About Being Strong, and Knowing You Have Worth

So I didn't go to CrossFit this evening.  I was tired, I am sore, there was crazy traffic, I was almost out of gas, etcetera... but anyway, here I am, showered and happy, sitting in my quiet room at home before 5 p.m.  Very nice.  😀



So let's ease into Exodus, chapter 1.  Here, for our convenience, I have copied and pasted the text.  Let us begin.

These are the names of the sons of Israel (that is, Jacob) who moved to Egypt with their father, each with his family:
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin,
Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.  In all, Jacob had seventy descendants in Egypt, including Joseph, who was already there.

In time, Joseph and all of his brothers died, ending that entire generation.  But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land.



Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done.

(Here begins the conflict; the previous Pharaoh had put Joseph as his second hand man, more powerful than everyone but Pharaoh himself.  Pharaoh took great care to honor Joseph's requests and gave land and provisions to Joseph's family.  Now Joseph, his father and all his brothers are passed away.  Here comes this new king who's like, "Joseph WHO?"

He said to his people, "Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are.  We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don't, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us. Then they will escape from the country."

{"All these Israelites got me like..."}

So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king.

But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became.



So the Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy.
They made their lives bitter, forcing them to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the work in the fields. They were ruthless in all their demands.

Then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave this order to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah:  "When you help the Hebrew women as they give birth, watch as they deliver. If the baby is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live."





(Sorry... LOL... no but seriously...)

But because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king's orders. They allowed the boys to live, too.



So the king of Egypt called for the midwives. "Why have you done this?" he demanded. "Why have you allowed the boys to live?"
"The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women," the midwives replied. "They are more vigorous and have their babies so quickly that we cannot get there in time."

(Here we have an example of God perhaps honoring a little white lie??  Hmmm.  That's one to think on.)

So God was good to the midwives, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful.

And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

(Look at God.  Look at what God always does.  You stick with God, God will do right by you E-V-E-R-Y time.)

Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Throw every newborn Hebrew boy into the Nile River. But you may let the girls live."

(Apparently, Pharaoh did not know many women very well!  We can get a notion and make ruckus better than or equal to men!  haha)

I have to stop here and give props to those 2 midwives.  Those two women "feared God" and were strong enough in their beliefs to do what their GUT told them was right.  Ane their bold actions produced results that influenced, eventually, the rest of the world!

Strong women.



Never see yourself as inconsequential.  Your life, and your contributions, have VALUE.  I'll admit, I struggle with that, myself.  Comparing myself to others, weighing the abilities or the roles of others against mine, and feeling less-than.  But I see in this chapter, that is not the case.


You be you.  And you do what YOU do best.  And God says this to you:

Jeremiah 29:11New International Version (NIV)

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

I urge you... cling to that promise.  You're not just a whoever or a whatever.  You belong to the One who IS Love.  And that One is always with you, always listening, eager to hear your voice, waiting to strengthen and comfort you.