Proverbs 31: Not a Measuring Standard, but a Pep Talk

Proverbs 31:
Not a Measuring Standard, but
a Pep Talk.

I’ve heard it said by many that Proverbs 31 makes them feel bad because they can’t live up to the perfection. But for me it has always been a source of strength.

When I’m feeling down and discouraged; when I’m feeling overwhelmed and incapable of doing all I have to do; that’s when I go read Proverbs 31. It gives me a boost. It reminds me that GOD made me to be able to do this!

So, strengthen my arms. I was designed to be a woman. “She girds herself with strength and strengthens her arms. Strength and honor are her clothing; She shall rejoice in time to come.” (Proverbs 31:17, 25 NKJV)

When I was a fresh mom of two, with a toddler and a newborn, and my husband working long hours, mostly nights, it was hard. There were so many times I felt like I couldn’t do it.

I remember one time when all three of us (baby, toddler, and me), were sitting on the bed…crying. And I mean crying! Bedtime routine, well, I wouldn’t call it routine; it was more like desperate attempts to get everyone ready for bed and hopefully asleep, was not going well. I was crying out to God, begging for help because I just couldn’t do it.

It was in this season that God brought me to Proverbs 31.

When I was failing, or at least feeling like I was failing, Proverbs 31 told me that I could do it. And Isaiah 40:11 says that God will “…gently lead those who are with young.” God gently led me to understand who He made me to be, and through His strength I could do this, and Proverbs 31 became my anchor and my stone of remembrance.

Proverbs 31 told me I could rise early, thanks to a toddler who never slept past 6am. “She also rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household.” (Proverbs 31:15a, NKJV)

I could not let my lamp go out by night, thanks to a nursing newborn. “And her lamp does not go out by night.” (Proverbs 31:18b, NKJV)

I could do these things during the seasons when necessary because GOD made me, and GOD would sustain me and strengthen me if I would but look to HIM.

So, I looked to God, and I relied on God. Because on my own, nothing was possible, “but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26b, NKJV) When I felt like I couldn’t, I’d read Proverbs 31 and remember that with GOD…I CAN!

Then one night, I somehow managed, by God’s grace, to bathe both kids, infant and toddler, together for the first time…successfully! No tears! My older sister called me Super-Mom! And that Mother’s Day, a month or so later, my Mom sent me this pink sparkly card with the Supergirl symbol on front and the saying “Saving the day every day.” And inside the card it told me that I was a wonderful mother.

I still have that card, many years later, hanging where I can see it because it reminds me of Proverbs 31, and that I can do this life, whatever gets thrown at me. The card was given to me during a season when I was reading Proverbs 31 daily to be strengthened by knowing that God made me to be strong and made me to be able to handle life, so it’s my visual reminder. In that season of many fails, when I would pause and focus on God’s truth and not my feelings, it made me feel like supermom for a moment, which gave me strength to do the next one thing.

So now, whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed by tasks and responsibilities and thinking I can’t do it; I go read Proverbs 31. It gives me a boost and reminds me that GOD made me strong and capable.

It’s not a measure to live up to but a reminder of who GOD made me to be!

God made us all to be strong IN HIM. Will you join me in leaning on God for strength and ability? Not to be perfect, but to walk the imperfect, bumpy roads of life with wisdom.