Christian women you should know
By Elizabeth Prata
Here is some edifying content for you- some Christian women from the Bible and from church history that added to the glory of the name of Jesus with grace and truth. You can read about them in the following:
FROM THE BIBLE
Twelve Unlikely Heroes, by John MacArthur, contains a bio of Miriam, Moses’ sister. Book.
Twelve Extraordinary Women: How God Shaped Women of the Bible, and What He Wants to Do with You, book by John MacArthur. Includes bios of –
Eve: Mother of All Living
Sarah: Hoping Against Hope
Rahab: A Horrible Life Redeemed
Ruth: Loyalty and Love
Hannah: A Portrait of Feminine Grace
Mary: Blessed Among Women
Anna: The Faithful Witness
The Samaritan Woman: Finding the Water of Life
Martha and Mary: Working and Worshiping
Mary Magdalene: Delivered from Darkness
Lydia: A Hospitable Heart Opened
Ruth & Esther: There is a Redeemer & Sudden Reversals
WOMEN FROM CHRISTIAN HISTORY
Reformation Women: Sixteenth-Century Figures Who Shaped Christianity’s Rebirth by Rebecca VanDoodewaard. Book
Katharina von Bora Luther, Katy, Martin Luther’s wife. Online essay.
Susannah Spurgeon: Susie: The Life and Legacy of Susannah Spurgeon, wife of Charles H. Spurgeon. Book
Jonathan Edwards’ wife, Sarah Edwards, in Marriage to a Difficult Man, by Abigail Dodds. Book description-
What was Sarah Edwards doing while her husband navigated ministry difficulties and pressures, traveled often to preach, nursed his delicate health, and spent long hours in his study composing sermons and writing books? She was busy mothering their 11 children, caring for the household, warmly welcoming the many guests who came to talk to and study with her famous husband, and providing a rock of stability and sociability for her introverted husband—one of America’s most influential intellectuals and theologians.
A must-read for any ministry wife or wife who’s husband is necessarily very busy with work or travel, this book gives us an intimate glimpse into the Edwards’s home life, where Sarah shines as a model of motherhood, marital and ministry support, and hospitality.
Lady Jane Grey:
Lady Jane Grey was queen for just nine days, as part of an unsuccessful bid to prevent the accession of the Catholic Mary Tudor. The great-granddaughter of Henry VII, Jane inherited the crown from her cousin Edward VI on 9 July 1553.
She arrived at the Tower of London to prepare for her coronation, but within a fortnight she was back as a prisoner of her Catholic cousin, Mary I who had claimed the throne as rightfully hers. While Mary was reluctant to punish her at first, Lady Jane proved too much of a threat as the focus of Protestant plotters intent on replacing Mary.
“On 12 February 1554 Jane was executed on Tower Green. She was 17 years old. Did she die an innocent victim of the men plotting around her? Or as a willing Protestant martyr? We may never know. This is her story.” From, Tower of London History.
To read more about the faithful Lady Jane Grey, online essay Scott Hubbell at Desiring God, or online essay Who Was Jane Grey, from Ligonier series, women of extraordinary faith.
The Little Woman, autobiography of missionary to China Gladys Aylward, By Gladys Aylward and Christine Hunter. While many lone women going afield on mission seem to have been proto-feminists, Gladys seems not to have been. I recommend her story. Book
