Femme Fridays--Rahab

Joshua 2:8-14 New International Version (NIV)

8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea[a] for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.[b] 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

12 “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.”

14 “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.”

When I sat down to write this, I was going to say "the story of Rahab is one of my favorite stories," but then I realized I said the same thing about the last 2 Femme Fridays. So I'll say  this: Each of the women that I have picked up for this segment all have a special significance to me. With Rahab, I love that it shows that God can be sensed by anyone.

For people to truly understand what I mean, you have to understand Rahab. Rahab was a harlot. If you don't know what that means, it means a prostitute or promiscuous woman. Just like now, promiscuous women were outcasts of the community. The only difference is back then they were called harlots; today they're called thots. Think about it, when female gets called a thot, she's outcasted. Sometimes it's not as blatant. Sometimes it's whispers and rumors. Either way, she probably feels some type of way. I don't know Rahab's story, but I bet she feels isolated.

In spite of what she feels, she still did right by others, as seen by her actions towards the spies. She don't know those men from a can of paint, but she is loyal to them. The fact of the matter is the Bible says:

Luke 6:31 New International Version (NIV)

31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

The funny thing is, people around her probably don't expect her to have Christlike ways because she's a prostitute. Those are the same ways that they should have had towards her. 

I'm not going to lie, I write most of my posts way ahead of time, but this one, I waited until the night before. Why? For one thing, I've been extremely busy, but also something happened today.

So as you all know, I am very active in my church. Also, you all may know that I love hair and changing my hair up every so often. So today, I went to my favorite hair store and I see one of my choir members. She sings alto with me, and unbeknownst to me, she is very pregnant. I spoke to her, but she almost ran to the back of the store. At first, I was a little confused. I could care less that she was pregnant. She's grown. She can do what she want, but I had to think. She must've just started showing not too long ago because she hadn't been to church in a long time. She knows me from church. Church folk be the first with the shade. They want to outcast people so quick and make it a big deal because she's not married. 

People are so quick to do others like that. I'll never understand that. What do you gain for making someone feel inferior? You don't get anything but an illegitimate ego boost. It's so easy to deflect on other just to get the attention off of you. Honestly, I feel like that's really what people are doing. It's like people are like "Ignore the fact that I'm a drunk, 👉she's a thot." I guess I feel so strongly about this because I've seen it happen so many times, especially when it comes to sexual sins. 

How many times have you heard of people moving away and then coming back with a baby? It's crazy. I mean I get it. It's not the ideal situation. Having a baby is life changing. 

But see here's the thing. You cannot let someone make you feel like you're unworthy because you sin differently than they do. A baby is a result of sin depending on the timeframe the baby was conceived. What people fail to realize is that regardless of how the child was conceived, that child is still a gift from God. Learn to forgive yourself for whatever happened. It's alright. People mess up everyday. God forgives you, and He can still use you. Everything God made was good and very good. Guess what. He made you and He can use you.