Proverbs 31…We know it like the back of our hand. We’ve read, studied and dissected this lone chapter of the Bible set apart specifically for women. I personally grew up listening to my mom read this chapter over and over and listened to her teach it to women. I’ve done countless studies on the “Proverbs 31 Woman” and tried earnestly to meet the expectations set for women in this chapter.

But for the last 4 years or so of my life, I tuned out. I stopped reading Proverbs 31, I stopped reading Bible-studies on it, and basically got sick of this chapter. I knew that I could never amount to, or be like the Proverbs 31 Woman! I could recite this chapter, teach it to my sisters, quote it for the encouragement for my friends, but I was so, so, tired of it.

Until just the other morning, my mom and I were up early, drinking coffee and talking. My mom had just got a new devotional book (believe it or not) on Proverbs 31! I was happy for her, but secretly rolled my eyes. I mean, how many books on Proverbs 31 are out there, right?! So my mom and I started discussing the chapter…again. Then suddenly, she shared with me an eye opening secret that changed my entire perspective on this chapter.

My mom told me that I already AM the Proverbs 31 Woman! God gave us this chapter yes, as a guideline to help us learn to be a good homemaker, wife, mother and a stewardess of our home, but also to encourage us and tell us that this is what we are! Not what we have to strive to be like. We are FAR ABOVE RUBIES, we are honorable wives, we are beautiful homemakers, and we are special in the sight of the Lord. This helped me see that I don’t have to work and work for the status of the perfect Proverbs 31 Woman. Because I am the Proverbs 31 Woman! This is how God sees me. After realizing that, I went up to my room and poured over the chapter with a new mindset. I was blessed and ministered to from that chapter for the first time in a while. I wasn’t reading it with an outlook that told me that I wasn’t good enough yet, that I still had so many flaws and that I would never be good enough for my family. For the first time while reading Proverbs 31, I wasn’t comparing myself to the image of someone I could never be. I was seeing myself in the chapter as God intended me to see it.

So, thank you mom, and thank you Jesus that you see me as the Proverbs 31 Woman.

~Lisa