My Shoes...

“...Just curse God and die!”

Talk about setting your future on a couple of words! This is the story of how five words not only marred my image possibly forever but also took me on a journey I did not expect.

Listen, I know you might not want to hear what I have to say but I DO have a story. I know the picture my infamous words painted of me were ugly but for one minute... just a sec.... take off your comfortable, judgmental shoes and slip on mine.

The day that changed my life forever started as a normal day; laughter waffling through our compounds as my children prepared for the day. Today was a special day; my eldest son was throwing a huge feast for his siblings and although my husband Job had innumerable servants, I was never one to leave anything to do with my children in their hands. I love being a helpmeet to my husband; I truly do, but there was just something extra special about being a mother. The God of my husband had blessed me with 10 beautiful children; 7 boys who were my joy and 3 beautiful girls who were my laughter. Rather than spend my mornings tending our sheep, camels and thousands of other animals, my husband’s wealth provided servants and allowed me to spend my days with my children.

My Children...My greatest joy.

With my children all prepared and off to the feast, a certain quiet descended on the compound. It was a sweet silence and I immediately released a breath of relief. With them gone, I could finally take a step back and relax. I was going to nap for a while and then go see what Job was up too. After I was rested and preparing lunch, I saw man on a horse, visibly in a hurry rush into our compound and in a blink of an eye my life changed.

... “a messenger arrived at Job's home with this news: "Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you." While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: "The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep and all the shepherds. I am the only one who escaped to tell you." While he was still speaking, a third messenger arrived with this news: "Three bands of Chaldean raiders have stolen your camels and killed your servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell you." While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: "Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother's home. Suddenly, a powerful wind swept in from the wilderness and hit the house on all sides. The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."

I was numb! It had to be a cruel joke; my daughters, beautiful and graceful were dead? On my hands, I could still smell the olive oil I had brushed into their hair and the shea butter I has smoothed onto their feet. No, this couldn’t be happening! My sons, tall and brave; spitting images of their father...dead? No! I could not...would not... believe this. I waited for Job’s reaction; actually picked up a rock with the hope that as Job slapped this servant for his cruel joke, I would stone him simultaneously for his outrageous boldness. It was when I saw my husband stand up with a wild almost feral scream of grief, ripping his robe in shreds that I felt it and knew in my heart that it was true. In one day, my life evaporated. As the grief rocked me, the last thing I remember seeing before slipping into the merciful darkness of unconsciousness was my husband’s head covered in blood as he used a jagged piece of a gourd he just smashed to shave his hair off.

To be continued...


(c)Inthemidstofher

Nothing Shall Be Impossible...

There are redeemed Eves ready to crush the head of the serpent;

Widows of Zarephath's waiting for breakthroughs;

Mrs Manoahs dealing with a wayward Samson;

Sarahs and Hannahs waiting for their Isaac and Samuels;

Ruths waiting for their Boaz;

Rahabs trusting for acceptance and redemption;

Deborahs facing a world of men;

Abigails dealing with shrewed husbands;

Leahs unloved and second bests;

Marys who are impossibly pregnant;

And as with these women and many more;

let me assure that

with God NOTHING shall be impossible...NOTHING.

"And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord." Luke 1:45

The Most Misunderstood Woman in the Bible

Here's an interesting article you might want to leave your thoughts on after reading.

Her name was never revealed and yet she may be the most infamous woman in the Bible. Augustine labeled her "the devil's accomplice." Calvin called her "a diabolical fury."

And the contemporary understanding of Job's wife hasn't improved on Calvin or Augustine. It's difficult to find a book or sermon treatment of the life of Job that doesn't include the usual condemnations toward his wife. It has become a standard joke to pity Job, as if his wife was yet another cross God called this man to bear.

If the Proverbs 31 woman represents a model of Christian virtue, the wife of Job occupies the role of least desirable, sharing space in the Hall of Shame with the likes of Jezebel,Delilah, and Michal.

But is this image an honest assessment of her character? Or is there a possibility that in our rush to empathize and identify with Job, we've rushed to cast judgment on his wife?

