Spiritual Mothering (Foreword by George Grant) E-Book

Susan Hunt

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 293

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Beschreibung

Presents a fully biblical and extremely practical vision for intergenerational ministry so that women of all ages can know the blessing of spiritual mother-daughter relationships. For many churches, women's ministries, and women's Bible study groups, the missing element of discipleship is the interpersonal aspect. Titus 2:3-5 clarifies what mature spiritual relationships between generations of women should look like. Susan Hunt unveils how to put that model into action with stories of biblical and contemporary women who have responded to God's call, as well as page after page of personal encouragement, practical insight, and ministry-tested how-to's. Through this wisdom-packed book, churches, groups, and individuals will be equipped to reach across generational lines-and inspired to experience the blessing of nurturing, godly relationships so that every Christian woman may flourish in her faith.

Leseprobe

Spiritual Mothering

THE TITUS 2 MODEL FORWOMEN MENTORING WOMEN

Susan Hunt

Spiritual Mothering: The Titus 2 Model for Women Mentoring Women

Copyright © 1992 by Susan Hunt

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

First edition published 1992

Second edition published 1993

Reprinted with new cover 2009, 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Crystal Courtney

Printed in the United States of America

Throughout the book, names and details of a few women and their stories have been changed to protect their privacy.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from The New American Standard Bible®. Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Scripture references marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

A Leader’s Guide for Spiritual Mothering is available for small group study. To order, call the Christian Education Publications Bookstore at 1.800.283.1357, or order from your local Christian bookstore.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-5239-7 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-5242-7 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-5240-3 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-5241-0

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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To my granddaughter,Mary Kate Barriault,with the prayer thatGod will raise up women of faithwho will spiritually mother her generation.

We will . . . tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done . . . that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.

PSALM 78:4, 6–7

Titus 2 Discipleship Resources

Any woman reading this book can begin to reach out and develop spiritual mother-daughter relationships, but I encourage you to use this as a group study. The Titus command is given to the church. It can best be implemented in the church through a Word-driven women’s ministry. Below are three additional resources to enhance your study of the Titus 2 Mandate:

Titus 2 Tools

This booklet includes 3 resources:

•A Leader’s Guide for Spiritual Mothering

•Suggestions and models for developing a Titus 2 discipleship ministry

•Materials to train Titus 2 leaders

Women’s Ministry in the Local Church

Ligon Duncan and Susan Hunt

This book gives foundational biblical principles for a women’s ministry in the church. There is a chapter on Titus 2 discipleship.

Women’s Ministry Training and Resource Notebook

This loose-leaf notebook includes a leader’s guide for Women’s Ministry in the Local Church as well as many ideas and resources for a women’s ministry.

All may be ordered from: 1-800-283-1357; www.cepbookstore.com

Contents

Cover PageTitle PageCopyrightDedicationTwenty-Five Years LaterForewordIntroductionPart 1THE MANDATEJulie’s Story  1Our Reference PointJerdone’s Story  2A Life-PurposeJane’s Story  3The CommandBarbara’s Story  4The CurriculumPart 2THE MODELKaren’s Story  5A Nurturing RelationshipLeslie’s Story  6Encourage and EquipDiane’s Story  7To Live for God’s GloryPart 3THE METHODA Daughter’s Story  8The Ministry of EncouragementGeorgia’s Story  9The Power of AcceptanceA Daughter’s Story10The Cornerstone of ForgivenessMariam’s Story11Comfort the ComfortlessPenny’s Story12Staying . . . and SeparatingAcknowledgmentsAppendix: Helper by DesignNotesAbout the Author

Twenty-Five Years Later

Twenty-five years ago the gospel imperative in Titus 2:3–5 reached out and grabbed my heart.

