Women in Difficult Relationships

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Women in Difficult Relationships

• Summary

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Difficult Relationships

• The unloving husband (Leah)
• The foolish husband (Abigail)
• Serial divorcee (Samaritan woman) either because
  of
• Difficult men or
• Difficult with men or
• Just being difficult

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Difficult Relationships

• In their contexts, many of these women were quite
  powerless, at least legally, to effect change
• In their difficulty, they learned to cope in the
  following ways

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Different Ways of Coping

• Pinning hopes on and using children (Leah)
• Giving up on society and avoiding company
  (Samaritan Woman)

Very common Very human
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Different Ways of Coping

• Being honest about and yet covering husbands
  weakness (Abigail)
• Trusting and praising the Lord (Leah)

Rare! Only by Gods Grace and Strength
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Gods Quiet and Mysterious Ways

• God is reaching out to the pained
• God is working out graciously good out of evil
• These women cannot see how things would pan out
  only when the stories were concluded that they
  could realise how significant their contribution
  had been in the grand scheme of things.

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What we can see clearly is that out of cracked
vessels, Gods grace and glory may shine!
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It is our task to entrust ourselves courageously
to God and persevere, believing that good can
still come out of our painful experiences .Where
He leads, I will follow!