her firstborn off to kindergarten or to college has had a very small taste of Jochebed’s next expe- rience. We read that “when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink” (Ex. 2:3). It was time for Jochebed to let go. Storing up the sweet memories of the time she had been given with her son, she carefully crafted a vessel to comfort and protect her baby, then she laid him in it and let go. The faith that lifted Jochebed’s hand off of that little boat after she had placed her son snugly inside must have been the kind of faith that, years earlier, had allowed Abraham to place his son Isaac on the altar and the kind that enabled Hannah, years later, to take her son Samuel to be raised in the temple. Letting go of our kids—or of anyone else whom we deeply love—and giving them totally over to God’s control takes, many times, all the faith that any of us can muster.

Check off some of the challenges Jochebed faced that parallel some of the challenges you’ve faced in your own life:

• Jochebed’s Challenges ___ She lived under political oppression. ___ She married under less-than-ideal circumstances. ___ She feared for the life of her child. ___ She disobeyed an earthly authority in order to obey God. ___ She let go of her child into a situation of uncertainty. 17 Woman by Design • Jochebed’s Choices Now put a checkmark beside some of the choices Jochebed made that are similar to ones you might have made in the past. ___ She remained close to God when those around her were falling into apostasy and idol worship. ___ She obeyed God’s directions which, at the time, must have seemed a plan doomed to failure. ___ She refused to give in to the apparent hopelessness of the situation. ___ She used the resources God gave her to do the best she could under the circumstances.

• Look up and read Psalm 91. List all the promises of God that you find included in that Psalm: ______

• If Jochebed had been able to read that Psalm, what promises of God might she have believed—and clung to—as a woman of faith in her situation? • What are some of God’s promises in that Psalm that mean the most to you?

Select one of the following topics as a starter for an entry in your journal: • God’s promises to me • Being a “stranger” in this world • Letting go • Taking a step of faith