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. (Titus 2:3–5)

Spiritual Mothering was my attempt to encourage and equip women in God’s church to embrace this magnificent mandate for women to disciple women. Now, at seventy-five, I resonate even more with the words of Elizabeth Prentiss, the nineteenth-century author of Stepping Heavenward, who wrote to a friend: “I’m ever so glad that I’m growing old every day, and so becoming better fitted to be the dear and loving friend to young people I want to be.”1

When it was decided to publish a revision of Spiritual Mothering, the kind people at Crossway asked what changes I wanted to make. It had been several years since I actually read the book. My initial passion for the Titus mandate has intensified, and my vision has expanded, so I expected to trash the original and write a new book. What happened as I read truly surprised me—what I said twenty-five years ago, I still want to say. However, Titus 2 is so much bigger, bolder and more beautiful than I realized at the beginning of this journey, so I want to give greater clarity to the book by placing it more intentionally in the larger context of covenant, calling, commission, church, and culture.

The Context of the Covenant of Grace

Titus 2 is part of the Gospel Story. Plucking it out of the context of the whole of Scripture is a minimalist approach that usually reduces it to a formulaic description of what women are supposed to do.

The Glorious Gospel Story is the Good News that the Sovereign, Triune King of the universe enters into a relationship with his people. How could such a thing happen? It took a covenant.

Covenant is a compelling idea. Covenant is the storyline of the grandest of stories, a story that began before the beginning of time when God chose us in Christ to be his own (Eph. 1:4), that exploded into time and space when God created us in his image (Genesis 1), was scandalously lost when our first parents rebelled (Gen. 3:1–7), was graciously restored when God promised a Redeemer (Gen. 3:15), was gloriously fulfilled when the Word became flesh (John 1:14), and will reach its spectacular consummation when we hear “a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God’” (Rev. 21:3).

Covenant is a promise that stretches from Genesis to Revelation: I will be your God, you will be my people, I will live among you (Gen. 17:7; Ex. 6:7; Deut. 29:10–13; Jer. 24:7; Zech. 8:8; John 1:14; 1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; Rev. 21:1–5).

Unless we understand this meta-narrative of Scripture, our understanding of each part will be diminished. No story, person, instruction or command stands alone. There is a perfect unity that is breathtaking because, according to Jesus, it all tells his story: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).

In Women’s Ministry in the Local Church, Dr. Ligon Duncan and I explain:

“The covenant of grace is the sovereignly initiated arrangement by which the Triune God lives in saving favor and merciful relationship with His people. Because we are in union with Him, we are united to His other children. So the covenant of grace defines our relationship to God and to one another. It orders a way of life that flows out of a promise of life. To realize this is to think and live covenantally. Complementarianism gives the relational framework for men and women to live out their covenantal privileges and responsibilities. The complementarian position acknowledges that God created men and women equal in being but assigned different—but equally valuable—functions in His kingdom and that this gender distinctiveness complements, or harmonizes, to fulfill His purpose.”2

Titus 2:3–5 is a covenantal concept. This covenant responsibility flows out of our covenant relationship with God and with one another. Women training women is one way we cultivate a culture of covenant life in God’s family.

The Context of the Calling of Biblical Womanhood

A covenantal perspective puts Titus 2 in the context of creation, the fall, and redemption. It reaches back to the beginning when “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27).

The man and woman were created equally in God’s image but designed for different functions. The man was created first and given the responsibility of headship. God gave definition to the woman’s function when he said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Gen. 2:18).

Man’s aloneness was not good because he was created in the image of the Triune God. The man needed one who was equal, but different, so that the complementarity of their relationship could reflect the unity and diversity of the Godhead.

Woman’s helper design is fascinating. The Hebrew word for helper, ezer, is often used to refer to God as our Ezer.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Ps. 46:1)

Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life. (Ps. 54:4)

For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. (Ps. 72:12)

You, LORD, have helped me and comforted me. (Ps. 86:17)

Ezer is a strong, relational, nurturing, caring word. Woman was uniquely designed to nurture community and to extend compassion. Community and compassion are characteristics of covenant life in God’s family. The helper design is intrinsic to our femaleness. It transcends specific roles but permeates every role. (See Appendix, page 229, for more on our helper design.)

You know the story. The man and woman sinned against God. Everything changed—except God. His love created them and his love reached out to them in their fallenness. They listened as God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15).

In this first revelation of God’s covenant of grace he promised a Redeemer who would free them from sin and death and give them life. Adam responded to this Good News with a stunning statement of faith, “The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living” (Gen. 3:20).

