Proverbs 31 Devotional Sneak Peek
Y'all, I can't believe it! In one week, you will be able to read my first published devotional! It is available for pre-order now at this link. Go ahead and get it now, because we will start reading through it together and discussing on Facebook and Instagram next week! Craziness!!! I am so excited to get this into your hands. Today, I wanted to give you a sneak peek of what you can expect in the devotional, so I've shared the introduction with you. Love you friends.
Proverbs 31: A Life of Truth and Grace
Introduction
Trustworthy, kind, good, hardworking, smart, business-minded,
proactive, fit, generous, confident, prepared, crafty, compassionate, wise,
caring, godly, diligent, gentle, meek, strong, faithful, and blessed. These are
the adjectives that I have written in my Bible next to the passage of Scripture
that describes a woman of virtue. Overwhelmed yet?!
When I lived in Mexico, I attended a Calvary Chapel church. Before
I moved to Chihuahua, I had never heard of Calvary Chapel. However, I soon grew
to love this body of believers. Calvary Chapel churches study the Bible verse
by verse. There is something powerful about when we allow Scripture to just be
Scripture and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to us through His word. In this
devotional, we will be looking at Proverbs 31:10-31 verse by verse. I hope and
pray that the Lord uses His word to encourage you and to challenge you. It is
living and active, and when you ask Him to use it to sharpen you, He will most
assuredly do so.
We have heard many myths about the Proverbs 31 woman. Many of us
grew up thinking that she was the perfect woman and had it all, so we might as
well not try to match her success. Does this sound like an attitude the Lord
wants us to have? May it not be so. The Proverbs 31 woman is "an ideal:
a particular example of full-scale virtue and wisdom toward which the
faithful are willing to be molded. It is not expected that any one woman will
look exactly like this in every respect." {ESV Study Bible footnotes}
Sisters, the Lord does not desire for us to strive for an unattainable ideal,
but rather to learn from the characteristics of a woman who sought the Lord
with every fiber of her being.
The first time I studied the Proverbs 31 woman was about ten years
ago. I was a sophomore in high school, and our D-Group (I think that's what we
called it back then) went through a study called Virtuous Reality by
Vicki Courtney that was intended for college women. I remember being so
fascinated with this Proverbs 31 woman, desiring to be made like her and
imagining ideals of my future self while completing the Bible study homework
each week. As I've grown in the last ten years, the Lord has shown me just how
important it is to seek to be found faithful to Him. The Scripture passage in
Proverbs 31 is not a checklist for the woman who wants to be found worthy, but
rather a set of characteristics to embody only through the power of the Holy
Spirit. Let's seek to be known as women who love Him instead of women who take
pride in checking off a list of to-dos. He's worthy of our worship in spite of,
and perhaps because of, our weaknesses.
As you read through each day, you will be prompted to consider and
answer questions that will allow you to think further about that day’s reading.
You will also be encouraged by words from real Proverbs 31 women who just so
happen to be some of my dear friends. I pray you enjoy this study and come to
know Jesus more as a result. He loves you so much and longs to be known by you.
I love you, friend!