Upon reading my "Bad Girls of the Bible" book the other day, I stumbled upon a most beautiful little encouragement. This is coming from Eve's chapter...the original bad girl ;)

I'm going to start my note with Genesis 2:15 "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."

Eden is often translated as "delight" or, by way of a Persian word, "paradise". This was no ordinary garden people. It was a carefully designed and beautifully executed park of wonderful trees and beautiful flowers, everything we could ever imagine I'm sure, and then some. Such gardens don't maintain themselves; that was Adam's job. Even before the Fall, he was given the task of caring for the garden. It was a cushy gig though, far from hard labor. There weren't any weeds, mosquitos, thorns or grub worms. Adam had everything he needed to be happy in this garden of his; food, water, warmth and shelter. It engaged his senses with all its colors, fragrances, and textures. Not to mention, the sway of the trees and sound of flowing streams were music to his ears. Sounds like Heaven to me!

After giving Adam the one commandment he was not to break, say it with me everybody..."Don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil". Like any good parent, our heavenly father built a hedge of protection around his child to keep his innocence and to keep him from things he just didn't need to know. And of course Adam was obedient, but he was lonely. Leading to my main point...

The Lord says, "it is not suitable for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Genesis 2:18

Was this announcement to give Adam a helper to keep his mind off the forbidden fruit? To help with gardening? Or was it in response to Adam's very human longing for companionship? One commentator (myself included) voted for the last option:"Solitude is not good; man was created for sociability." Even those of us who enjoy our quiet moments begin to get stir crazy. It's a God given drive to connect with other people (hence the popularity of facebook!). Those with very little of that drive are labeled "loners", people with even less are called "hermits" and those with none are put in straightjackets. People need people.

"So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh" Genesis 2:21

And here goes the purpose of my entire story :) ...

Why the rib??

Maybe because the rib isn't exactly a load bearing wall. But I choose to go with the second opinion of the two and completely agree when the author says, "...God wisely chose the bone nearest to the man's heart as a gentle reminder to keep his helpmate close by his side-physically, emotionally, spiritually."

Uh! Steal my heart, what a wonderful way to look at it! When I read that one sentence, it sent my heart a flutter. I love it and just wanted to share. Enjoy!

A Beautiful Role

"The essence of a woman is beauty. She is meant to be the incarnation-our experience in human form-of a captivating God. A God who invites us.

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters...Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the riches of fare. (Isaiah 55:1-2)

Beauty is what the world longs to experience from a woman. We know that. Somewhere deep down, we know it to be true. Most of our shame comes from this knowing and feeling that we have failed here. So listen to this: beauty is an essence that dwells in EVERY woman. It was given to her by God and it was given to you. Surely you would agree that God is nothing if not beautiful. All around us his creation shouts of his beauty. The sound of a brook, a quiet beach, the sun streaming from a billowing cloud. As Sam Weil wrote, 'The beauty of the world is almost the only way by which we can allow God to penetrate us...' Beauty capitvates the senses in order to obtain permission to pass straight to the soul. God has given this beauty to every woman, it is our core. It is who we are and who we long to be and one of the most glorious ways we bear the image of God in a broken and often ugly world."

I just wanted to share this with my sisters this morning. I think it's a beautiful thing that we are the human form of a captivating God. We represent His beauty and mystery. I love to relish in this fact and am so thankful not only for it but that it was shown to me. It makes me feel more beautiful ever to know this ;)

(Eldridge, 131 & 132)

Tamar

Hello everyone! This morning, I read from Tamar's story and would just like to share a little. "Her story has it all: mysterious deaths, deceptive relatives, mistaken identities, hidden babies, even a woman sentenced to burn at the stake!" At one point in my life, it never interested me to pick up my Bible because I thought I'd be bored to death reading about facts and historical figures. No no no, don't be fooled as I was! It is filled to the brim with excitement and intrigue. Her story can be found at the end of Genesis 37, I encourage you to read it for yourself. To sum it up, this poor young woman is married off to Judah's son. Judah was a mean and stubborn old man. Her husband was put to death in his evil ways and she was handed off to his brother (customary of the Levirate tradition) who was also struck dead for the same reason. They were horrible husbands, poor Tamar. After a series of events, not in her favor of course, and over a period of time, she took matters into her own hands. She disguised herself and tricked Judah (the stubborn man, her father-in-law) using her feminine ways to become pregnant with his offspring. And yes, this is a story introduced to me through "Really Bad Girls of the Bible" so bear with me ;) Get to know her and her story before you judge her actions. She was an emotionally abused, grossly ignored woman who'd been through hell and back who was desperate for a child, the child she felt she deserved after everything she'd been through. She was an honorable woman who made one bad decision. But that's the tricky thing about God's grace and master plan, everything happens for a reason friends and when this story comes full circle, a savior is born. Anyway, once he finds out she is pregnant, as his daughter in law and part of his family, he demands she be put to death. But clever Tamar isn't going down so easily. "she sent a message to her father in law. "I am pregnant by the man who owns these," she said. Gen 38:25 You see, she had asked for his seal and staff at the moment of um...how to put this nicely....conception. It was his payment to her. These were items of great importance and identity to the man who owned them at the time and he had given them to her as she had asked (that's what you get Judah!) and finally, for once, Judah did the right thing. When the seal and staff were shown to him, he recognized them and acknowledged them, admitting his wrong doing. In the Bible, he even admits "she is more right than I am". She eventually gave birth to twins, how like God to replace Judah's two sons with twin boys through all of this.

Lesson learned: "The Lord uses her in spite of her sin. That's the hook we hang our hope on, sisters. Not in 'getting it right,' but in knowing that although we get it wrong over and over, consistently, even blatantly, God's power to accomplish his will is not limited to our meager efforts. We are made for one purpose: to worship and glorify God. Our challenge is to stop trying to make things work out for our good and let God work things out for His good and perfect will through us." Which is always in our best interest to begin with, am I right? ;)