Eve means life-giver. Because of her rebellion the woman became a life-taker; because of God’s redemption she was named life-giver. This redemptive calling is not just biological. Every redeemed woman has the capacity to be a life-giver in every season, situation and relationship. Eve’s name points to the life-giving gospel of sovereign grace.

Titus 2:3–5 is so much more than a list of virtues and behaviors. It is a description of a life-giver. It’s not an exhaustive description but a reminder of our creation design (helper) and redemptive calling (life-giver).

The Context of the Commission

Before Jesus ascended he commissioned his church to “make disciples . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always” (Matt. 28:18–20).

One of the things we are to teach is that he created us male and female and assigned us some gender-specific roles. Not all discipleship is to be gender-specific. Not everything we do is gender-related. But there should be some opportunities in the life of the church when men teach men what it means to be a man, and women teach women what it means to be a woman. If the church is silent on this topic by default we will absorb the world’s perspective of gender.

Dr. Ligon Duncan explains:

The distinction between male and female is something that is part of a human’s (and especially a Christian’s) being a bearer of the image of God. Think about it. Our God is one and yet eternally exists in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our triune God is both equal and distinct, the archetype of the true individual and true community. Mankind, without living out the God-given distinction of male and female, relating to one another as God intended them to relate, cannot give adequate expression to this aspect of what it means to be created in the image of God. This truth needs to be explained and understood in the discipleship of the local church.3

Redeemed females—single, married, young, old—are the only ones who can show and tell the beauty of God’s creation design and redemptive calling for women because we are the ones with the resources—God’s Word and his Spirit—to motivate and empower other women.

The discipleship model described in Titus 2 is one way we obey Christ’s Great Commission. It is a way we give the legacy of biblical womanhood to the next generation. And wonder of wonders, he has promised his Presence—“I will be with you.”

The Context of the Church

Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus are known as the Pastoral Letters because they were written to teach the young pastors how to have strong, healthy churches. It is noteworthy that there are five passages in these letters that specifically mention women. The principles regarding women’s ministries in the church that emerge from these passages are instructive.

1.1 Timothy 2:9–15 Ecclesiastical submission (women’s ministries should be under the oversight of the male leadership of the church).

2.1 Timothy 3:11 Compassion

3.1 Timothy 5:1–16 Community

4.Titus 2:3–5 Gender-specific discipleship

5.2 Timothy 3:1–9, 14–16 Scripture

It takes my breath away that these principles correlate with God’s creation design and redemptive calling of women. What he created and redeemed us to be is what we are to do in his church. (Note: These five passages are explained, and the principles are applied, in Women’s Ministry in the Local Church.)

Titus 2 is one part of a biblical apologetic for women’s ministry in the church. It is a strategy to equip women to think biblically about submission, covenant community and compassion, and the authority of God’s Word, and to train them to be life-givers. It is a vibrant, reciprocal way for women—regardless of age and stage of life—to care for, encourage, and love one another.

The Context of Culture

Over lunch with our twenty-year-old grandson I asked: “What area of faith and life is your generation most tempted to question and compromise?” Without flinching he replied, “Sexuality.”

Gender confusion and the aggressive hostility to gender distinctiveness are rampant. It is odd that in this toxic environment some are saying that women’s ministries have served their purpose and are irrelevant.

A college woman’s question underscores the timeliness of Titus 2 discipleship: “How can I think biblically about my womanhood when I am constantly told that independence is power, to determine my own destiny, pursue my own dreams, and that gender distinctiveness is just a social construct?”

My answer: “Go to the women’s ministry in your church and ask godly women to speak the truth of womanhood into your life as a counterpoint to the lies you are hearing. Ask them to spiritually mother you.” I truly believe my answer is right. I believe Titus 2 is a strategy God has given the church for one generation of women to “tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done” (Ps. 78:4), and one of those wonders is that he created us male and female. But her question unnerved me because I wondered—is her church equipping women for this holy mission?

Titus 2 is always relevant because it is always counter-cultural and counter-intuitive to obey God’s Word. Now is a time to intensify our emphasis on women discipling women.

