Bible Encouragement for Women

By Gail Slawson

Then the Lord graciously saved her, and she has praised Him ever since. Psalm 40:2-3a "He brought me up also out of an hirrubke oil, out of the miey clay, and set my feet upon a Rock, and established my going. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God:"

Her daily prayer: "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Galatians 6:14

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665577557

Gail Slawson

The Author is a 75 year old wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She and her husband of 55 years have 4 children and each one of them is married. Also, her family has 19 precious grandchildren five of whom are already in heaven, two grand-son-in laws, one grand-daughter-in-law and five great-grandchildren. She attended church all her life, but never saw herself a lost sinner in need of a Savior until she was 28 years old. It was then that the Holy Spirit convicted her of her sins and she was brought to repentance Luke10:19 " For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. "

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© 2022 Gail Slawson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   12/15/2022

ISBN: 978-1-6655-7756-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-7757-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-7755-7 (e)

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this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views

of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version

(Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic

Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Contents

Women In The Bible

Eve: The First Mother

Elizabeth, The Mother of John the Baptist

Mary, The Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ

Sarah’s Handmaid, Hagar

Two Faithful Women

Esther, A Woman Used By God

Hannah, Full of Grace

The Obedient Unnamed Mother

Phoebe, A Sister In Jesus Christ

The Self-Sacrificing Unnamed Mother

Noah’s Wife, The Mother of Shem, Ham and Japheth

Samson’s Mother

Martha, The Anxious Homemaker

Mary Magdalene

A Biblical Marriage

Bible Verses For Wives

When You Pray

The Better Way

Good Tidings Of Great Joy

Who Is The Christ of Christmas?

Take Heed During This Christmas Season

Preparing Your Heart For the New Year

A New Year, A New Beginning

Pressing Forward In The New Year

Guiding Children In God’s Way

Training Children

Building Our Homes---The Foundation

Keeping A Godly Home

Come Like Children

Teach Them Diligently

Lois and Eunice, Timothy’s Grandmother and Mother

God’s Protective Hand

Dwell Together In Unity

Forgiveness

Search The Scriptures

Sharing the Beauty of God’s Creation With My Mother

A Joyful Crying Christian

My Heart Is Fixed

Anchor of The Soul

Wearisome Words

Through The Flood

My Heart Is Fixed

Forgiveness

Remembering God’s Blessings

Taste and See

Milk Of The Word

The Old Tattered Bible

Underneath Are The Everlasting Arms

God Says, I Will Be With Thee

Are You An Overcomer

Commitment To Hiding God’s Word In My Heart

What Does The Lord Require of Thee?

Adopted By God

Joy In Purpose

Eyes On The Lord

When I Consider

Living Victoriously

Upheld By God’s Hand

Strength For Today

The Just Shall Live By Faith

Joy Cometh In The Morning

The Grandeur of God’s Creation

Surrendering Our Will

The Refining Process

Our Compassionate God

Edification or Gossip?

