H: Heroes

Hebrews 11 houses the well-known passage of Scripture memorializing the “Heroes of Faith.” It includes people like Noah, Abraham, Moses, David…you know, the biblical “big guns.” And it also includes some more obscure examples, like Rahab, Samson, Jephthah, Gideon…. Rahab was a prostitute who believed what she had heard about God and provided protection for the scouts of Israel. Samson was set apart for God’s service, but traded his favor with God for favor with women…and died in a suicide mission to bring vengeance on his captors. Jephthah sacrificed his daughter to God. And Gideon was just a “six-pack Joe” working on a farm who made a choice to (very fearfully) obey God and lead 300 men into successful battle against a massive military unit. These were just regular people living in regular places doing regular jobs and having regular parties with their regular friends…but they had irregular faith. Their faith was not flawless – not one of them! – but it overcame the regular obstacles of trudging through life without a greater purpose. Theirs was a faith worth emulating.  

These are not the only heroes of faith that come to my mind. I have been privileged to personally know a handful of exceptional people who have taught me in real time what it means to be a woman after God’s own heart. I can throw out their names (chronologically, Betty, Karen, Marie, Billie, Becky, and Melody), but their names won’t mean much to anyone else. What means more is what distinguishes these people to me as heroes. In each of these ladies I have witnessed a humility that seeks not only the will, leading, and blessing of God, but His very heart. That is what has initially drawn me to each one of them. Not that they are superspiritual beings…they are all in fact very human, with day-to-day struggles, griefs, burdens, and responsibilities. I have witnessed each of these ladies as they held up in times of great personal pressure and remained faithful to God and what they truly believed in.  

I am so thankful to have encountered such kindred spirits along the way who have helped me know the true meaning of what it means to be “successful” in life – to live authentically to God and to who He made me to be in this world. I am unspeakably grateful for their generosity, grace, and exemplary integrity. I am thankful they have taken the time to shape me. At times when my own faith has floundered and very nearly failed, their examples have renewed hope and confidence in me (it happened again just today, in fact). Words really are inadequate to express how much I love my heroes.  

Yeah...these guys got nothin' on my heroes. ;)

Who are your heroes, and why?