My Prayer

As you read this book I pray that it will spiritually mother you and equip you to spiritually mother other women.

It is an understatement to say that mothering is sacrificial; so is spiritual mothering. Why should we make such an investment? Paul answers this question in Titus 2:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. (vv. 11–13)

The gospel is the motivation. Jesus appeared in grace and he will appear in glory. Between his two appearings we are to make disciples and teach them to obey what he commanded.

The gospel is also the power for such a humanly impossible mission.

[Jesus] gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (v. 14)

Jesus is redeeming his people. Jesus is purifying his bride. The outcome is not our responsibility. We are to make disciples. We are to help get the bride ready. And regardless of the results in another woman’s life, our obedience will ready us to meet our Bridegroom.

Titus 2 is a holy privilege and a sacred responsibility for daughters of the church. It is a life-giving ministry that flows out of the life of Christ in us.

Foreword

This is a book of vision. Don’t get me wrong, it is emphatically practical, eminently readable, and immediately accessible. This is not another tome of ivory tower stuff. It is sane, sound, and sensible. Even so, its most notable feature is its unswerving vision of what the church can be—and indeed, what the church ought to be.

Sadly, vision is a commodity in rather short supply these days. In all too many cases it has been supplanted in modern ministry by mere mechanical formulas or lowest common denominators. A tidal wave of steely and institutional pragmatism—driven along by the fierce winds of marketing concerns, demographic data, bureaucratic models, and corporate efficiency standards—has very nearly engulfed the sensibility for passionate vision in the church. This is especially true in women’s ministry, where the tides of time and circumstance seem to roil in a perpetual storm of turbulence and confusion. And “where there is no . . . vision, the people [perish]” (Prov. 29:18).

But a reassertion of vision—a steadfast Biblical vision—can calm those raucous waters. It can still the stormy sea of theological ambivalence. This book has grown out of that kind of vision.

For decades now, Susan Hunt has modeled for the church what a true disciple should be. She has demonstrated, in both word and deed, that such a vision of faithful service is the only vision that can adequately meet the pressing needs all around us. In this book, she shares with us the detailed inner workings and underpinnings of that vision.

Susan gently and skillfully reminds us that there are no quick fixes, no magic formulae, and no instant cures for the ills of our time. There is no easy way to effectively equip women to grow into maturity in Christ. Instead she says that the very essence of women’s ministry—and in fact all ministry—is interpersonal. It is women mentoring women. It is older women caring for younger women—teaching, nurturing, and encouraging them. She draws on a wealth of Scriptural material to illumine the righteous and venerable tradition of people actually investing themselves in people—rather than in programs, projects, or perspectives.

That is truly visionary. And, it is oh so needed in this angst-ridden world of ours. Nearly a century ago, the great Theodore Roosevelt issued forth with a clarion cry:

Do we see as we ought to see? Do we see the warrior witnesses round about us—or are we like the servants of Elisha, purblind and incognizant of the battle raging in our midst? Do we see the Savior before us—or are we like the disciples on the way to Emmaus, obsessed and possessed by our own concerns? Do we see—or are we casting about in darkness, flailing with sightless eyes? With what encumbrances have we ballasted the Gospel of grace with our lack of vision? Surely the Kingdom of Righteousness does not lack for resources. Surely the church is not bereft of ingenuity. Surely the just have bounteous opportunities. Yea and indeed, the single and solitary need—of the hour, the day, the epoch—is vision: the vision to see, the vision to do, and more, the vision to be Lord of the Harvest, give us we pray: great men, great women, and great families. Lord of the Harvest, give us we pray: vision—the vision of gallant greatness.

This book is a response to just such a cry. To it I can only add my heartiest amen.

It is hard to believe it has been a quarter-century since I first read this remarkable book. I remember very well the day I pored over the thick stack of pages sitting on my desk, thinking: “This is important. This is fantastic. This just has to be published.” It’s not just that the years have flown by. Rather, it is the bracing realization that as fresh and relevant and needed as the book was then, it is even more so now. Thus, I am so very grateful to Susan, to Crossway, and to the Lord for the enduring legacy of this little book. May its impact be magnified all the more over the course of the next twenty-five years.

