Her Story, Her Strength

Girls are beautifully and wonderfully made in God’s image.

This writeup focuses on the stories of five women in the bible, showing how God worked in their lives and continue to have a plan and a purpose for His own beloved daughters today.

Jairus’s Daughter: Stronger than Death

The girl’s mother sat by her bed, holding her hand. The girl wanted to tell her mother not to cry, but she couldn’t make her voice work.

She tried to squeeze her mother’s hand, but it was slipping away, or maybe she was the one slipping away. She wanted to hold on, but she was just too tired. Her Story, Her Strength!

“Little girl.”

That voice–it was somehow familiar, even though she was sure she’d never heard it before.

“Little girl, get up!”

And for the first time in a long time, the girl wanted to get up. Right now!

The Bible tells us that the girl in this story was twelve years old.

When the girl got very sick, her father, Jairus, asked Jesus to come heal her. But before Jesus got to the girl’s house, some people came to tell the father that his daughter had already died.

Jesus continued on, telling the father to have faith. When they got to the house, Jesus took the girl’s hand and brought her back to life!

Are you afraid of death? You have good reason to be!

Some people say death is a natural part of life, but the Bible tells us that isn’t true. Death was not part of God’s plan for us.

It is right and normal for us to feel scared, sad, and angry when someone we love dies or when we face our own death. Death is our enemy.

But the good news is that if Jesus is on our side, death can’t defeat us.

That is the powerful and beautiful truth we celebrate every Easter–Jesus is stronger than death!

He was stronger than the death of the girl in this story. He was stronger than his own death. He will be stronger than my death and your death with Jesus as our savior.

And someday, he will destroy death forever. 

Martha: Strong Belief

Her Story, Her Strength

Martha needed to see Jesus. Now.

She was out of breath by the time she finally reached Jesus and his disciples.

“Lord,” she gasped, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Jesus took her hands, tears filling his eyes. Martha took a shuddering breath. “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

Why had she said that? What could Jesus do now?

“Your brother will rise again,” Jesus said, his voice gentle.

Martha nodded. “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day,” she said. That day felt a long way off.

Jesus squeezed her hands. “I am the resurrection and the life,” he said. “The one who believes in me will live, even though they die, and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”

Her Story, Her Strength!

Martha’s brother, Lazarus, was another of the few people Jesus raised to life during his time on earth.

Martha and her siblings were close friends with Jesus.

If you’ve heard of Martha before, you may be more familiar with the story of a time Jesus came to her house and she got upset with her sister, Mary, for sitting down to listen to Jesus instead of helping Martha.

Martha’s story is often told as an example of what not to do–don’t get so busy you don’t have time for Jesus!

But it’s clear Jesus loved Martha deeply.

His declaration to her, “I am the resurrection and the life,” is one of the most famous verses in the Bible, but people often forget he said it to Martha–a woman we often look down on or shake our heads at. Her Story, Her Strength

Jesus said those beautiful words to comfort his friend in her grief and give her hope.

And we can see from her response that Martha trusted Jesus–she knew he was her friend and Savior, and only he could help her in her terrible sadness.

Celebrating Easter reminds us that Jesus is still the resurrection and the life.

Death was not the end of his story, and if we trust in him, it will not be the end of ours.

Even when we come face-to-face with the worst brokenness in this messed-up world, Jesus will be beside us, to comfort and save us. If we believe this, we will see God’s glory, just as he promised Martha. 

Mary of Bethany: A Strong and Beautiful Fragrance

Mary walked into the room, clutching her best perfume to her chest. She could feel people turn to look at her as she passed, but she kept her eyes on her Lord. -Her Story, Her Strength

Jesus smiled at her. Jesus never shooed her away from listening and learning at his feet.

When Martha scolded, Jesus had defended Mary, saying she had made the right choice. Looking at him now, Mary was certain she was making the right choice again. For her, Jesus was always the right choice.

Mary opened the jar of perfume. A beautiful fragrance filled the air.

She poured a generous amount of perfume on Jesus’s head, anointing the Anointed One, God’s Messiah.

Then she poured the rest of the perfume onto Jesus’s feet.

It was an extravagant amount of perfume to put on someone at one time, but Mary wasn’t going to hold anything back.

 

The Bible tells us the perfume Mary poured on Jesus in this story was worth what a worker would have made in a year–which would be like tens of thousands of today’s American dollars!