What We Forget

I wonder if there isn't a gap in our understanding of the Job story. Although clearly Job is the main character, he is not the only one. She may not have been the primary subject of the cosmic argument between God and Satan (1:6-11; 2:1-4), but she was still caught in the crossfire. You might argue that every hardship endured by Job was similarly felt by his wife:

She watched her children die (Job 1:13-19). Ten times God had blessed her womb. Ten times she endured the joy and pain of childbirth. Ten lives nurtured to love, honor, and respect Jehovah. From the account in the first chapter of Job, this appears to be a fun-loving, God-fearing, tight-knit family. Who was the heartbeat of this home? Likely Job's wife played a part in that. It's unlikely he could be such an esteemed man in society (Job 1:1) if his wife was not an integral and influential leader in her own right.

Imagine the grief that overwhelmed her soul as she looked down in disbelief at ten freshly dug graves.

She experienced dramatic financial loss. The Bible describes Job as a wealthy man, perhaps the richest in the world (Job 1:3). Undoubtedly his wife was accustomed to a lifestyle of luxury and comfort. I imagine her home was adorned with the finest furnishings, her clothes spun from the most expensive threads. Her children likely had everything they needed.

In one really bad day, she lost it all. All their wealth, property, and way of life (Job 1:13-22). She was not only bankrupt, but homeless, forced to beg outside the city dump.

She became a caretaker for her disease-ravaged husband. Although Old Testament scholars don't agree on the nature of Job's illness, clearly his pain was so excruciating, he asked God to take his life (Job 3). It distorted Job's appearance so dramatically that his closest friends could barely recognize him and when they approached, fell to the ground in pity (Job 2:12). This last temptation brought by Satan was so severe, it nearly broke Job's soul. Every day Job spent at the ragged edge of death, only experiencing momentary relief brought by the heat of the burn piles and the scrape of pottery shards.

While we weep with Job, we miss the faithful, steady presence of his wife. She put aside her own grief to stay care for her husband. Imagine the exhausting drain, caring for a suffering soul like Job. Imagine the loud howls of agony, hour after hour, day after day. Imagine the one you love walking the thin line of sanity, suffering excruciating, debilitating pain.

Job's wife continued this mission of mercy without the resources of a helpful support network, without any financial resources, without relief. Their children were gone, their friends and family scattered, her God seemingly absent.

Words of Despair

And we come back to those seemingly bitter words of resignation, the only recorded words of Job's wife in the entire story. Words shared at the lowest point of her life.

"Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die" (Job 2:9, ESV). These are tough words that appear to reflect a heart bitter and angry toward God. This is where most commentators pounce, accusing Job's wife of collusion with the Devil to force her husband to do exactly what the Devil predicted Job would do: give up on God. Many question her faith, wondering if perhaps her faith in Jehovah wasn't real.

I find both scenarios difficult to believe. Every human has moments, words, thoughts we'd love to have back, shared in the crucible of a crushing trial. Imagine if those words were recorded in history for everyone to dissect and analyze.

Clearly God chose to record her thoughts in Scripture, yet sometimes I wonder how fair it is to define an entire life based on one conversation. Nowhere before or after this incident are we given any indication that Job's wife was a perpetually bitter, unhappy wife.

And perhaps her advice to Job wasn't born out of her own misery, but out of compassion. Day after day, she witnessed her husband live out his days in utter agony, no relief in sight. Maybe she was seeking the most compassionate way out for Job. Curse God, pull the plug, and get it over with. Perhaps she longed to see an end to Job's suffering, a painless journey to the sweet relief of heaven. This is certainly something Job himself desired of the Lord.

It's not uncommon to find raw, honest, expressions of grief spilled on the pages of the Bible. Yet we celebrate David, Moses, Jeremiah, and even Job as being authentic and honest, but heap judgment on Job's wife for similar expressions.

A Husband's Response

Job's response is fascinating. He carefully listens and watches his beloved wife shrink under the weight of their shared hardships.

I imagine Job lifts his blistered hand and strokes her hair. At first, his words read like a harsh rebuke: "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:10, ESV).

Yet, if you listen to Job, you almost hear admiration. "You speak as one of the foolish women." He didn't say his wife was foolish. He didn't even say her words were foolish. He said, "She sounds like one of the foolish women."

In other words, "You don't sound like yourself." You might read these words like this:Sweetheart, that's not you talking. This doesn't sound like the woman of God I know and married. That is not you talking, my wife. Let's remember God's promises. Let's remember his goodness.

Such a far cry from the ringing condemnation she's received in the centuries since. Job knew his wife's suffering was just as acute as his. In fact, seeing the pain in her eyes may have added to Job's great suffering.