Guidance For Joy In Bible Study

Use Your Bible

Bible Encouragement For Fathers

A Christian Mother’s Virtue

And When You Pray

Stop and Pray

A Woman of Virtue

The Whole Duty of Man

Life-Giving Sound

Upheld By The Lord’s Hand

The Rainbow Covenant

Under His Wings

God’s Kind Care

God’s Kind Care

When I Consider

Apple of God’s Eye

A Journey of God’s Faithfulness

A Lesson On Humility

A Strong Tower

Sharing the Beauty of God’s Creation With My Mother

Making Disciples

Spiritual Dryness

Pressing Forward

The Lord Is My Light

Brokenness, A Way of Life

The Whole Duty of Man

Go and Make Disciples

God’s Sovereign Hand

Pastors Appreciation

Songs of Thanksgiving

Moses Song Exodus 15:1-21

Hannah’s Song I Samuel 12:1-10

David’s Song of Thanksgiving

Mary’s Song of Thanksgiving

I Have Found A Friend In Jesus

Count Your Blessings

He Maketh No Mistake

Prayer

Study Prayer

Calling God’s People To Worship

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

Women In The Bible

Proverbs 11:16 A gracious woman attains honor…

Eve, The First Mother

Elizabeth, The Mother of John the Baptist

Mary, The Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ

Sarah’s Handmaid, Hagar

Two Faithful Women

Esther, A Woman Used By God

Hannah, Full of Grace

The Obedient Unnamed Mother

Phoebe, A Sister In Jesus Christ

The Self-Sacrificing Unnamed Mother

Noah’s Wife, The Mother of Shem, Ham and Japheth

Samson’s Mother

Martha, The Anxious Homemaker

The Better Way: Following The Examples Of The Godly Women In The Bible Is the Only Way

Eve: The First Mother

Genesis 3:20 "And Adam called his wife’s name

Eve; because she was the mother of all living."

Eve is fascinating to study because she was the first woman on earth and all her experiences were firsts. We don’t learn a lot about her after chapter four of Genesis, but as we consider her situation, we know that since she was the mother of all living, she was the first woman to have a child; consequently, she was the first woman to experience labor pains and the first woman to be amazed at the miracle of life, with the birth of the first child ever born, Cain. I have gotten a man from the Lord. Genesis 4:1 Even to this day, the miracle of the birth of a baby still brings amazement and wonder.

Eve was also the first woman to feel the joy and satisfaction of motherhood and to experience it’s many trials, too. She did not have a mother or any other woman to look to for guidance and help, but God gave her the knowledge and the innate ability to know how to care for this child. This should be an encouragement to any mother who may have feelings of uncertainty about caring for and raising her child/children. God gives you the wisdom and help to know what to do. Call upon Him at all times.

Sadly, Eve also saw the physical result other disobedience to God, for God had said to her and Adam, if they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree. thou shalt surely die Genesis 2:17. She also experienced grief and anguish at the death of her son, Able. To add to the sorrow, it was not a normal death, but a murder by the hand of her firstborn son, Cain.

Let us as mother’s and grandmother’s take heed and be warned by Eve’s disobedience that there are consequences of our sins that can have far reaching effects on our children and grandchildren. How careful we ought to be, to live godly lives and teach our children the Word of God. Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; Even when he is old he will not depart from it. The things we do or fail to do have eternal consequences.

Theme: The Better Way: Being A Mother is Good: Being A Mother In Obedience To God’s Word Is Better

Elizabeth, The Mother

of John the Baptist

The Christmas Story, the story of the birth of Jesus Christ, involves one special wife and mother besides Mary. Her name is Elizabeth, the wife of Zacharius, a priest. She was chosen by God to be the mother of John the Baptist, who was born six months before Jesus Christ.

Unlike Mary who was young, Elizabeth was old and never expected to have any children. She and her husband are described as righteous in the sight of God, and as walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. Luke 1:6. What an amazing and wonderful statement! Righteous meaning they were believers, justified in God’s sight, not within their own selves, but through Jesus Christ. Blameless does not mean sinless but means a life that cannot be criticized because of sin or evil.

Elizabeth’s one main hardship that we are made aware of is that she was barren and did not have any children. During that time and culture barrenness was seen as a disgrace among men. Luke 1:25. Still this condition of childlessness did not turn her into an angry bitter woman, but as we read she remained faithful to God throughout her life. What a wonderful testimony to her trust in God! Then when she finds herself expecting a child, how we can share in her joy and gratitude as she says, The Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me. Luke 1:25

As we read on in the account of Elizabeth, we see that God had kept her for one purpose, to be the mother of John the Baptist, a very special man, a man filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb. Luke 1:17. A man who was set apart for a special task in life-to announce the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. God chose her to take part in the fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy. Malachi 3:1 Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. John the Baptist said of himself, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. Mark 1:7

For most of her life, Elizabeth was an obscure woman but her life is a wonderful example of faithfulness and devotion to God. Living a life of commitment and above reproach, she trusted that God’s will for her life’s situation was best and accepted this with grace, never wavering in her faith.

