The Intentional Woman: The Widow of Zarephath: When There's Nothing Left - Chapter 18

A Beach in Malibu, CA

1.  Write down any thoughts or insights that you gained from this chapter.  What was notable to you from the reading?

I felt at some points in my life like the Widow Z - there was nothing left for me to give.  But, unlike the Widow Z, I knew the Lord as my Savior.  But still then, it was a challenge to trust God's provision because I had never before trusted Him in this manner.  When I lost everything financially and every other avenue was exhausted, there was no one to turn to but to God.  For nearly 6 years, I lived and depended on God's continual supply of miracles and He did just that.

Actually, God more than abundantly supplied when there was nothing.  He made something out of practically nothing, which that is what He did through Elijah for the Widow Z.  I have come to learn to trust God, even though now I still have great challenges, I recall God's provision to sustain me and to honor my faith in Him.

God is good and faithful all the time.  How He is may not be our definition or how we'd like to see God turn things around for us, but His ways are ALWAYS best, as I've come to learn.  His timing is always perfect.

2.  Has there ever been a time in your life or a situation where you felt you had nothing left?  Maybe it was physical, emotional, or even spiritual?  Describe your story here.

Yes, in 2007 when I learned my husband was cheating on me and through to 2014 when during that period of time I had lost my marriage, my home, all the financial stuff I'd worked so hard for for years, I had to really rely on God to meet my needs.  He did.  In the end, last year, I got full and sole custody of my kids, got remarried in 2013 to a really great guy, moved into our home in 2015.  God has really blessed, but it took years as God had to work in and through my life to show me how personal and how much He cared for my children, husband and I.

The rest of the story is in the question before this.

3.  How do these verses encourage you about God's sufficiency for everything in our lives, including difficulties and suffering?

• 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 - 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast [a]about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with [b]insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (NIV)

When we give up fighting with God and give Him the control, that's when we are the strongest.  So often we think like we can do everything on our own, but the truth is, we can't do anything with God.  It doesn't mean we're helpless, but it means that we're to acknowledge that it is God that gives us our breath, our life, and to be humble before Him, knowing that HE is the one who empowers us.

• Ephesians 3:20-21 - 20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations [a]forever and ever. Amen. (NASB)

I have a number of verses in the Bible that are my favorite and these are a couple of my favorite.  As a child, I remember saying to God that HE could do more than my imagination?  Wow, that's pretty big.  And thus, I went about seeing if this was true or not.  But, when I went through my downfall, it was challenging to see that the God I loved and served while as a child and young adult would be this same God who would carry me through my challenges.  BUT, He IS that same God and so much more.  I had to learn to be humble and truly acknowledge success from God and that God gives success to many people whether they love Him or not.

• Philippians 4:19 - But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (KJV)

This is so true.  I saw God when we had nothing or almost nothing supply all our needs.  There are many examples through my difficult financial years that I can recall God coming through.  One Sunday I had gone to church and I was in need of gas for my car.  I told no one, but after church JL came up to me and asked me if he could provide some gas for me.  I nearly cried because the only person that knew of that need was God.  He laid on JL's heart to provide this need at that moment.  I pray that God richly bless JL for all his life for being obedient to God and providing for this in my life.  He is a humble servant of God.

4.  How do you think Widow Z's faith impacted her son?  What does this say to the importance of living by faith as an example to our children?

I think it greatly impacted Widow Z's son - her faith.  He saw her example and I think that allowed him to trust God.  Thus, when we are not trusting God, our children see this, but they also see when we trust God.  Faith is not seeing, but acting upon as if it were.

5.  Before God did the first miracle in Widow Z's life, Elijah sensed that she was afraid to trust God.  He tells her not to be afraid of the outcome of obedience, but just obey God's Word.  Often in Scripture God encourages us regarding fear and obedience.  Write out these verses and comment on what they teach us regarding fear and trust?

• Psalm 27:1 - The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom should I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom should I be afraid? (HCSB)

God is above all and though the devil may have a great influence in this world and there is real evil and terror, God is greater than the devil and though our bodies can be destroyed, if we are God's, then no one can take us from God spiritually.

• Psalm 139:7-12 - ⁷ I can never escape from your Spirit!  I can never get away from your presence!  ⁸ If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave,^[a] you are there.  ⁹ If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, ¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.  ¹¹ I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—¹²     but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.  To you the night shines as bright as day.  Darkness and light are the same to you. (NLT)

God sees and knows all.  Sometimes we think we can do something in secret, but we can't because God sees.