It's likely she was in a state of shock. Sudden loss has a way of clouding our judgment, distorting our view of reality and of God. Often those living in the thick of tragedy make contradictory statements about faith and life. Today we might even conclude Job's wife suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Apparently Job's words were the balm his wife needed to soothe her soul, because she isn't heard from again in the remaining chapters of the story.

What Does God Think?

Curiously, while authors, commentators, and pastors all rush to judge her, God is silent. The Scriptures don't record specific words of blessing for Job's wife like they do for Job (Job 1:8).

Yet we don't find divine rebuke either. Surely, if God was displeased with her, he would have expressed it. He didn't hesitate to rebuke Job's friends (Job 42:7-9).

All we know of God's treatment of Job's wife is how he blessed her after the trial was over. She shared in the doubling of their wealth (Job 42:10). She had the privilege of giving birth to ten more children, whom the Scriptures declared the most beautiful in all of the land (Job 42:12-15). And it's likely she shared in the many more fruitful years of her husband's life. The Scriptures say that Job lived long enough to see four generations of his offspring (Job 42:16).

A Model of Endurance

So what can we learn from Job's wife today? Perhaps her greatest testimony is her simple presence during her husband's lowest moments. At the end of Job, we read that his siblings and friends returned and "consoled and comforted him because of all the trials the LORD had brought against him" (Job 42:11). It's easy and safe to show compassion after the fact, but during Job's lowest moments, they were nowhere to be found.

Yet every single day, there was his wife, caring, loving, and enduring the trials Satan inflicted.

The trials that would split many marriages didn't split Job and his wife. They stuck it out together. And at the end of this story, we read of them conceiving and raising another ten children.

Was her attitude perfect throughout the storm that engulfed her family? No. Did she say things she would later regret? Absolutely.

But through it all, she endured, her faith in God remained intact, and maybe, just maybe, her service to her husband should be held up as a model of biblical character.

Daniel Darling is the senior pastor of Gages Lake Bible Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He is the author of Teen People of the Bible, Crash Course, and iFaith. He and his wife, Angela, have two daughters and a son. www.danieldarling.com.

Eve's Curse and Your Love Life.

(Warning! This is not a hard and fast character piece but I pray it blesses the 'Faith Dames' family because I see that many of us are still living 'under this curse'.)

There was a season in my life when I had major beef with Adam and Eve. Especially with Eve. And then when I got through vexing with Eve, I faced God. I could not understand his curses over her at all. I mean I could see how making childbirth tough was a punishment (I mean I have survived three after all and women of God, labour is a serious punishment!) but I just could not understand the second part of God's curse over Eve. Listen:

'....Yet, you will long for your husband and he will rule over you' (Genesis 3: 16b)

How is that a curse? Who else was Eve meant to long for? I would ask myself. Another version says 'your desire will be for your husband'. I did not get it. Who else was she meant to desire? I pondered. How was this a punishment? Was God trying to be funny? Ladies, he was not. Trust me. Let me explain.

You see God answered all my pondering in a way I could never forget. He used my own life, my own relationship with my mgm to show me just how horrible a curse this was. For a long time, my husband was my 'god'. I wanted to be ALL that he wanted me to be. Do all that he wanted me to do and act in all the ways he thought I should act. His every wish was my command. Did it make ours the best marriage in the world. Not one bit. For only God deserves that kind of obeisance. And then to make matters worse, I felt that since I was doing ALL that to make him happy, he in turn HAD to make me happy by loving me more than life itself. I mean, here I was doing all these things to make you happy so why are you not loving me like I want. Why don't you want to stay home with me? You put your work, your ambition, your desire to excel above me! Why do you keep hurting me like this? Why don't you get me? I feel so insignificant in your life. Why don't you talk to me like I want? In short, WHY oh why do I still feel so lonely. I long for you to be here with me making me happy!!!!

What was going on?

Your Papa Adam and Mama Eve ate the apple! That's what! And the perfect relationship we were meant to have as men and women went up in flames as the pieces of chomped up apple went down their throats. You see, pre-apple eating, Adam and Eve had a wonderful relationship with God. Their relevance, significance and value was not tied up in each other. No, it was tied up in who they were, INDIVIDUALLY, in God. And because Adam and Even knew who they were in God, they were able to relate with each other in loving, peaceful harmony. Post-apple Adam was busy sweating, too busy ploughing the ground to have time for his wife and Eve was catapulted into a period of longing.

