Place Your Full Confidence in God

 Scripture to Memorize: A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. Proverbs 31:10–11 Passage to Read: “For your Maker is your husband— the Lord Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit— a wife who married young, only to be rejected,” says your God. Isaiah 54:5–6 Guided Prayer  Dear heavenly Husband, how I thank you for choosing me to be your bride! I don’t pretend to understand all that this means, but I do know your Word says it’s true. You are my Husband. You are the one who loves, protects, and provides—even if you do it through my earthly husband. I acknowledge that you are the one behind every good thing in my life. It’s awesome to know that you are almighty. You have all might, all power in your hands. Therefore no situation in my life and no challenge I’ll encounter during these next ninety days will be more than you can handle. Thank you for being a redeemer, the one who can take something worthless and transform it into something valuable. I invite you to redeem every area of my life that has potential for greater value. Thank you for calling me back to a closer walk with you. At times I have felt deserted, distressed, and abandoned, sometimes by people in my life and sometimes—I want to be honest enough to admit—I’ve even felt like you have deserted me. Thank you for promising to never leave me or forsake me. The truth is, whenever there’s been a distance between us, I’m the one who has walked away from you. I long to draw near to you once more; draw me close to you through the pages of this book. Thank you for calling me back once again. Amen. Personal We place the highest value on the scarcest commodities. M&M’s are made from cheap ingredients and available for easy grabbing on your way out the door at any convenience store. But you won’t find diamonds within reach on aisle nine. No, high-quality diamonds are locked away behind the counter, and only serious buyers get to take a closer look. Today, more than ever before, a woman of noble character is hard to find. To be noble means to be dignified and gracious. In the Amplified Bible, the word for noble is rendered “capable, intelligent, and virtuous.” A woman like that is not easy to come by anymore. God wants us to stand out as women who know we have something valuable to offer the world. We are capable, intelligent, and virtuous women who inspire full confidence in those who rely on us most, whether our husband, children, employer, or co-worker. The people around us can have full confidence in us because we have full confidence in God and we live accordingly. You can have full confidence in God no matter what season of life you’re in right now. Maybe you’re a mother at home with small children. Or an empty nester. You may be single . . . or single again. I don’t know what situation you’re in, but I do know who is in the midst of that situation with you: a loving God who cares so much for you that he paid the ultimate price so you and he never have to spend even one day apart. He laid down his life to ensure that someday you’ll be the honored guest at the ultimate wedding in heaven, when Jesus celebrates the church as his eternal bride (see Revelation 21). In today’s Passage to Read, God declares himself our Husband. Since we’ll be studying in depth the Proverbs 31 woman—the wife of noble character—the passage in Isaiah is an ideal place to start. You may or may not have an earthly husband, but you do have a heavenly Husband. Married or single, God wants you to be his wife of noble character. So this study of Proverbs 31 is relevant to all of us. I want to encourage you to listen for his encouragement along your journey, whether or not you receive any positive feedback from anyone else. You may live with a critical husband or be in an otherwise difficult marriage or family relationship. Remember, you are on the road to becoming the woman God wants you to be. Ideally, everyone shares the same goals for you as God does. Hopefully, everyone you know wants you to be the very best you can be, but that’s not necessarily the case. Some of you live with people who seem determined to discourage you or people who want to drag you down. Don’t focus on human feedback. Focus on your relationship with your heavenly Husband and live to please him. As God transforms your life, you’ll become an ever more beautiful bride and a woman whose noble character eventually brings her praise from the most important people in her life, whether that’s your husband, children, extended family, or circle of friends. It may not happen overnight, but I believe someday our children (whether physical or spiritual) will stand up and acknowledge what God has done in and through our lives (see Prov. Meanwhile, enjoy the inner satisfaction that comes from becoming the woman God wants you to be. To begin our journey together, I want you to complete a simple but important exercise: writing your Personal Vision Statement. 1. List two of your unique personal qualities (e.g., creativity, enthusiasm). 2. List one or two ways you enjoy expressing those qualities when interacting with others (e.g., through supporting, inspiring). 3. Assume the world is perfect. Then describe it as you see it—what are people doing, how are they interacting, what does it feel like (e.g., everyone is freely expressing his or her talents in harmonious and loving ways)? 4. Combine your three answers above into a single statement (e.g., “My personal vision statement is to use my creativity and enthusiasm to support and inspire others to freely express their talents in a harmonious and loving way.”). It’s really pretty simple. Here’s what I wrote: 1. Energetic, powerful 2. Challenging, motivating 3. Everyone is actively serving God by serving others, thereby making the world a better place. Therefore: 4. My Personal Vision Statement is to use my energetic, powerful communication skills to challenge and motivate Christians to go into all the world, impacting lives and making the world a better place. There you have your first assignment and your first step toward becoming the woman God wants you to be. Affirmation: I place my full confidence in God. He has a good purpose for my life. Practical  Now it’s your turn. Become the woman you want to be—start with a clear Personal Vision Statement. 1. Two unique personal qualities: 2. How you enjoy expressing these qualities: 3. What people are doing in the ideal world: 4. Combine into one sentence: Notebook: Assemble your notebook as described on page 19, if you haven’t done so already. Write your Personal Vision Statement on the first page of your notebook.