Strength and Honor Are Her Clothing - Revisited and Updated

Jeepers, it's been almost two years since I originally wrote/posted this...but I was thinking about eagles today and was looking for something that I had written about them in the past...and rediscovered this post not only about eagles, but about my favorite flannel shirt...Yes...it is still my favorite...just haven't had a chance to wear it YET this fall...but we hear tell that cooler weather is on its way perhaps even tonight...so I need to go find it and get it ready to wear!!  Meanwhile...get a cup of tea (or coffee), pull up a rocking chair on the porch, and let's just visit a while.  Fall/winter is our porch time here in Florida...I can hardly wait!!!  I hope wherever you are that you are having a blessed and beautiful day...

"Strength and honor are her clothing;

She shall rejoice in time to come."

Proverbs 31:25 NKJV

Original Post 1/27/2016

It seems like I just read this verse not long ago...oh, yes! I did! And I even wrote about it:

(Click HERE for THAT story)...but my emphasis was a little different. Today instead of the "she shall rejoice in the time to come" portion of the verse, I am thinking more about the "strength and honor are her clothing" section.  Why? Well, maybe because I got a new flannel shirt today and I wanted to show it off.  (That's true, but that's kind of a silly thing to write about, don't you think?)

I did actually get this new flannel shirt today. I don't know why that has evoked such sentiment and drama for me...but it has.  

You see, when my husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas I told him I really wanted a nice soft, cozy flannel shirt to wear around the house.  He didn't take me seriously and didn't realize that I truly wanted a flannel shirt for Christmas! So, needless to say, I didn't get one. Now here it is a month later, and I told him today when we went shopping at Walmart that I was going to buy myself a flannel shirt if they still had any. I looked first in the women's department, but didn't see what I wanted there, so I headed to the men's department, and lo! and behold! They had flannel shirts on sale!  I had to shuffle through the stacks to find one that would fit me in the color I wanted, and finally found the one and only one left.  I grabbed it and put it in my buggy before someone else came along and got it first!

When we returned home the first thing I did was pull off all the stickers and labels and put it in the wash so it could get washed and dried and ready to wear as soon as possible. This was such a special moment I asked my husband to take my picture in it.  I think he's still scratching his head over how I could be so thrilled over a simple thing like a flannel shirt.  Maybe next year he'll listen to me when I tell him what I want for Christmas!  

But this post isn't really about my new flannel shirt or getting what I want for Christmas. It's about Strength and Honor...the clothing of the "Proverbs 31" woman...that marvelous, amazing, blessed, strong, intelligent, faithful, godly woman that we all would love to be, but doubt we'll ever reach her level of "perfection".  Reaching a level of perfection in this life is not really my goal, and probably isn't yours either. We are just striving to make it through life one day at a time, dealing with whatever stresses or sorrows or unexpected issues that come our way and making it safely to the other side. 

I like what God said to the children of Israel in Isaiah 40:31~

"But those who wait on the Lord

shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint."

And again in Isaiah 30:15, God tells us:

"In returning and rest you shall be saved;

In quietness and confidence 

shall be your strength."

Further in Isaiah 30:18...

"Therefore the Lord will wait,

that He may be GRACIOUS to you;

And therefore He will be exalted, 

that He may have mercy on you.

For the Lord is a God of justice;

Blessed are all those who wait for Him."

I love these thoughts today...my strength comes from the Lord...

He has clothed me with His strength, 

His GRACE, 

His love, 

His mercy, 

His honor.

Sometimes we have to wait on the Lord for the best gifts to arrive...like my new flannel shirt.  

If I had received this new shirt on Christmas day I doubt that I would have thought so much about its significance. I might have missed this special deeper gift that God wanted to give me today.  I am glad that He waited to show me the hidden message of being blessed by waiting on Him.