• Isaiah 43:1-3a - Now this is what theLord says—the One who created you, Jacob, and the One who formed you, Israel—“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.  ² I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you.  You will not be scorched when you walk through the fire, and the flame will not burn you.  ³ For I Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior, give Egypt as a ransom for you, Cush and Seba in your place. (HCSB)

God doesn't delight when we go through troubles, but He says He will be with us no matter what.  When we are one of His children, it doesn't mean we won't go through hardships, but it does mean He will be with us through those challenges.  Those challenges are to help mold us to be more like God, pleasing to Him.  But also, they are to reveal God's glory.  God knows us each personally and intimately, but do we?

• Matthew 10:29-31 - ^29-31 “What’s the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries. (MSG)

If God cares for the little creatures in life whom were not formed in His image, how much more does He love us?  So if He cares for them so much, their needs, our confidence that He cares for us should be solid.

6.  Has there been a time in your life that you were afraid, but trusted God, living by faith not by sight?  Or is there something in your life right now that God is asking you to trust and obey Him in first, though you can't see the outcome, though you might have fear in doing so?  Explain.

Yes, when I lost my home and all my finances.  Yes, there are a number of things I have in my life right now that I'm trusting God on - my husband's walk with God, my children's walk with God, His financial destiny for me, God's spiritual work He has for me, the kids' education and lives.

What I do now is daily I am on my knees praying to the Lord.  When I sin, or God reveals to me I am sinning, then I am quick to repent and get healing for those soul wounds that those sins caused.  Basically on a short leash with God, however, what I want to make sure is that I have nothing in common with the enemy and his cohorts so that my prayers are powerful and effective.  I want my walk with the Lord to be powerful, all the strongholds in my life to be broken and to walk close to God, hearing and obeying Him.

Yes, there is still some fear, but in 2 Corinthians 10:5 it says that we're to take captive all our thoughts and put them in submission to Christ.  The fear I have I know is not from God.  So, I am delving more into God's Word, memorizing Scripture more as this is a spiritual battle and it's very real.

7.  In times past God did raise people from the dead to demonstrate death no longer has power over us if we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior.  Because of the fall in the Garden of Eden, death was the penalty for sin.  But because of Christ, no longer will those born again have to pay the sin penalty of death and live in eternity without Him.  

While He does not seem to raise the physically dead in our day, He certainly could.  But the principle of resurrection is clear:  God is able.  He is able to resurrect marriages that seem dead and buried.  He is able to resurrect prodigal children who seem lost and dead to their families because of rebellion.  He is able to resurrect a soul that seems hardened and hard to reach.  He is able to give us life just to do the ordinary duties of a wife and mother that may seem overwhelming to us too.  Yes, God is able!

How do these verses encourage you in God's ability to meet the needs in your life and help you live intentionally for Him?

• Isaiah 50:2b - “Why, when I came, was there no man [to greet Me]?  When I called, why was there no one to answer?  Is My hand really so short that it cannot redeem [My servants]?  Or have I no power to rescue?  Listen carefully, with My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers into a desert; Their fish stink because there is no water And die of thirst. (AMP)

God can do anything, I mean anything.  Sometimes I doubt God can, but that's in my own sinfulness and frailty that I succumb to wrong thinking.  Who am I to question an omniscient God?  He can make time stand still.  He can move Heaven and Earth to get something done.  He created the galaxy and all there is.  There is no reason to doubt that God can provide and meet my needs.

• Jeremiah 32:7, 27 - ⁷ Watch! Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, is coming to you to say, ‘Buy my field in Anathoth for yourself, for you own the right of redemption to buy it.’  ²⁷ “Look, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?

Nothing is too hard for God.  God uses challenging times to sometimes test us, sometimes just to show His glory, to draw others to Him or even ourselves, or even just because He can.

• Psalm 139:7-18 (a must read!) - ⁷ I can never escape from your Spirit!  I can never get away from your presence!  ⁸ If I go up to heaven, you are there;  if I go down to the grave,^[a] you are there.  ⁹ If I ride the wings of the morning,  if I dwell by the farthest oceans, ¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,  and your strength will support me.  ¹¹ I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—¹²     but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.  To you the night shines as bright as day.  Darkness and light are the same to you.  ¹³ You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.  ¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.  ¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.  ¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.  ¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me,^[b]O God.  They cannot be numbered!  ¹⁸ I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!  And when I wake up, you are still with me!

Absolutely nothing is hidden from God.  When I feel small and alone, that's a lie from the pit of hell.  I am not alone.  Even when everything seems like a lost cause, God has a Divine plan.  I do not need to be in control.  He knows everything I am going through.  He knows how I feel and all of that, He cares for every bit of it.  That is comforting to know.

MAKING IT PERSONAL JOURNAL

Write any thoughts or convictions that you have in regard to this chapter.  What personal lessons concerning the Widow Z will you apply to your own life?  How will you be more intentional as a woman of God?

