I sat at my desk contemplating the words I should use in compiling a very difficult, but necessary, letter that I had to write to a dear woman friend. My mind drifted from the arduous task at hand to letters in general written for a hundred different reasons; business letters, love letters, letters of resignation, notes of encouragement, Christmas letters, and a host of other reasons for writing letters.
I imagined what it would be like to receive a letter written thousands of years ago from Eve, the first woman on earth who walked with God in a paradise garden. Or, to empathize with Sarah amidst her longing to conceive a child. What if I could read a letter from Rebekah of the tragedies she endured because of her own lies and deceit? How would I feel if I received a letter from broken-hearted Rachel as she watches deceit and betrayal from her own father and sister play out before her very eyes?
Imagine receiving letters from Miriam that cover a lifetime of courage & faith, fear & insecurity, disobedience & God’s chastisement as she accompanies her youngest brother who was called to lead their people from bondage to freedom in the Promised Land. I wondered what it would be like to come by a note from Deborah, the first woman judge over a nation of rebellious people.
Would I have tender compassion if I were to receive a message from Tamar, daughter of a king, in which she shares her deepest secret for her guilt and unspeakable shame? Or, a letter from Esther, an orphan girl, who grew up to become the unlikely queen of a nation. I concentrated on these eight women in particular because of their rich heritage and their uncanny relevance to women of the twenty-first century. Surely through such letters I would realize that the essence of a woman fashions the person she will become.
I did write the letter to my friend with renewed compassion for her situation. At the same time, a book was forming in my mind; a book of letters from seven women written thousands of years ago to today’s woman who shares many of the same struggles, emotions, triumphs, and love of those women from long, long ago. Several months later, my book, “Letters from the Past,” was published. And, my friend began to look at her circumstances from a different perspective, and lost hope was regained.
After reading my book, another friend called me saying, “Girlfriend you’ve got to make this into a Bible study!” As a result, “Womanhood: Becoming a Woman of Virtue” Bible study was written.
What have I discovered from my experience that started with the unpleasant task of writing a difficult letter to a friend and resulted in two published books? Be the woman God intends you to be.
Click here for Letters from the Past –>
Click here for Womanhood: Becoming a Woman of Virtue –>