PROVERBS 31 WOMEN

BE A PROVERBS 31 WOMAN AND PRAY FOR MORE WOMEN LIKE THAT!

My sister Elmarie, my brother-in-law André and I watched the film:  “Anna Karenina”. The producers made an outstanding film of the novel that was written by Leo Tolstoy.  He wrote this novel in 8 serial instalments that were published in the periodical “The Russian Messenger”  in the years 1873 – 1877.

The epigraph in the book is:  Rom. 12:19 “Vengeance is mine, I will repay”.

At the beginning of the novel it says:  “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”.

The novel is about Stiva a Moscow aristocrat and his wife Dolly who have many children and are happy, but Stiva has an affair with their governess and Dolly is broken about this.

Anna Karenina, Stiva’s sister, gets a letter to inform her about her brother and sister and she decides to leave from Saint Petersbourg where she lives with her husband Alexei Karenin a senior government official and their son Sergei to talk to her brother. She travels by train. 

On the railway station where Stiva meets Anna, Vronsky comes to pick up his mother, countess Vronskaya, who travelled with Anna in the same compartment.  Vronsky is very impressed with Anna and falls in love with her immediately.  On the railway station something tragic happens, a railway worker falls accidentally in front of a train and dies.

Anna helps Stiva and Dolly to sort out their marriage problems but with her stay in Moscow she falls in love with Vronsky and gets involved in a love affair with him and expects his baby.  She hurts her husband Alexei and her son very badly with her unfaithfulness and eventually abandons them to stay with Vronsky.

Parallel to Anna Karenina’s life, Levin, a childhood friend of Stiva, and Kitty, Dolly’s sister’s lives are playing a role.  Levin is very much in love with Kitty and leaves his farm  to go to Stiva in Moscow to ask advice from him.  Kitty is in love with Vronsky and turns Levin’s courtship down, until she realizes that Vronsky is in love with Anna!  She is heartbroken.  Levin is heartbroken because Kittty turns him down and goes back to his farm.

Stiva brings Kitty and Levin together again and they decide to get married and return to the farm. Kitty is admired by everyone because of her efficiency to handle every difficult situation.

Anna Karenina’s life ends tragically when she finds out that Vronsky is unfaithful to her! She gets her own medicine back!! She jumps in front of a train and dies the same way as the railway worker, while Kitty is going from strength to strength and becomes a Proverbs 31 woman!

In Proverbs 31 King Lemuel’s mother teaches her son and describes a woman who is an outstanding example of what God wants her to be like:

1.     She makes the most of the day:  Prov. 31:15 – she knows that life is a gift from God and uses her body,
          her days, her possessions to glorify God. 

2.     She is a willing and cheerful worker – Prov. 31:13 and 25

3.     She is trustworthy and her husband can rely on her – Prov. 31:11 – 12

4.     She is hardworking and wise in gaining and spending money – Prov. 31:16-19

5.     She sees people who are needy and poor and helps them – Prov. 31:20

6.     She is an expert in caring for her household – Prov. 31: 21 – 25

7.     She advises family and people with great wisdom – Prov. 31:26

8.     She is obedient to the Lord God, He is her strength and as a result her whole household is blessed
            and they praise her – Prov. 31:27 – 31

 

QUESTIONS  TO MEDITATE AND PRAY ABOUT:

QUESTION	YES/NO
What is your life and household like?  Are you a Prov. 31 woman because of God's grace?
Do you experience that life is a gift from God?
Are you a cheerful child of God and enjoy your household?
Are you trustworthy and reliable? Can your husband count on you?
Are you hardworking and wise in spending money?
Do you help the poor and needy?
Are you an expert in caring for your household?
Do you depend on God’s wisdom for your wisdom?
Are you a child of God and do you find your strength in Him?

ASK GOD TO HELP YOU TO BE A PROVERBS 31 WOMAN.  MAKE VERSE 30 YOUR MOTTO:  “A WOMAN WHO FEARS THE LORD, SHE SHALL BE PRAISED”