Women

               Yesterday’s activities seemed random until reflecting on them made me realize it was all about women – strong, courageous, loving, hurting, passionate, lonely, intelligent, caring, discouraged, smiling, laughing, happy, sad.  Moms, grandmas, aunts, wives, married, single, divorced. Women who met together in person, over the Internet, or in fiction.

                The first women attended my new Bible study in Georgia. The one who led the study presented her insights about Psalm 119 and encouraged all to share and learn in her sweet, twangy, Texas transplanted to Georgia accent. As the women focused on God’s word, they also talked about their lives and their hopes, dreams and struggles. Before the study, one woman noticed that two nametags laid out on the table shared the same unusual last name. “These two must be related,” she called out. Later the answer was provided by prayer requests from the two women with the same name. Pray for my son; he has walked away from his faith. Pray for me for me; my marriage has fallen apart; I am exhausted and panicked. If you are one who prays, please lift up this mother and her daughter-in-law who came together to seek solace and hope.

                My old Minnesota Bible study met yesterday, too. With them, the sharing was less immediate but no less personal.  Internet provided the connection, not proximity. The study of Mary who sat at Jesus feet opened up wounds for some, creating a vulnerability we don’t always want to have. Yet it opened the door for others to minister to their sisters in Christ. Discussion focused on how we are valuable to God. Too often we think it is in what we do, or how often we say yes and get busy again for the Lord.  Mary’s story reminds us that our value to God is not in what we do, but in the fact that He wants us to sit at His feet and learn, not just keep ourselves busy doing or making ourselves somehow more acceptable to Him. He accepts us and loves us as we are.

                Women Who Read is my Minnesota book club. The book assigned for July is historical fiction set in New York City in 1984. (Yes, friends born before 1975 or so, fiction set in 1984 is historical and not contemporary realistic fiction.) Philippe Petit’s dance on the high-wire stretched across the 200 feet  between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, more than a quarter of a mile above the city streets,  provides the focal point for the story.  The account chronicles vignettes of separate groups of people and significant events in their lives that day. I just finished the second section of the book about a diverse group of women whose one point of connection was the death of their sons in Vietnam.  They struggled with their pain and frustration, yet they laughed together, too. They came from two ends of the city literally and figuratively, yet they connected and found hope and help together.

                Women at a Mary Kay Party may evoke thoughts of vanity or self-indulgence, but this Mary Kay party had a very different focus. Indeed, while this Pampering with a Purpose party provided the skin care ideas and the makeup suggestions, the real purpose was to support moms who deal with children who are severely physically and/or mentally disabled.  Pampering with a Purpose is a regional Mary Kay focus to provide specifically targeted care to moms who often put themselves last. The consultant, who is featured in the linked video, told the story of her own daughter, Jordan, who died in her sleep at age 13 from complications of multiple conditions. Six of us sat around the table, and I was the only one who did not have a disabled child. Beth’s oldest bonus son has cerebral palsy, but each of the other ladies is a mom of a child with very severe problems that require constant care and supervision. Some of their conditions don’t even have a diagnosis because they are so complicated or rare. They have probably already outlived their original life expectancy. Overwhelmed by their stories, I saw that they loved those children unconditionally. They were tired, stressed, unsure, coping most of the time, and struggling to find ways to help their child. Mama Bears don’t fight harder for their cub than these moms fight for hope for their child. Compassionately, the women listened to each other’s stories and provided ideas for the newest mom.  Pampering for them came in the fact that a husband or someone made it possible for them to gather together for some laughter, some beautifying, and a break.

                One more strong woman is on my list today, my Minnesota friend and co-worker Deb. Her husband died yesterday after several years of a courageous battle with cancer. Deb was beside him for every step of that journey. She and their family and friends prayed for a miracle, but his healing didn’t come in the way she hoped.  She has been a strong and private woman doing everything she could to help him and her family, but she will need more strength and support in the days ahead. I wish I could be there to help, but I know God has provided a few really special friends who will be in her life.

                I raise my hands in a salute to these women even as I fall to my knees to pray for them all.