Hello mj,
The method I used for word study was certainly nothing fancy…just picked a word and found all the verses I could that pertained to it. I used a Thompson Chain Reference Bible to look up wife, mother, woman, home and children and wrote out the verses over several days.
And Hi csmamma,
Two different passages stick out in my mind, especially in this time of my life…
Titus 2:3-5
Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
and…
1 Timothy 5:9-10
No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over 60, has been faithful to her husband, and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.
My mouth dropped open at the second one. The way we live our lives now matters to God later. We have a real calling. We are children of God, wives and mothers first and foremost not because we’ve got nothing better to do but because God has called us to this.
Take care,
Jen