Some of you guys may be familiar with my testimony. I’ve shared before but for those of you who are not, I was saved at the age of 25 in vacation Bible school when I had taken my daughter. When my husband and I joined that church, I didn’t really get plugged in as far as being discipled. I had other women from that church who would encourage me to help out with vacation Bible school, Upward cheer and the basketball programs, and teaching one of the elementary Sunday school classes. What I didn’t have was another godly woman – either my age or older – to actually sit down with me and go through the Bible and help me understand it, study it, and apply it to my life. Sometimes, we are really good (as churches) to develop and promote programs and reach out to the community; but when it comes to discipleship, we really drop the ball. Discipleship is good for you at all stages and seasons of your salvation, whether it’s brand new or whether you’ve been saved for 20 years.
Maybe you’re a new believer in Christ or maybe you have been saved for quite some time and you don’t have a godly woman to come alongside you to meet with you and study God’s Word and learn what God’s Word says about your life and how to apply it and how you’re supposed to live. If so, we want to encourage you to study the many godly women in the Bible. They are wonderful examples for us to follow. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, the Bible is full of godly women we can learn from as mentors on a variety of topics – from singleness, marriage, parenting, and in-laws, to finances, business, stewardship, friendship, and everything in between.
Consider Ruth, a widow, who made the decision to go with her mother-in-law back to her hometown. She is a wonderful example to show us how to navigate a season of singleness and trust the Lord with our future. Ruth shows us how to be selfless, merciful, compassionate, and a hard worker as she takes care of her mother-in-law. She was very obedient and very humble. Ruth was also modest and made sure to engage in a right manner with other men. She shows us how to wait for a husband, how to surrender to God through that whole entire process, and have a gentle and quiet spirit.
Hannah is another great example of a woman in the Bible who was faithful and obedient to the Lord. She persevered even though she was persecuted by her husband’s other wife. That wife had many children and Hannah had none. Hannah was depressed and distraught over her infertility. She prayed at the temple and cried and asked the Lord for a child (1 Samuel 1-2). Hannah shows us how to endure hardships, how to have a prayer life, how to fast, how to grieve, how to persevere, how to be faithful, how to put God first, how to keep a promise, how to be a mom, and how to deal with bullies. She also teaches us about marriage relationships as the account in 1 Samuel includes conversation between Hannah and her husband as she shares her frustrations with him. She doesn’t hide her feelings.
Another great woman in the Bible that is given to us as a godly mentor is also found in the book of 1 Samuel. We find the account of Abigail in chapter 25 where she shows us so many ways to be a godly woman. Abigail had a husband who was mean, apathetic, complacent, and given over to alcohol in his life. He was prideful, arrogant, and uncaring toward others. In 1 Samuel 25:4-8 we read:
“While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. So, he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours! “‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore, be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’”
Abigail’s husband did not reply favorably. He did not care about anybody except himself. Nabal tells the servants of David in vv. 10-11, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”
David’s servants go back and tell David what happened, and David gets mad and decides to saddle up and ride to Nabal’s and destroy his household. Nabal’s servants rush to Abigail and share the details of the encounter Nabal had with David’s servants. They tell her David and his men are now on their way to Abigail’s home to destroy everything and everyone. This is a crisis situation and Abigail handles it so well! She rushes to gather food, animals, and supplies – putting together a caravan rather quickly, and she rides out to meet David and his men and intervene in the situation. She is another great example of a selfless woman, a hard worker, an amazing manager of her servants, kind, approachable, caring, compassionate, and as vv. 23-27 reveal, she was very humble!
“When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. She fell at his feet and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal. And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.”
She shows us how to be a friend, how to show compassion, how to be approachable, humble, respectful, and submissive to authority. She shows us how to be prepared and how to practice wisdom and discernment, how to intercede for others, how to confront others, and how to handle conflict. Because what’s interesting in Abigail’s account is that when she came back from meeting with David, she finds her husband completely drunk, having a party, and so she has wisdom and discernment to know not to talk to him in that moment. The Bible says that she resolves to address him the next day, and when she does, we see her encounter with her husband, and it shows us how to deal with an angry or unkind spouse.
If you go back and read the accounts of those three women (Ruth, Hannah, and Abigail), you can find many traits of the Proverbs 31 woman embedded in their stories. The Proverbs 31 woman gets a lot of flak, but it’s important to remember that she’s not perfect – only Christ is perfect. The Proverbs 31 woman gives us general principles of how we are to govern our lives, carry ourselves and walk as believers. Her account serves as a guide for life for family, marriage, business, and child rearing. But really, you can take the general principles and characteristics of the Proverbs 31 woman and apply them to a woman in the midst of singleness, divorce, and even widowhood.
The sampling of women from the Old Testament is just a small glimpse of so much more. The Old Testament is full of great women who would be wonderful mentors for us to glean from as we struggle in certain seasons of life. You can probably think of so many more that we didn’t mention!
The New Testament also has some wonderful godly women to serve as mentors for us. The first one that comes to mind is found in Acts chapter 16, where we find the account of Lydia. She was a businesswoman who would go into town and sell purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God, and she gathered with the Christians there in the community of Philippi for praise, worship, and fellowship. When Paul came by to visit, he encountered the small group that Lydia was part of. Paul had been teaching and Lydia realized that she needed to get baptized after being saved. She is a great example of how to contribute to the community and also stay connected with the body of believers. She was a really good manager, kind of like Abigail. She was also very involved with her church. After she got saved and baptized, she went home and shared the gospel and her story with the rest of her family and they also got saved and baptized! So she’s also a really good example of bringing the gospel home. This is so important for those of you with littles because you can have an influence on them as you teach them about Jesus and share with your husband (who may not be saved).
