Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Faith

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And Mary said, "My soul magnifies and extols the Lord,

And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."

Luke 1:46-47

Mary humbly accepts God's will for her life

 "Then Esther told them to give this answer to Mordecai:

Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan,

and fast for me: and neither eat nor drink for three days,

night and day. I also and my maids will fast as you do.

Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law;

and if I perish, I perish."

Esther 4:16

Esther defied royal protocol in the name of

the Most High God and saved her people and herself

from the terrible fate imposed upon them by Haman.

Hannah prayed and said,

 "My heart exults and triumphs in

the Lord; my horn (my strength)

 is lifted up in the Lord. My mouth

is no longer silent,

 for it is opened wide over my enemies,

because I rejoice in Your salvation."

1 Samuel 2:1

Barren Hannah prays for a son

"And Ruth said, "Urge me not to leave you 

or to turn back from following you;

 for where you go I will go, 

and where you lodge I will lodge. 

Your people shall be my people

 and your God my God.

Where you die I will die, 

and there will I be buried. 

The Lord do so to me,

and more also,

 if anything but death

 parts me from you."

Ruth 1:16-17

 Widowed Ruth emerged from the heathen culture

of Moab to embrace the faith of her mother-in-law, Naomi,

in the One True God. 

"And Deborah  said to Barak:

 "Up! For this day when the Lord has given Sisera

into your hand, Is not the Lord gone out before you?

So Barak went down to Mount Tabor

 with 10,000 men following him."

Judges 4:14

The Spirit of the Living God elevates prophetess Deborah above

her people in the midst of battle against their enemies!

" 'With my mouth,' God says,

 'I kiss my own chosen creation.

 I uniquely, lovingly, embrace every image

 I have made out of the earth’s clay.

 With a fiery spirit I transform it

 into a body to serve all the world.'"

-Hildegard von Bingen

(1098-1179)

 Portrait of Hildegard von Bingen

 by Morgan Ungerott

But since God had commanded me to go, I must do it.

 And since God had commanded it, 

had I had a hundred fathers and a hundred mothers, 

and had I been a king's daughter, 

I would have gone."

-Joan of Arc 

1412-1431 

Joan of Arc

Portrait by Alphonse Mucha

 Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Written By Fanny Crosby

(1873)

 Prolific Christian Poet/Songwriter

Frances Jane "Fanny" van Alstyne Crosby

1820-1915 

 “It is a law of the spiritual life 

that every act of trust

 makes the next act less difficult.

 Trusting becomes like breathing,

 the natural unconsciousness

 of the redeemed soul.” 

-Hannah Whitall  Smith

Hannah Whitall Smith

(1832-1911) 

  "God has shown me

 that from now on to pray

 in this way for Jerusalem 

will be the  highest form of service

 that I can render Him. "

"Appointment In Jerusalem"

-Derek and Lydia Prince

Mother In Israel

Lydia Christensen Prince

(1890-1975)