Mary was giving the very best she had to Jesus.

And Jesus was very happy with her offering–not because it was so expensive but because it represented something much deeper: Mary’s all-in, extravagant love for her Lord.

 

Why did Mary love Jesus so much?

The same reason any of us love him–because he loved her first. Jesus invited Mary to be close to him and follow him, just as she was. Her Story, Her Strength!

He gives the same invitation to you. You can come to him, just as you are, and be his dear friend. 

Women Who Followed Jesus: Strong Support

Her Story, Her Strength

Susanna clung to her friend Joanna, soaking the shoulder of Joanna’s beautiful robe with her tears.

Several of their friends stood nearby, sobbing or numbly silent.

How had it come to this? Just a short time ago, the friends had been traveling with their rabbi–their Teacher, Jesus–and their fellow disciples.

They had all come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration with such excitement.

When Jesus entered the city in what looked like a royal parade, the friends had been sure the whole world was realizing what they had believed for a long time–that Jesus was the Messiah, God’s Anointed One, sent to deliver their people.

But now they were on a rocky hillside outside Jerusalem, watching from a distance as their beloved Teacher was executed by the worst form of torture the Romans knew–crucifixion.

Agonizing hours passed. The women grew exhausted from fear and grief as well as from standing, but none of them left. They would stay with their Teacher until the end.

At long last, it was over. Jesus was dead.!

Joanna told Susanna that two of their friends, Nicodemus and Joseph, would ask to take Jesus’s body and place it in a tomb before the Sabbath began at sundown.

“Some of us women will go to the tomb early in the morning on the day after the Sabbath to finish the burial,” Joanna said. “Let’s go see if we can buy burial spices before the market closes.” Her Story, Her Strength

Susanna took her friend’s hand and squeezed it. Together, the women hurried away to perform their final act of love.

If you’ve heard or read stories about Jesus, you’re probably familiar with his twelve disciples (who are also known as the twelve apostles). These men were Jesus’s closest followers and friends.

The Bible tells us many women also traveled with Jesus. Some of these women supported Jesus and his other followers with their own money.

These women made it possible for Jesus to do the work God had for him, and he welcomed them into his world–and the kingdom of God.

When you celebrate Easter every year, think about what it means for you to be a follower of Jesus.

He wants to welcome you as his friend, to be part of his family, along with other believers. He wants you to join him in his work.

What do you think that could look like in your life right now? 

Mary Magdalene: The Strength in a Name

Her Story, Her Strength

By the time Mary got back to Jesus’s tomb, Peter and John had left.

After Mary and the other women told them they’d found the tomb empty that morning, the men wanted to see for themselves.

But now they were gone, and Mary was alone. All the sadness and fear of the last three days and the shock of the morning broke over her at once, and she began to cry.

After a few minutes, she bent to look in the tomb again, peering through the darkness and her tears.

The two men in dazzling clothes that she’d seen that morning were back! “Dear woman, why are you crying?” they asked.

“They have taken my Lord away,” Mary sobbed, “and I don’t know where they have put him!”

A noise behind her made her spin. A man stood there–likely one of the gardeners who take care of the area around the tomb.

“Dear woman, why are you crying?” the man asked. “Who are you looking for?”

“Sir,” Mary sniffled, “if you took the body away, just tell me where He is, and I will go get Him.”

“Mary!”

She knew that voice!

She had first heard it calling to her through the noise of seven evil spirits that once lived inside her.

It was the dearest voice to Mary, and she had thought she would never hear it again.

She whirled around, her eyes confirming what her ears already knew. “Rabboni!” she cried out in joy. My teacher!

Over the centuries, many people have been curious about Mary Magdalene, and many stories, legends, and traditions have been made up about her.

But the Bible doesn’t tell us very much about Mary, only that Jesus saved her from evil spirits and that she was one of his followers.

She was near Jesus’s cross when he died and went to his tomb that Easter Sunday morning. And she was one of the first people Jesus appeared to and spoke to after his resurrection. Her Story, Her Strength!!

 

But Jesus knew all about Mary.

And when he spoke her name, she knew him.

Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd who knows each of his sheep, and his sheep know his voice.

If you are one of Jesus’s sheep, he knows your name and everything about you.

As you follow him, his voice will become more familiar to you every day. 

Her Story, Her Strength

We thank HarperCollins/Zondervan/Thomas Nelson for providing this message.