100 Christian Women Who Changed the 20th Century

Mama, You’ve Got the Goods

~ Bev Parker ~ Leave a comment

One of the reasons Satan hates mothers so much is because that’s who has always defeated him–mamas in the trenches, fighting the “good fight” of faith. We’re not on TV, no one knows our names. There are books about famous Christian women who changed history, but the fact is no one book could hold all our names. You and I, in prayer right now, are changing history. We don’t need other people to know, because God knows.

I am loving Colleen Mitchell’s words in Who Does He Say You Are?: “God designed as a first earthly home for himself the pefect vessel, the receptacle of grace without flaw, and it was a woman . . . “ We women, receptacles of grace and banded in prayer, are breaking the back of the evil that besets our children from every side. I, for one, am refusing the unending pressure to put anything and everything before prayer and warfare.

We begin to win when we defeat the lies of “feminism” and turn to our Maker, in perfectly lovely femininity, saying “Yes” to the lover of our souls. More from Colleen Mitchell: “We stand together under the shadow of the spirit, and the Most High God comes to dwell in us–in you and me. It only takes our yes.”

It only takes our yes. She continues, “And the yes releases the wild grace of growth, of swelling hope in us, of an intimate relationship with the one who is saving us even as we carry him.”

Father, help me to make you more at home in me. Again, Colleen Mitchell: “And when we have grown full and stretched wide to cradle this light, we open ourselves to its pushing, and it spills out of us, a love and a life that brings saving life to all who long for it.”

Ladies, we’re “it” and we’re here, to quote a marvelous man named Mordecai, “for such a time as this.” We’re here for “life that brings saving life . . .”

P.S. This aint for sissies, so don’t expect any of it, ever, to be easy. But do expect, and accept nothing else but, Victory!

P.P.S. All women are Mamas, even if our kids are grown, or don’t speak to us, or we never had biological children. As Christian women who hold Jesus in our hearts, we see all children as ours. We are Mamas, and we’ve got the goods!

Skip to the Moms

~ Bev Parker ~ Leave a comment

I’m reading 100 CHRISTIAN WOMEN WHO CHANGED THE 20TH CENTURY by Helen Kooiman Hosier and I’ve skipped to the moms.  There are several categories into which the chosen women are divided:  speaking/writing; Bible study ministry/education; and categories including arts; missions, social change, etc.  The last category, and the one with the fewest women included is  Marriage/Motherhood.

I intend to read every category and no doubt be blessed and inspired by every woman’s story, but I began with the most important category and I was not disappointed.  I asked the question regarding these women, and indeed all women who do great things for God:  “Yes, but who was the mother?”  This book delivered.  Indeed, the first mother mentioned was Mary Lee Bright.  That’s right, the mother of Bill Bright (Vonette Bright is one of the women honored in this book).

We all know the saying, “Behind every great man is a great woman,” and we always think that is only his wife.  But it is also his mother, and if she does her job, she will be a key player in the success of his marriage, in the blessing and leading of his wife.  Naomi to Ruth is what we’re looking at here.

Skip to the mom.  Be the mom.  Bless the mom.   And then, whether or not you’re listed in a marvelous book such as 100 CHRISTIAN WOMEN WHO CHANGED THE 20TH CENTURY, you will nevertheless change the world.