So do you see now how come God condemning Eve to a life long quest of 'longing for her husband' could be a curse? It's because our desire is not meant to be for any man. Our desire, our longing is meant to be for God. Yes, you got it. God is meant to be the object of our longing. It is God that gives us relevance, significance and value. Only God. So if you are single and you still believe that you are not complete because you are not yet married, you are living under Eve's curse. If you are married and are still in a situation where every single comment or action from your mgm causes you to sink into a blue flunk  and think that all life is lost (I used to be like that), then you might tell me that God is the controller of your life but you lie. Your hubby is still your 'god'. No man should have that much power over you as to control  or drive the way you view your God-given life.

What am I trying to say in all of this. I think Mama Eve has done her own damage. We should let it stop with us. God has placed a divine vacuum in our hearts as women that ONLY He can fill. Until we do that, until we give our lives to Christ for real and make God the object of our desires, we will continue to have issues in our relationships. Like I said, I learnt all of this the hard way. You don't have to. Love God first with all your heart and then let your love for your husband or husband-to-be flow out from that love. Only God can complete you. Only God's love in you can help you love your hubby deeply. Unconditionally. Like He loves you.

And do you realise something about Eve's story. She had no name BEFORE the fall. She was just 'The Woman'. Adam named her AFTER the curses fell.....He named her Eve and guess what Eve means? Life. For she was to be the mother of every living person. Do you know what that says to me? I don't know but without being overly 'spiri' about it all, I just think it means if we have been doing it all wrong up until TODAY. If you have been making some man your God. If you have been seeking your relevance, significance or value from some man. If you have been seeking to fill that hole in your heart trying to please man rather than God Or if you have just been 'eating apples' in disobedience to God.......TODAY, you can drop the apples and turn to God in repentance. He will fix you and his LIFE will burst forth in and over you.

Yes, inspite of this curse, if each of us women take our relationships with God back to the pre-apple eating era in the Garden of Eden, where God was numero uno, then we too can enjoy loving, peaceful and harmonious relationships.

(c)Desperate Naija Woman

Women Who Followed Jesus: Mary Magdalene,Joanna,Susanna and many others)

As narrated by Mary Magdalene:




Our eyes have known no rest since the night he was taken from us. Sombre,sick and drained we've been,unable to taste good food,staring into the day wondering if he'd return on the third day as he said.


Reminiscing on his life and times, I beg to remember how we served tables,supplied bread for the journey, sewed quilt,polished sandals and hemmed robes for long journeys we embarked on with the Master. ‎​​We volunteered to serve him sacrificing family time and giving our all for the master's use.


I remember how in one word, he cast out evil spirits from us delivering us from all our troubles. He taught us to pray in His will,revealing deep truths about His kingdom. ‎​​We enjoyed reclining at His feet, going on long road crusades,‎​​meeting in homes to share fellowship, breaking bread, and all what not.
He taught us love in a manner we never knew-including loving our enemies-;he simplified the gospel and "unclogged" our hearts of old traditions and legalism. It's with him we learned that we are no longer captive but FREE indeed.


I ​​​am Mary Magdalene, the one whom he cast out seven demons from and my friends Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's business manager, Susanna and many others decided to minister to him from our own resources ensuring he had a daily supply of food,etc.


I chuckle as I share one of out of the many life changing incidents which make ‎​​me love and miss Him more. One day,our friend and master honoured an invitation of a Pharisee living with leprosy. While eating,a certain immoral and "bad-reputed" woman came in and walked straight to the master. Many indignant people who knew her lifestyle murmured,snarled at her and looked down at her in utter disgust. But this rather thick skinned woman,obviously unperturbed by the sneers and disgruntled looks, fell at the master's feet while we looked on.


Silence filled the room as she began caressing,kissing and pouring her tears on his feet. In her right hand was a beautiful perfume and with her left hand, she let down her hair breaking the jar containing a sweet smelling perfume on his feet. She extravagantly poured it upon his feet intermittently caressing,tenderly kissing,massaging and wiping his feet with her hair. 