George Grant

Franklin, Tennessee

Introduction

For several years I had a suspicion that Titus 2:3–5 contained exciting principles and implications for women. I had theories about the benefits of older-women/younger-women relationships, but I had few contemporary examples that validated my theories.

My husband was pastor of a wonderful church, but it consisted primarily of young families. Even though I was only in my late thirties to late forties during that time, I was an “older woman.” The three or four older women who came into our fellowship gave me occasional glimpses of what I thought Titus 2:3–5 should look like, but then I would hear of an example that contradicted my theories.

In my work as a consultant for the Women in the Church ministries for our denomination, I frequently had calls from pastors telling me about tension between the older and younger women in their churches. I knew that it should work because God said to do it, but I had no models to show me how these relationships should work. The commentaries which I searched for more information seemed to slide by that portion of Scripture with little comment except that God said older women should teach younger women—and I already knew that!

But why wasn’t it working in individual relationships and in churches? What were the missing pieces? What did older women and younger women need to know to obey this command? My growing conviction was that the Titus principle held something rich and wonderful for women, but how to make it happen was fuzzy.

Then I came face to face with what Titus 2:3–5 looks like in action. My husband went on staff of a church that has a rich blend of older and younger people. Since one of his responsibilities was evangelism, he asked me to begin a weekly Bible study for women that could serve as an outreach to our community and as a vehicle to help new women in the church develop friendships. The first week, I was stunned when many of the older women in the church appeared with their Bible in hand and an eagerness to be a part of this new program. I was expecting, and had prepared for, six or seven young women who had been visiting the church. Now sitting before me were women in their sixties and seventies whose knowledge of and experience with the Holy One far exceeded my own. I had to do some mental gymnastics, and some quick praying, to adapt. How do you teach women in their twenties and women in their seventies and everything in between!

Soon I realized that God was giving me an opportunity to “prove him right” regarding the Titus principle. But I also realized that I had to help the women build bridges across the generations. We had to learn to relate on a deep level. We had to learn how to learn from one another. A turning point came when I felt led by the Lord to teach a lesson on marriage. But Lord, I argued, how can I do that when so many of the women in our group are widows? I know the younger women need it, but won’t it be too painful for the widows?

As I continued praying, the answer became clear: The widows are your most valuable resource in teaching this lesson. Equally clear was the knowledge that I couldn’t expect the widows to see themselves as a resource—that would be part of the teaching process.

So I began the lesson by sharing my questions to the Lord and his answer to me. Then I asked the older women, including the widows, to freely share their memories and insights with us. During the small group discussion times, these wonderful older women opened their hearts to the younger women. When a younger woman said, “How can I possibly go home and complain about dirty socks on the floor after hearing these women share their precious memories about their husbands,” I knew that I had seen the Titus principle work.

And I have seen it grow and deepen in many practical ways. Months later, when the group was sharing the benefits of older-women/younger-women relationships, the younger women talked of the many things they had learned from the older women. But again I knew we had experienced what God desires when the older women talked of how they had learned from the younger women. They particularly talked of how they had learned to communicate more openly and to share their feelings with the younger women.

My observation is that the combination of younger women who are teachable and godly older women who are willing to open their hearts gave us the privilege of obeying the Titus mandate.

The combination of younger women who are teachable and godly older women who are willing to open their hearts gave us the privilege of obeying the Titus mandate.

These older women in our Bible study are my heroines—they have made a deep impression on my life. I would like to tell you about one of them who epitomized all of them. Of all the women, I have chosen this particular one because just last week she was transferred from the church militant to the church triumphant, and I have spent a lot of time since then reflecting on her life.

Mrs. Elizabeth Scott, known affectionately as “Miss” Elizabeth, was 76. She was a quiet, humble woman who did not have a high-profile ministry, yet the church was packed for her funeral. The hundreds of people who attended were deeply moved by her death. I was particularly struck by my conversations with the women. I thought that Miss Elizabeth was my special encourager—my personal fan club—my cheerleader. Since knowing her, I have had more confidence to assume responsibilities because I knew she was in my corner praying and cheering me on. What astounded me was that it seemed as if every woman there had the same relationship with her! She had done for them what she had done for me—yet it had been done in such a quiet way that we each thought we were her special project.

