Women of Valor: Harriet Tubman
She pushed ahead when no one else would. She rose above when her first husband remarried (after she hadn’t returned for some time) and forgave him by offering to help him if he and his new wife (and child) wanted to escape. She worked alongside men to help free people and push our country towards freedom for all. She also continued to work towards women’s rights while maintaining her faith and hope in the God who gave her heart freedom.
Women of Valor: Elisabeth Elliot
I grew up hearing the story of Elisabeth Elliot and her great empowerment of Christian women. However, I remember hearing her once answer a question on her radio show to a woman who asked a question about what to do since her husband physically abused her. Elisabeth’s response stunned me. She told the woman to stay and submit to her husband. I was appalled. I couldn’t reconcile the eighty-year-old woman whose voice cracked across the radio waves and the brave woman who faced the murderous jungle tribe with a toddler strapped to her torso. For years, I struggled to want to read anything that she wrote. Why would she tell a woman to stay with an abuser?
It’s no longer winter
If you were to ask me, I’d tell you the best thing about winter is when it’s over. I despise the cold, I hate that the sun spends so much time hiding, and I do not enjoy being stuck at home when it snows or the roads are icy. These are all signs of Seasonal Affective Disorder which I have battled for as long as I can remember. Some years I feel it worse than others but I can almost guarantee that once the time changes in the fall, I’m going to start experiencing some signs of depression. As someone who has walked through many seasons of various depths of depression, I’ve learned a few things about how I can manage it with a little more grace and not let the battle in my mind steal my joy. I’d like to share with you what I’ve found helps get me through these times…