Lydia also shows us how not to be immersed in a godless culture. It would be really easy to go and do all the things that her age group is doing, but instead of seeking self and self-gratifying activities and pursuits, we find her being busy doing good things and putting herself in a position to be able to hear the gospel being preached. She was taking the Word of God into her mind, she had a softened heart about the message of Christ, and she received it into her heart. After she put her faith in Christ, she got baptized and got on fire for God!
The way Lydia’s story begins reminds us of many people who may be morally good, but lack a relationship with Jesus. Those who do admirable things: they don’t steal, they share with their neighbors, they pay their taxes, and they are outstanding citizens. However, they don’t have salvation. What an important reminder that we need to go and share the gospel with them. Even those who may attend church and be a “worshiper of God” like Lydia still need to have their heart opened to receive Christ and His salvation. Church attendance or membership does not save us. Baptism does not save us. Neither does communion. Like Lydia, one must put their faith in Christ. Religion is not what saves us. Religion does not get us to heaven, but rather a relationship with Jesus
The account of Lydia is a source of encouragement for new believers to imitate. Maybe you are young and you are recently saved, and it’s hard to go out and be on fire for God because it feels like everybody’s putting out your fire. We want to encourage you to keep going, keep shining your light in your family who may not be saved. Keep shining and sharing the Gospel in your neighborhood to those who may not be saved, or even in your community, at your workplace, at school, or wherever you are. There is no doubt it will have an impact because the Bible says God’s Word goes out and does not return void (Isa. 55:11).
Another godly woman of the bible we can read about is Priscilla in Acts chapter 18. She’s also mentioned with her husband Aquila in Romans chapter 16, where we read that they were believers who had to flee from their homeland because of the persecution of Christians. They went on mission basically after they left home, and they traveled with Paul for a little bit and then met back up with him later on. They were teaching the Jews who had just learned about Jesus. They wanted these Jews to know the truth and they would help people and lead them to Christ and many received salvation because of their work and ministry.
Priscilla is a good picture of a wife in ministry. She was someone who followed her husband into his calling with her whole heart. She was a great ministry partner, a great ministry leader, she was not distracted by the world. Priscilla was focused on the mission. She knew her calling. She knew the tasks to be completed. She knew what to get done and she was not worried about going to Hobby Lobby and getting the house all decorated, and getting her Starbucks drink, and going to get the latest fashions, and all the things of the world that distract us. If you’re the wife of a pastor, the wife of a ministry leader, or if you and your husband are serving as missionaries, Priscilla would be a really good one to study.
As important as ministry is outside the home and going on mission, witnessing around the world, it’s just as important to bring it home to your family. We see this in 2 Timothy 1:5 where Paul Tells Timothy, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now I am sure dwells in you as well.” What a great picture of how the women in a family impact their children’s upbringing and their children’s faith for many generations.
If you are a grandma and you wonder if you have influence on your grandchildren, the answer is yes! You have a massive influence; more influence than you think you have.
If you are still breathing, your time is not over, your influence on your family is not over. You are not done yet – and God’s not done with you yet! God still has purpose for you, and you still have influence on those around you. Timothy’s grandma no doubt had close contact with him, but we can still stay in contact with our grandchildren even if we live states away. Thanks to modern technology, we can text them, write them, FaceTime them, call them, send them care packages, or email them.
For those of you in the season of child rearing with littles under tow, you may think it’s just not time to have family devotion and talk about Jesus because they might not understand. I’m sure Timothy’s mom started young to help him develop his faith. You may be tempted to think that what you say to your kids doesn’t sink in, but I’ll bet you they retain more than you think! Kids are like sponges, and they are paying attention to everything. Take them on a walk and tell them who made the trees, tell them who made the bugs that they’re picking up, and as they become teenagers, don’t stop. Text them, make time to take them for ice cream or a special treat or a movie, and talk to them in the car. Find ways to be an active participant in their life. Don’t back away. Do not retire from your job as an influencer in your family’s life. Even if your kids are grown and married, it’s still important to reach out and encourage them and pray for them. Think of how life was when you were their age. Wouldn’t it have been nice to have someone in your corner? Someone who was a prayer warrior for you. Someone to be close to, confide in, and lift you up when life was stressful and confusing.
We are told in the Bible to encourage one another. In fact, there’s a very specific book, a very specific passage that literally tells us as women to do this: Titus chapter 2.
Titus 2:3-5 says, “Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the Word of God may not be reviled.”
There are two specific words in those verses above for us ladies to hang on to: teach and train. Did you guys catch those? What are we as women supposed to do for other women? Teach them and train them. Maybe it’s just one-on-one where you take them with you to serve others. You could take your daughter, granddaughter, or a new sister in Christ to help with the laundry for someone who needs an extra hand. Perhaps you could bring another woman as you deliver a meal for someone who has been sick or grieving. Take along a younger woman as you meet others for bible study. By doing this, you are mentoring and showing a younger sister in Christ how to take care of others. You are training just like you would receive on the job at your place of employment.
Sometimes we don’t want to take the time to do this, but what a wonderful blessing it would be! If we would just take the time to pour into others, they would learn how to be a godly woman just as the Bible instructs us. If you don’t have a godly mentor in your life, we want to challenge you to pray about it. Ask the Lord to bring someone to mind that you could ask to be involved in your life. Ask the Lord to bring an older godly woman into your life to pour into you and help you live in the way that pleases the Lord.