I've already and still am applying the things that Widow Z does.  Though financially I am not in hardship now and I have a good life, I would like to see my husband walk closely with God, to have a heart after God's own heart and to lead our family spiritually.  I would like to see my kids have a really deep relationship with God instead of doing things in their own strength.  But, the key is for me to role model doing these things, which I am working on.

God is helping me get rid of destructive independence and to develop complete reliance on Him.  Sometimes I just get caught up in my own stuff that I am no longer intentionally being the woman of God He desires of me.  But, God's kindness always brings me to repentance and I get back on track again and again.  I am grateful for God's never ending mercy.


FINAL JOURNALING THOUGHTS

What will you take away from this study?  Which Titus 2 attribute spoke most to your heart and why?  What changes will you make to be God's most intentional woman?  Which woman of God lesson impacted you the most?  How will you be more intentional as a result of things you learned from her life and situation?

The thing I probably take most from this study is to be really intentional in my walk with God instead of the sometimes haphazard ways I've approached in the past.  I think the Titus 2 attribute that spoke most to me was that submission isn't just the physical thing of submitting, doing, but it's really a heart thing, an attitude.  If you have a wrong attitude, even though physically you may be submitting, then you are truly NOT submitting.  That was really eye-opening.

I've already made many changes and continue to make changes in my walk with God as an Intentional Christ Follower.  I've talked about them in the prior 17 chapters.  God has a purpose for each of our lives.  Each person that is talked about in the Bible has a purpose, whether the person was a good person that loved God or an evil person against God.  I can learn from each of these people.

The two people I loved most reading about were Esther and Mary, mother of Jesus.  Those 2 chapters moved me the most.  Esther with her submission to her King and husband, though he was not a Christ Follow and Mary, in trusting God with the whole plan for Jesus.  How challenging it must have been for each women to hold onto faith in God's plan, even though they could not see or understand.  The willingly submissive spirit that gave them strength in the face of great trials and tribulation.  They were intentional and received God's blessing for obeying and honoring Him.

I want God to say to me one day, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Listening without needing to put my own thoughts into others.  Be slow to speak, swift to listen.  I love in Proverbs it says that a wife ought to do no harm to her husband, but bring him good all the days of her life.  Sometimes when I have gotten angry at my husband, that's not the case, but the Holy Spirit convicted me of this.  So, when I am upset with him, I'm to think only good thoughts, to bring my husband good, to bless him during this time of upsetness.

I am to continue to guard my thoughts and to think on things that are true, lovely, right and take any stray thoughts captive, submit them to Jesus.  Test my thoughts to see if they are in line with the Word of God and if they're not, then be quick to repent and get healing for my soul.

This has been a wonderful book and study that we went through the past 9+ months and I have enjoyed it, learned a lot, was challenged by it.  My marriage has gotten even deeper and better than before this study began.  It's amazing.  I have also been greatly challenged in my own personal walk with the Lord.

I went through a huge decluttering thing physically of my home.  Before that, I was decluttering relationships, people and things that no longer served me.  I am working now on decluttering my virtual environment.  God is helping me to be intentionally a godlier woman, wife, mother, friend, person and through obeying, I am hearing His voice so much better.  It's not easy, but I feel a greater closeness to my Lord than before this study.

The Intentional Woman: Pursuing a Heart of Wisdom - Chapter 2 - Eve: The Other Side of Eden

This is taken from Lee Sumner's The Intentional Woman - Pursuing a Heart of Wisdom, Chapter 2 homework.

1.  Write down thoughts or insights from Chapter 2.  What was notable from the reading?

Sin has devastating consequences - to the point of death.  One wrong choice can lead to a compound effect that is disastrous.  We should be careful who we listen to.

2.  According to the following verses, explain why everyone would have responded to the serpent's temptation in the Garden just as Adam and Eve did?

• Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?

Our hearts are deceitful and cannot be trusted.  So if we're trusting in our hearts, it's unreliable.

• Romans 3:9-12 - What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.   All have turned away,  they have together become worthless;
  there is no one who does good, not even one.”

Outside of God, we truly cannot be GOOD, even if we tried.  At least Good in God's eyes.

• Romans 3:23 - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

There is no one that is perfect and alone, without Jesus, we cannot be connected to God.

What does this say about the human condition?

Our condition is doomed without Jesus.

What does this confirm about my own heart?

It means my heart cannot be trusted.

3.  While sin brought havoc to God's creation and removed Adam & Eve from fellowship with the God, in His infinite wisdom, God gave Adam and Eve insight into His redemptive plan.  In order to cover their physical nakedness and shame, blood was sacrificed on their behalf.  There was the shed blood of the innocent for the deeds of the guilty.  In this way, the Lord gave a look into His Redemptive Plan of Salvation for the spiritual nakedness and shame we all suffer as a result of our own sin.

Like Adam & Eve, unable to cleanse our hearts from sin's curse, what promises do these verses give us in regard to what the sacrificed, shed blood of Christ has done for us?

