Who Can Find A Virtuous Woman?

There's a song running through my head today. It's a song composed and arranged by a woman of faith, and gives me the most appropriate introduction to this post.

SHE’S MY SISTER – by Janice Kapp Perry

There’s a feeling in the air, that says out there somewhere,
There is someone reaching high who feels the same as I.
And she knows, yes she knows, with a countenance that glows,
With every fibre, every part, down deep within her heart
That the gospel light is true, even as I do.

There’s a feeling that we share, a joy beyond compare,
It’s a ray of heaven’s light that comes from doing right.
And she knows, as I know, that our Sisterhood will grow,
With every deed that shows our love for Father up above,
For His light will never dim as we follow Him.

She’s my sister,
Far across the sea, or right next door to me,
She’s my sister.
And we’ll walk hand in hand with God, holding to the iron rod,
With faith enduring to the end, we will be eternal friends.

---oo0oo---

I write this post thinking of someone in particular. A friend. Today she came to see me, tonight she will probably go before a church disciplinary council, and tomorrow she may be ex-communicated or dis-fellowshipped.

There’s no particular reason why we are friends. In fact, until Bo’s death, I hadn’t really spent much time with her. I knew heaps about her though. Facts - some good, many bad, others indifferent. Yes, I knew a lot about her, but I didn’t know her. Now, as much as one human being can know another, I know her.

She’s the lady who came looking for me almost every day for weeks on end while I wallowed in the lowest despond. She’s the lady who reintroduced me to the Holy Spirit and helped me see my husband’s inner beauty at a time when it was not at all apparent. She’s the lady who lets me give to her. We have exposed ourselves to each other. We have sorrowed and joyed together. We have hit rock bottom and found our best friend and big brother was right there – loving and lifting us back up. We share a faith in Him and all He has done, continues to do and will yet do for us. We have changed and been changed by knowing each other.

Maybe if we hadn’t shared the bitter and the sweet times we wouldn’t be so close. Maybe if we didn’t share a foundational faith in Jesus Christ we would not be friends. Who knows? Who cares?

She’s my friend, a sister, and it seems appropriate to close this post with another song by another woman of faith.

---oo0oo---

WHERE CAN I TURN FOR PEACE – by Emma Lou Thayne (1971)

Where can I turn for peace?
Where is my solace
when other sources cease
to make me whole?
When with a wounded heart,
anger or malice,
I draw myself apart,
searching my soul?

Where, when my aching grows,
Where, when I languish,
Where, in my need to know,
where can I run?
Where is the quiet hand
to calm my anguish?
Who, who can understand?
He, only One.

He answers privately,
Reaches my reaching
in my Gethsemane,
Saviour and Friend.
Gentle the peace he finds
for my beseeching
Constant he is and kind,
Love without end.