proverbs31-woman.com

Mother’s Day is coming round once again.  Is this something you look forward to, or something you dread?  Do you have a mother you look up to or resent? Do you have children who look up to you or, for some reason, dislike you?

For my own part, Mother’s Day is tinged with both sadness and happiness. I have 4 lovely daughters that I get to spend time with and usually get spoilt over lunch or dinner and with lovely gifts.  But I lost a son 33 years ago whom has never gotten to know me as his mother, at least not here on earth.  A step-daughter we lost over 3 years ago.  And a mother that has disappointed me in a way that I could never have imagined would happen.  Although I don’t think it was through any fault of her own but rather my father’s actions.  And when you’ve been married to a man as long as she has been married to my father (55 years), I can fully expect she needs to support him but sadly it means we are no longer the friends we used to be.

What does Mother’s Day mean to you? If you go to church, what kind of message would you like to hear shared on that special day?  And how has the passage on the Proverbs 31 Woman spoken to you? I’d love to hear about it.

I know with the new publication of Footprints Australia magazine I’ll gain new visitors to this site, so I just wanted to say hi to you all. While I did write to this site regularly for many, many months, I now only write to it on occasion, when our Lord gives me a new insight to something to share on this topic.  However, if you have any questions, or thoughts, that might open a discussion or lead to a new post, please feel free to contact me via this site or the comments section and I would be happy to do something about it.

It’s been a few months since I last wrote here.  My husband is healing but still has a way to go. It’s been just over 8 months since his accident and we’ve been told it could be 12-18 months after the accident before he’s at 95% recovery.  He still suffers a lot of pain and remains on pain killers. Some days are better than others but he is working fulltime, although mostly from home. And he has adjusted to it and actually likes working at home now.  Some years ago when he tore his achilles tendon he hated being stuck at home, even though he was working – he wanted to be in the city.  Things change 🙂

I had an accident last month while out bushwalking. I won’t rewrite the whole thing here but if you’re interested in the details, you can read about it at my photography blog, since I was out doing photography when it happened.

I’m now nursing a broken leg and will be on crutches till 1st February when I have to go back and see the surgeon. I spent 8 days in hospital and had to have surgery to have a rod and screws put into my leg.  Consequently my poor husband has had to look after me, the household, meals and the cats – when he struggles to look after himself some days.  What was supposed to be 3 weeks of Christmas holiday leave turned out to be a time of being a Carer for me.  He’s done a wonderful job but he hasn’t had to do it all himself.  And the reason why is because we have a support network of family, friends, neighbours and our church family.  Between them we’ve had shopping done, especially before Christmas, Christmas presents wrapped, the house cleaned, cooked meals provided, errands run, my business mail picked up, and support and prayer.  Without these people we would have been in a far worse state and my husband probably wouldn’t have coped.

Why have I brought this up? A friend on Facebook recently posted about the challenges she is having with her family of boys. One is nearing his teen years. She’s been a widow for a few years now and is struggling to manage her family and finds it a real challenge and very tiring. I asked her if she had contacted her local church and asked for help. Her response was that there are others with worse problems than her and she didn’t want to bother them. I told her she was wrong and that the church will only know there’s a problem and she needs help – if she tells them.

We are often told that God is concerned about every single detail in our lives and that He wants us to bring those concerns to Him.  Likewise I think it’s important we reach out to His people because who is better equipped to help us and be there for us, if not God’s people?

A Proverbs 31 Woman, in most cases, has a man, her husband, to look after her and care for her. But what about those who are widows or without their husbands for some reason? While she will still watch over the affairs of her household (verse 27) she is still very much someone who needs to be looked after.  In the Bible we’re encouraged to look out for widows and orphans – but if you don’t know they have a need, it’s unlikely you’ll be helping them.

If you know a widow (or widower), especially one with young children, why not check on them regularly?  Particularly if they don’t have other family close by.  Unfortunately today so many are separated from their extended family members and are often hundreds of miles away. They’ll be appreciative of adult company and conversation and may not feel they can ask for help – so why not offer it anyway?  And if they say ‘no’, keep in touch – they may just feel that they can’t ask or accept, even when they are in need.

As mentioned recently, my husband has been in hospital for many weeks.  I was anxious for his return home, just as he was.  We missed one another very much – I was lonely at home, and he was missing everything that home represented. Funny, but home seemed so empty with his absence, although in normal circumstances he’s only here at night time, most of the time. He’s away at work Monday-Friday and on weekends usually on mountain bike rides (the cause of the accident) or trail building or out with his mate.  He’ll be home in the evenings and we go to church together on Sunday mornings. Sometimes we go out for dinner, visit family together, or have family meals here.

Well I’m pleased to say he came home last Friday and we were both elated.  Home seems so different now and we talked about how we’ll never take one another for granted again.  There was so much we both missed and never realised just how much we would miss each other and our normal life together.

In the short time he’s been home he has begun being able to do things he could not do while at the hospital.  All part of the healing process but with a difference. Here at home it feels so different (for him) and the healing seems quicker.  Perhaps it’s because the time is more filled with things and it goes faster, perhaps it’s because he’s doing different but every day normal things to what he was doing in the hospital.  I do believe there is something else in it though – love.  I was thinking about what has transpired in the past 72 hours and it’s been filled with love.

Love here at home, love at our church, love from our family and friends.  It hit me – that there is healing in love.

When you read through the verses in Proverbs 31:10-31 you will find that everything the Proverbs 31 Woman does is covered in love.  She brings her husband good, not harm, all the days of her life…. she provides food for her family… she watches over the affairs of her household and so it continues.

When you think further on through the bible though you are reminded of a love that is larger, much larger, and the promise of healing for all.  John 3:16  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…  Yes, there is healing in love.