I simply could not believe the women who talked about their families being invited to a meal in her home, or those who told how she had invited them to our church, or how she had been the first person to greet them when they visited the church, or the women who talked about receiving cards and telephone calls from her.

As I have contemplated the power of her life, I have also been struck with what she did not do. Gossip, complaint, and criticism had no part in her life.

Miss Elizabeth loved the young women in the church. We often heard her say, “I’m so thankful for our young women. They are the ones who will carry on.” Although we have decided that none of us can fill her shoes, we are determined to collectively work together to fill the huge vacuum created by her death. She showed us what women in a local church should be. She left us a precious legacy.

At her funeral, my husband read Proverbs 31. A reverent awe fell over the congregation as each verse was read because we realized that here was an accurate description of this godly woman. Other Proverbs 31 women, such as Elisabeth Elliot and Edith Schaeffer are also my heroines; however, they are “comfortable” heroines because I can excuse myself for not measuring up to who and what they are. As I stand before the memory of Miss Elizabeth, I feel some discomfort because I have no excuse. But I also feel challenged because what she was and what she did, any Christian woman can be and do. She had no extraordinary gifts or circumstances. She simply loved Jesus and lived each day for his glory. She imitated him by serving those around her.

Her son expressed it well: “No verbal defense could ever validate the gospel like Mama’s life of love did.”

She was what I want to be: the essence of a spiritual mother. It is because women like Miss Elizabeth have been willing to enter into nurturing relationships with younger women, to encourage and equip them to live for God’s glory, that I have had the privilege of seeing Titus 2:3–5 in action. My theories have not only been validated, they have also been expanded beyond anything I could have imagined; I now have a passion to see the Titus principle operative in the lives of Christian women.

Part 1

The Mandate

But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. 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.

TITUS 2:1–5

Julie’s Story

I went to the Health Care Center with the idea that I was going to encourage some of the elderly patients. It happened the other way around. I was the one who was encouraged because of time spent with a wise woman of the Lord.

I had never met Mrs. Johnson, but conversation came easily. Soon she told me that she felt there was no purpose for living anymore, and she wished the Lord would take her to himself. Then our conversation shifted to the Lord. As we talked about his faithfulness and his sovereignty, Mrs. Johnson agreed that since she was still here, the Lord had a reason for it. She began talking about her gratitude for God’s care throughout her life. She told me how she had become a Christian and changed her lifestyle, and how she had prayed for her husband and her mother for many years and then seen the Lord work in their hearts and draw them to himself.

As she told story after story of God’s working in her life, I was reminded of God’s faithfulness to his people. I saw in Mrs. Johnson a loyal and obedient servant, one who had humbled herself in order to give God the glory in her life. As I listened, I became aware that I had discovered a treasure: A present-day godly role model of Christian womanhood that is a rarity in this day and age. As she spoke of her husband, she exhorted me to love my husband. When I told her I was excited about having children and that I wanted to stay at home with them, she beamed and told me that was the most important thing I could do. What unusual advice to receive in this illustrious, modern age! This was an encouragement to me, a young woman seeking to please the Lord in a society that says “fulfill yourself” and “demand your rights.”

An hour had passed, and Mrs. Johnson apologized for talking so long. She seemed surprised when I told her what a blessing she had been to me.

What a pity that this godly woman, with a lifetime’s store of wisdom, lives a lonely and secluded life with no one even acknowledging, much less benefiting from, her treasure of knowledge. When I left, we were both smiling. She had been of value to someone, and I had gained precious wisdom. A simple Biblical principle had been put into practice, and God had blessed it. The Titus principle tells older women to train and encourage younger women. Too often today, older women are an untapped resource in our churches, while younger women are searching for Proverbs 31 women whom they can emulate. God’s answer solves both problems.

Julie Garland

St. Louis, Missouri

1

Our Reference Point

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . .

how often I have longed to gather your children together,