Long suffering and patience are all part of her character and qualities that we should all seek diligently to make a part of our commitment to God through our husbands, homes and families.

The Better Way: A life of commitment and dedication to God’s Will is the Better Way

Mary, The Mother of

the Lord Jesus Christ

Luke 2:19 "But Mary treasured all these

things, pondering them in her heart."

How I love to read the wonderful story of Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. She was a young humble virtuous Jewish woman betrothed to a godly, upright Jewish man named Joseph. (I use the word betrothed because it carries with it a much more binding relationship than the word engaged, which we use. Although not living together as husband and wife, a divorce was necessary to end the relationship.)

An angel, named Gabriel, came to Mary, calling her highly favored Luke 1:28. How amazing is that? Then she was told some marvelous news, which she could hardly comprehend. But she knew about the promised Messiah as recorded in Isaiah 7:14, Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear e son, and shall call His name Immanuel. And she was looking expectantly for the Him.

She also knew of God’s covenant with Abraham as recorded in Genesis Chapter 12. Yet, was she to be His mother? In her innocence she asked, How can this be? When the angel answered her, Mary humbly and tenderly believed and said, Be it unto me according to thy word. Luke 1:38.

Then the angel revealed to Joseph in a dream that the baby Mary was expecting was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Being a righteous man, Joseph also believed and obeyed all he was commanded. As God’s Word says in Matthew 1:24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife. So he took Mary into his own home, but did not have relations with her until after Jesus was born.

Traveling to visit her cousin Elisabeth, who was also expecting a child, whom we know was John the Baptist, she spoke these words, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. Luke 1:16. Yes, Mary was very aware that she, too, was a sinner and that she, too, was in need of a Savior.

Then came the news about the census (Luke 2:1) and Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem, which was according to prophecy, But as for you, Bethlehem...... from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel, His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity. Micah 5:2

Most mothers are aware of the time when their baby’s birth is near, and so also was Mary. I can picture her lovingly and with great care and anticipation, packing all the items necessary for her little baby boy’s birth. She would need the long white cloth called

swaddling cloth (Luke 2:7) and. all those items necessary for His birth and care. The Jews had many laws for washing and cleanliness and I feel sure these were not neglected. Although the surroundings of Jesus’ birth were of the most humble in nature (so He could identify with even the lowest of people), that does not mean He was allowed to wallow in filth.

The next amazing event for Mary that wonderful night was when the shepherds came and worshiped her little son. Seeing her tiny helpless baby, yet knowing He was the Son of God, she must have marveled as she watched these shepherds show such reverence and awe for Him. The Scriptures record that Mary ``treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart." Luke 2:19

So we see in Mary the characteristics of virtue, humility, tenderness and a believing heart, qualities that all of us as women should desire and strive for.

The Better Way: Living Our Lives To Honor And Glorify God Is The Better Way

Sarah’s Handmaid, Hagar

I must leave, said Hagar in desperation to herself. Expecting a child by her master Abraham, Hagar had wrongfully shown an open attitude of contempt toward her mistress, Sarah. Thus the mistress-servant relationship has been broken and Hagar was treated so harshly by Sarah she felt compelled to flee from her presence. Genesis 16:6 Even though Hagar was an Egyptian, while living in the household of Abraham and Sarah, she had been introduced to the One True God. Now fearful and alone, sitting beside the spring on the way to Shur, (Genesis 16:7) an Angel of the Lord came and spoke to her saying, Where have you come from and where are you going? (Genesis 16:8) Replying that she was running away from her mistress, the Angel instructed her to go back and humbly submit to Sarah’s control and authority with respect.

Hagar was then given many promises concerning Ishmael, the son of Abraham, who was to be born to her. The Lord had heard her and gave attention to her affliction. Filled with wonder and thanksgiving, she called the Lord who spoke to her, El-Roi The God Who Sees Me. Genesis 16:13. The