She wiped the dust from his feet, unashamed of carrying the master's dust upon her most treasured thing; she soothed and soiled his feet at every moment with her tears longing for his approval over man's. She may have presumed that being around Jesus at such a time could guarantee her salvation hence taking undue advantage,lavishing on him her best ‎​gift of love. She preferred to stay at His feet until she won a pat from him.


My heart pumped afraid the master might hush her away for soiling his heel with her tears and greasing his body with some expensive"worldly"perfume and permanently grabbing his legs like she was up to some seductive moves. Rather,the Master watched her intently uttering not a word,but the over-ambitious holier-than-thou Pharisee called him a self acclaimed prophet who entertains devious sinners like this unrepentant immoral, social outcast, notorious, brash,crude(need I reel out more adjectives)...woman. I giggled at his use of adjectives,fixing my gaze upon her every move. I could not judge her since a fortnight ago,our master healed ‎​​me of several diseases no physician could cure.


Afterwards,the master told a story to the "sanctimonious" Pharisee called Simon. He spoke on a certain lender who had two debtors owing five hundred and fifty denarii respectively but had no means to pay. He waived the debt and let them go then he asked him;


"Now which of them will love him more? Simon answered, The one, for whom he forgave and cancelled more. And the master said to him, You have decided correctly."


Then turning to the woman, He said to him, Do you see this woman? When I came into your house, you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss, but she from the moment I came in has not ceased to kiss My feet tenderly. You did not anoint My head with cheap, ordinary oil, but she has anointed My feet with costly, rare perfume. This day, her sins, many as they are, are forgiven her,because she has loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little. And He said to her, Your sins are forgiven young lady. Your faith has saved you; go in peace and be free from all the distress that are experienced as a result of sin."


He forgave her while others grumbled at his authority to forgive sins. He forgave with no ceremonial rites or unnecessary paraphernalia. One word granted the once notorious sinner a place with the Master. He became her Master and friend by one act of genuine undiluted show of brokenness and love for a Master she never knew but only heard of.


Still caught up in those thoughts, I started my trip to the tomb with spices we (Salome, Mary the mother of James and others)had prepared for his body. He-the Master- had promised that on the third day being today,he'd rise again and I curiously want to be the first to touch him.


At wee hours of the ‎morning, dark clouds yet to unveil the dawn, I approached the tomb and found the stone rolled away from the door. Startled I was wondering who would roll off such a big stone knowing that none of the disciples had come here - apparently devastated by his sudden death and perhaps remorseful by their betrayal,snuggled up in one room unable to look anyone(especially we the women who stood by till we got to the foot of Golgotha where he was crucified) in the face. With my heart racing like an oversped car, I tip toed into the tomb and peered in seeing " no dead body",I dashed back to alert the disciples.


It was a mixed feeling of despair and fear while narrating to them how the Master's body had been stolen. Peter and John joined ‎​​me to the tomb again to confirm my story. ‎​​We found his linen but the burial napkin used to wrap his head was also missing. At that point John believed the scripture which said; "He must rise again".Then they left ‎​​me there sobbing and waiting to find my personal friend, Lord and master.


As I looked into the tomb again,I saw two angels sitting at the head and foot of his burial place. And they said to ‎​​me,"Woman, why are you sobbing? I replied choked with tears, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him."
As I turned away from them,I was greeted by a man supposing he was the gardener, he asked the same question as the two angels wondering who I was looking for. But this time I confronted him saying; "Sir, if you carried Him away from here, tell me where you have put Him and I will take Him away."


I did not recognise who stood before ‎​​me, though this "gardener" looked radiant and translated from the man I knew and lived with. Then he called my name, Mary! Recognising his voice, I screamed with joy; "Rabboni"(meaning Master or Teacher) and ran to embrace him. But he said;"Do not cling to Me for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to your brethren and tell them, I am ascending to My Father and YOUR FATHER, and to My God and YOUR GOD."


With endless ever increasing joy,I skipped like a deer eager to break the news to the disciples that I had seen the Lord and how he said these things to ‎​​me.


Jesus revealed himself first to a once sin-ridden and demonic woman like me, gave ‎​​me the WORD and the greatest news of all time for all to share for many generations to come. He ascended and gave us all a place with Him- as co-heirs with the Father. He ascended,giving us authority over all things; he ascended handing us the higher life and giving us leeway to the Father. He ascended by the power of His name.
Hallelujah!


(References: Luke 7,8 and John 20)
(c) Enobong