Powerful Stories of Women in the Bible that Reveal God’s Mercy and LoveFrom well-known women like Eve and Esther to those lesser known like Jochebed and Zipporah, women of the Bible play a vital role in God’s timeless story of redemption.This book traces the stories of three dozen of the most important women in Scripture, each handpicked by God to play a crucial part in his gracious plan for all … his gracious plan for all humanity. Every chapter begins with a short biography followed by an explanation of how each woman fits into the overall narrative of the Gospel message, pointing to God’s love for the individual as well as his larger plan to redeem sinners through the sending of his son. The Bible is the story of God’s relationship with his people–men, women, Jews, Gentiles, saints, and sinners. But this book reveals that it’s also the story of his relationship with you.
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I stumbled across this book last fall and knew it was something I was interested in reading. I mean, let’s face it, depending on the denomination of Christianity you practice determines the role that women play in your faith and in your church. Some churches are more conservative where women don’t hold positions of power while other’s embrace women ministers. I’m not open to debating which is right or wrong so there’s that. The thing is, women do hold a place in our faith. God used women, sometimes in large roles (Deborah as an Old Testament Judge) or Mary (mother of Jesus), and sometimes in lesser roles such as many women who carried great significance but yet we never learn their names. As a female, regardless of my personal belief system, at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if I am a great leader in my faith or a footnote in the path of someone else’s faith, my contribution matters; sometimes more than a males.
My desire, need, to read this book clashed with my ability to read this book. I started reading so many times for something to come up to prevent me from getting more than a chapter in. It became a frustration that eventually I just back burner-ed the book thinking I’d get to it. . .eventually. Perhaps it was a gentle ‘meant to be’ moment more than a failure on my part to invest in this book. Perhaps I needed to read about the importance of women in the Bible to remind me of my importance in the now, not a year ago but now while I am struggling. I took solace in the women who are never named for their contribution to my faith. I felt pride at the way that women, who had so much less opportunities then than we do now, made the most of their position and lead others forward toward God. I felt strengthened and somewhat redeemed as I buried myself into the faith and belief of those who have gone before me. I believe those false starts at reading this book were meant to be and that now was the right time. Yes, it might have sat on my Net Galley shelf for entirely too long but I think there is reason for that so I can’t find it in my heart to apologize for that.
The only drawback for this book for me was probably minor but for me it was distracting. Each woman was given with her biography, her role in redemption, by the numbers, and things we wondered scattered with commentary of other great Biblical scholars and historians. Sometimes I got bogged down in too much, what felt to me, irrelevant information in the first two sections. Other times, I wish there was more. The by the numbers was interesting. Sometimes they made me smile (like Eve with the number of talking snakes encountered) and other times I found myself skipping them as they felt redundant and/or irrelevant. I could add a question or two to the things we wondered section but I really enjoyed that as well. All in all I truly enjoyed this book, this journey to learn more about 31 women that had a significant role in my faith and the Bible; even if they may have only garnered a verse or two. This list of women is not all inclusive but it is all empowering.
I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by NetGalley. I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.