By Kelly Wise Valdes
Throughout the Bible, there are many stories of strong and heroic women. In this new series, we will explore a story of faithful biblical woman each month. With their strong faith, the women of the Bible continue to teach us how to live authentic, faith-filled lives. No matter the circumstances, we can find ourselves in their stories.
What follows is a remarkable story of one of the most faithful saints in biblical history. Sarah was a fitting partner to Abraham, and she shined as a faithful wife and child of God. She is sometimes referred to as the mother of all faithful women.
After many years in a loving marriage with Abraham, Sarah was still childless. This was a terrible curse for any Jewish woman of the period, but especially for the wife of a tribal leader. God first made the promise that they will have a son when Sarah was already 65 years old. Sarah believed in God’s promise.
Sarah eventually realized it was a test of her faith. God promised a child, but He did not specify when. Days turned into weeks, then months turned into years. Sarah held onto her faith of God’s promise to her, even though it was difficult. During this time period, she made mistakes when not totally trusting in God’s timing.
Sarah’s hopefulness waivered as she was approaching the age of 90. God was easily able to fulfill His promise, but Sarah had a lesson to learn about faith and patience. God would need to perform a miracle for conception to occur. Originally, Sarah laughed at the apparent absurdity of delivering a son at such an advanced age.
Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah 90 when Isaac was conceived. Her original reaction was the laughter of doubt, but after she actually gave birth to her son, Isaac, her skeptical laughter changed to laughter of pure joy. Sarah continued her laughter now of satisfaction, peace and comfort because her faithfulness to God and her patience were her strongest virtues.
No matter what the circumstances, God will remain faithful to his children who believe and if it’s God will, he will fill the desires of our hearts. These are just some of the lessons we can learn from the life of Sarah. It was not an easy battle that Sarah fought. She had to fight the waves of disbelief, fears and uncertainties in her life to have her faith strengthened. Like Sarah, we should strive to live a life of faith. Though sometimes it is not easy, our laughter of doubting can eventually turn into laughter of believing.