• Romans 5:9 - Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!

We are no longer spiritually doom because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

• Ephesians 1:7-11 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.  11 In him we were also chosen,having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

Because of Jesus dying on the Cross for our sins, we now have union with Him.

• 1 Peter 1:18-21 - 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him,and so your faith and hope are in God.

If we ask Jesus to be our Savior, He will come into our hearts.  God knew that mankind would screw things up, so He knew that He would send Jesus to be our Savior.

Have you received received salvation through Christ for my sinful condition?  Do you know for sure that you are saved?  If yes, write out your conversion story in a short paragraph.

Yes, I have received salvation through Christ.  I was saved during VBS when I was saved and led to the Lord by a woman named Grace.  And, I have definitely seen evidence of my salvation throughout my life - some points more than others.

1. Your sinful state of heart and mind before you met Jesus.  Honestly, I don't remember how sinful I was before 7 years old.
2. The general circumstance regarding how you met Him.  I was introduced to Jesus by CW when she began taking me to church when I was 3.  I just was so hungry to know Jesus more.
3. How is my life different today as a result of Jesus in your heart?  Oh my goodness.  I know that I am never alone and that I can talk with Him anytime, anywhere over anything.  Otherwise, I would feel so alone at many points in my life.  Jesus has brought great comfort to me, especially in troublesome times.

4.  Ecclesiastes 1:9 (What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.) reminds us that there is nothing new under the sun.  Eve's struggle with sin was not unlike our struggles today.  Her conversation revealed what captivated her heart.  Then, as soon as sin entered the world, she had marital problems.  There was the blame game:  Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent.  No one took responsibility for their own sin.  Childbirth was painful and there were no medications to cushion it.  Then, there was the trouble with her children.  They had sinful hearts, too.  Cain became a prodigal and a murderer.  With each sunrise and sunset, sin continued to entrench itself more fully in the hearts of mankind.

1. Describe how Eve's choices affected her husband?  How did it ultimately affect her children?  Adam trusted and believed Eve, or at least he wanted to.  Why would she lead him astray?  It did cause him to sin.  And it ultimately caused her children to sin, too.  The sin curse is passed down through all generations thereafter.
2. Why is sin never personal or private?  Because what flows in our heart will eventually flow out into other areas of our lives.

5.  Consider the situation in the Garden of Eden.  Even opened her heart to the enemy of her soul and believed a lie.  The Bible says she was deceived.  (2 Corinthians 11:3 - But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning,your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.)  

However, her deception was not innocent because the Lord pronounced a judgment on her for it.  She willingly opened her heart to deception.  But Adam made a willful choice to disobey, also, though not deceived.  Yet, he followed his wife's choice.  He also received God's judgment (Genesis 3:17-19 - To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.  ¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.  ¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

1. What does Eve's choice say about the influence women can have on their husband's decision-making?  Women can sometimes be very convincing and use their sexuality or sex appeal to sway their husband's decision-making, which is manipulative and deceptive.
2. What Godly counsel does 1 Peter 3:1-6 (Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won overwithout words by the behavior of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.5 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6 like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord.You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.) give us in regard to living as a righteous influence on our husbands?  It tells wives to really love their husbands in a way that honors God through a willing submission.  I have found this to be very true in my own marriage that as I humbled myself, submitted to God first and then to my husband, had a gentle and quiet spirit, that that has been totally transforming my marriage.  My husband is way more loving, kind, listens to me and it's become more a mutual submission thing.  Very cool.  I've learned that always asserting myself in my marriage prior was NOT good and led to no good, two divorces.
3. Name 2 specific ways that you can walk in obedience to the Lord and be a Godly influence on your husband in light of what we are taught according to 1 Peter 3?  a)  I can keep a lower tone of voice when speaking to him especially when I disagree, not use sarcasm, listen to him and act accordingly while still gentle expressing myself verbally in a non defensive way.  b)  Invite my husband to help me out and be okay that if I do and he doesn't want to, that I do not cop an attitude but just do things in love and a great attitude.

Making It Personal Journal - Write any thoughts or convictions I have in regard to this chapter.  What changes will I make in my life as a result of the study of Eve?  How will I be more intentional in my relationship with God and my family?

I think I have already begun a couple years ago on this to really being a quiet, meek wife that just loves her husband.  My husband will have the final say and I do honor him in this, even if I disagree.  But, it's the attitude that goes with it, a good attitude.  Having good humor has also helped a great deal.  A couple years ago, I started working on healing my soul and got rid of a lot of things that were unhealthy and bad, and got those parts of my soul healed.  As that happened, I was able to submit to my husband more.

He now does things that are more romantic and things that I love because as I looked to submit to him, he sees that I really do respect and love him.