Oh, by the way...did you see that magnificent picture of that eagle above?  That was another special "gift" from the Lord this past week.  Last weekend we had traveled on that same road and saw that gorgeous eagle perched high on that same tree. The problem was I had forgotten to take my camera along that day. Needless to say, I was quite frustrated with my lack of foresight.  Living in a national forest you would think I would have learned to always be prepared with a camera to capture pictures of whatever might happen to appear. Yeah, well...lesson learned.  So, a few days later we planned to travel back on that same route again.  This time I went prepared with camera in hand.  Sure enough as we approached the exact same area and tree, there he was!

That marvelous creature was perched and waiting for me as if to say, "what took you so long?".  I made my husband pull over and stop the car and I jumped out and started snapping pictures as fast as I could, fearing that the eagle would suddenly take off in flight and I would miss my opportunity again.  Thankfully he seemed to be quite content to stay right there and let me take as many pictures as my anxious to get going husband would allow....

Dear Friend...What are YOU wearing today?  Are you clothed in the strength and honor of the Lord? Are you waiting on HIM to show you His plan, His will, His love and strength and grace for your situation?  Oftentimes the best gifts of all come to us as we wait on the Lord.  Yes,

"Blessed are all those who wait for Him."

POST SCRIPT 10/24/17:  After "revisiting" and posting this earlier today I wanted to add an update on our vehicle situation. So many of you had been praying regarding our search for a "new" vehicle to replace the old car that was towed away a couple of weeks ago.  (More about THAT HERE) Well, after a long and frustrating search, I am so happy to report that today we found the "perfect" "new" (1997) Ford F150 Pickup Truck...Yes, that's right...this vehicle is for our son, who needs it for work, and it's a long story, but we are so thankful that after several disappointments God directed us to this truck...perfect for what he needs and in the price range we had pre-determined...

 So, thank you for your prayers...and I must say again:

           "Blessed are all those who wait for Him."  Amen!!

"She Can Laugh at the Days to Come"

"She can laugh at the days to come."

Proverbs 31:25, NIV

Quite a few years ago I attempted to write a devotional booklet for women based upon the "Proverbs 31 Woman".  You know the one...that marvelous example of womanhood that many of us would love to emulate, but all too often we sadly fall short and find ourselves thinking we can never measure up to her standards.  If you are interested in seeing some of what I did write, I'll leave a few links at the end of this post. You will quickly see what I mean about not measuring up...

Anyway, before writing this post I searched back through the things I had written from Proverbs 31, and discovered that I had written something for every verse in that chapter except for this particular verse 25.  I'm not sure why I skipped over this one. The other verses were certainly more difficult in some ways...

But let's look at the complete verse...in the New International Version it says:

"She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come."

The version of the Bible that I normally read is the New King James version, and it reads this way:

"Strength and honor are her clothing;

She shall rejoice in time to come."

Either way you read it, this Proverbs 31 woman has the courage (strength) and dignity to not worry about the days to come; she can actually LAUGH and REJOICE perhaps even in the face of adversity and the unknown.  Why? Because this woman has confidence in God...and she knows that no matter what, God is with her. She need not fear the future, because she knows WHO holds her future.

As most of you are aware by now, I just recently retired.  To be quite honest, it was a risky move, financially speaking.  There are many "unknowns" in my future...but there is One constant "KNOWN"...and that is the fact that God holds my future, and therefore I can enter into this season of life with a smile on my face and joy in my heart. Yes, I can "laugh at the days to come"...and with every new day of this retirement I am finding more and more ways to rejoice.  Thank you, Jesus!!

My prayer today is that other "Proverbs 31" women out there will learn how to laugh at the days to come with the confidence that God is already there...no matter what.

Now, if you want to go back and read a few of my early escapades attempting to be a "Proverbs 31 Woman"... and some other examples of this remarkable woman...check these out:

"An Inauspicious Beginning";  "First Snow"; "Another Faux Pas"; "Vanity, Oh Vanity"; "Who Can Find a Virtuous Wife?"; "Getting Fit, What's the Motive?"

Thank you, Lord, for this powerful example of a Godly woman. Help me, Lord, 

to rejoice in all the days to come.

Amen.