Faithful Women & Their Extraordinary God

I've been in a slump... spiritually speaking that is. The past month has just been so incredibly busy that I have gotten off schedule with my quiet times more times than not, and I have had a tough time figuring out a new reading routine for this year. To add variety to my quiet time, I just ordered the book, "Faithful Women & Their Extraordinary God," by Noel Piper. Its a compilation of biographies on various women within the past 300 or so years that have had a profound impact on Christianity today. I'm only 42 pages in, and I'm hooked. What a testimony these women have! What an encouragement their lives are to us as believing women! I highly recommend this book to anyone- especially Christian women. We really don't have a lot of role models out there, and it has been refreshing to see God work extravagantly in the lives of ordinary women.

Since Abby's birth, I have had several moments where I have wondered if staying at home with Abby really matters. Like many others, I have wondered if I am truly making an impact on the world and am afraid of becoming insignificant. Maybe that's why I find the testimony of Sarah Edwards particularly inspiring.

A few facts that are too interesting and too inspirational to keep to myself.

Even though she was just a pastor's wife and stay-at-home mom and wife in the 1700's, her legacy lives on.

A study in the 1900's on the family's descendants from her marriage with Jonathon Edwards showed that their descendants produced:

• 13 college presidents
• 65 professors
• 100 lawyers and a dean of a law school
• 30 judges
• 66 physicians and a dean of a medical school
• 80 holders of public office, including: 3 US senators, mayors of 3 large cities, governors of 3 large states, a vice president of the US, and a controller of the US treasury

We are sinning if we underestimate or shun God's calling in our lives.

I am learning it is not the career we choose or the praise of man that determines significance. Rather, true significance is defined by whether or not we faithfully pursue the personal calling that God extends to each of us... that place of existence where we obediently and joyfully serve Him in the capacity He has designed exclusively for us. Only then are we truly happy. Only then are we truly useful to our Master.