Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:25-26
You know that old saying about everybody having a story to tell? Maybe some stories are more exotic than others. Maybe some stories are more exciting. Maybe some are funnier. Maybe some are sadder. But it is true... we all have a story. Some stories are private or intimate. But, sometimes they need to be told. More importantly, sometimes they need to be heard.
This is how I felt as I was reading through the stories in More than Food and Clothes. More than Food and Clothes is a collection of the experiences and wisdom of over 40 Christian women, compiled by Jennifer Eve.
The women who have contributed to More than Food and Clothes each have a story to tell. Some of the stories are a little bit funny. Some are poignant. Some are frightening. Some are sad. But each story reveals an important, sometimes life-changing snapshot of a woman's life. And each story is a testimony to the faithfulness and goodness of God, as he relates to his people.
Two of the contributions in the book happen to be from my mother-in-law and my husband's 97-year-old grandmother. Both describe intimate and sad moments. The kind of moments that we rarely talk about. Grandma writes on the death of her husband of 56 years. My mother-in-law writes to her still-born (anencephalic) baby. Though both of these entries are filled with sadness, they are not written without hope. They are filled with the hope that God's people can truly know - the trust in God's control, the hope of heaven and eternal reunion.
Sometimes we women (and men too) can feel alone, even among our peers and friends. Sometimes we feel as though no-one else has suffered or is suffering the way that we are. Sometimes we can think that everyone else has it all together. More than Food and Clothes shows, in a very real way, that those "together" women you see at church, usually don't have it all together. Mixed with the joys of our lives are some very real sorrows. Mixed with the successes of life are some very real failings. Mixed with the confidence is some very real anxiety. Mixed with the faith is some very real doubt.
In the midst of the sorrows, the failings, the anxiety and the doubt is a God whose faithfulness is demonstrated time and time again. It is demonstrated in the stories of the Bible, and it is demonstrated in the stories of More than Food and Clothes.
More than Food and Clothes is available for purchase from here.
