Hard working

She seeks wool and flax, and willingly works with her hands.Proverbs 31:13

One of the ugliest things a woman can possess is laziness. Laziness to take care of herself, laziness to wake up in the morning, laziness to care for her house, laziness to exercise, laziness to commit to a diet… anything that begins with laziness brings a lady’s reputation down.

The V-Woman is a hard-worker, but not only that, she works hard willingly! It’s never a burden for her. The minute something becomes a burden for you, you know you’ll not give it your best… you’ll push it with your stomach. More often than not, that’s what many of us do when it comes to doing the most basic things in life such as working… we dread it when in fact, it’s what exposes what we are inside…that’s right, what you do shows who you are!

If you work willingly, even when it’s heavy work (which is what the V-Woman above did), you show how much you can be trusted with more, with better work, with better money, with more people, with better responsibilities. If you don’t, you also show that you can’t really have more than what you have now.

This is Grace, she lives in São Paulo, hosts daily radio shows, takes care of a charity institution, and I’ve known her for over 20 years. She’s one of the most hard-working women I know. Every single day she has to make sure that she fulfils all her duties and still be home for her husband and look great for him. Through all these years I’ve known her, she’s never idle… always busy with something that makes a difference somehow and if she’s not given anything, she’ll look for something. She works hard and her husband is praised by that.

In faith,
Cristiane Cardoso

V for Virtuous – She helps

Proverbs 31: 20 – She extends her hand to the poor, yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy.

No one had every taken the time to tell her the truth, it was hard at first, but she appreciated the rebuke… she appreciated the care her new found friend had given her.

The poor and needy are not only those you see in traffic lights begging for money. They’re everywhere around us, sometimes inside our own homes. How many people go out of their way to help charities and disaster victims and yet, won’t bother to notice the pain in their co-worker’s eyes or the clueless look in their child’s face? Right there in front of them, so much could be done, so much could be fixed…

The V-woman understands that. She’s always looking for ways to help someone in need, whoever he or she is! Sometimes all the person needs is a smile, other times, a word of encouragement, or even a bag of clothes. If you have it, why spare it?

This is my mother-in-law Lilian. I must be the luckiest daughter-in-law in the world! One of her many virtuous is to help. She may be busy, tired, or even sick, but she’s always available to help.

My mother-in-law is hardly at home, in fact, we’ve given up contacting her during weekdays! Every single day, after a hard day of work, she goes to church and assists in the night’s meeting, counseling and praying for people. Sometimes having to take a bus and arriving home close to midnight.

No matter how many times we ask her to consider doing it less, it’s no use. She does even more. It comes naturally to her, she simply enjoys being able to help others… yes, she reaches out to the needy, not for recognition, but for the joy of it.

PS. She taught me how to cook my husband’s favorite dishes in a time when I was the one in need.

In faith,
Cristiane Cardoso

V for Virtuous – She plans

Proverbs 31:21 – She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household is clothed with scarlet.

Snow in those days must have been hard, imagine not having those special trucks to go around, clear the roads, and spread salt… If it snowed, you were homebound. That means, no food or water available in case they ran out…

The V-woman thought ahead of time. Her family was well taken care of because she made plans for all kinds of situation. This is one of those characteristics that is truly efficient and yet little recognised. People like to live as life comes at them… if it’s harsh, they deal with it there and then, and since there’s hardly any preparation, they suffer.

Normally people who don’t plan are people who depend on others. They don’t know how to drive because someone else drives for them. They don’t know how to cook because someone else does it for them. They don’t know how to be a mother because someone else takes that job from their hands… they don’t plan, they don’t care, they don’t like to think about it, and I’m sure they wish they hadn’t visited my blog today.
Sure they can get away with it while someone else does it for them, but for how long? How long will there be someone going out of their way to come to their rescue every time? Life is too short, if you don’t want to plan ahead, don’t become an obstacle for those who want to.

This is a picture of some of the Sisterhood girls who have been planning to be wives, mothers, and successful gracious women of God. They have gone through a number of tasks since they first joined in order to improve themselves in every area of their lives and so they have…

They’ve had to plan, change, sacrifice, and many times go against their own nature. These are V-women in the making and through them, I know there will be many more V-women in our midst.

 

In faith,
Cristiane Cardoso

A Woman’s Reason

When God created man, He made him in His own image and likeness.  Then He gave him all the authority in the world; and so Adam began his life in total confidence that God was by his side in this great task.  Soon after that, God realised that something else was missing so that His creation could be complete.  He looked at Adam and saw how lonely he was and so He created Eve, the missing piece of Adam’s life.  Eve was made for Adam; her sole purpose of creation was to be Adam’s suitable helper.  She wasn’t created out of God’s own image, but out of Adam’s own image.  She became his body and he became her head. (Read Gen. 2:21-24)

 

This is very clear in I Corinthians 11:7-9:  “… forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of the man.  For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.  Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.”  That means that you and I were made for our husbands.  Our service to God may only be through our husbands.  If they are not happy, then God is not happy.

 

If many wives would only realise their place in this world, they wouldn’t have so many problems in their marriage.  I say this because usually a wife will expect so many things from her husband who is in fact the one who should expect from his wife; she was made for him and not the other way around!  An example of this is when she complains about the workload at home.

 

All wives should know what God expects them to serve their husbands and that includes the home duties.  For instance, our husbands should be able to come home and find the following:

 

*  His lovely wife clean and fresh, anxiously waiting with a smile at the door.

*  His house clean and cosy exhaling peace at the end of a busy day.

*  His children well behaved on his expectation.

*  A healthy delicious dinner already set at the table for the whole family.

*  His clothes cleaned and ironed in the wardrobe for his choice.

*  The towels fresh and clean for a warm shower at the end of a day.

*  Clean bed sheets for his good night sleep.

*  An open communication with his wife without the bills being part of it.

 

Is this too much to ask?  If we see our husbands as if they were the Lord Jesus Himself, would it be a problem for us to provide him with all the above and more?  But isn’t it how the Bible says we should see them? “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church; and He is the saviour of the body.  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.”  Eph. 5:22-24

 

This is the reason why many women celebrities have such a sad love life; they just can’t seem to look at their husbands as their head.  They are like bodies without heads.  Every body needs a head to tell it what to do, but the head doesn’t need the body to tell it what to do; a good example of that is a paraplegic person – his body may not function, but his head is well and alive.

 

If the wife could only have this conscience that she was made to serve her husband, she will become the virtuous wife as in Prov 31:10-31, whose ‘children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.”  When you read about this great woman of God, you will notice that her entire life was centred in serving her husband and because of that, God found her worthy enough to be mentioned in His Word as an example for all of us.

 

“There is a difference also between a wife and a virgin.  The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in the body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.”  (I Cor 7:34)  If you are married, God wants you to serve Him through your husband.  You may evangelize all day, give God your sacrifices, come to church everyday, and be faithful in all things, but if your husband is not being served, everything that you are doing is not being accepted by God.

 

A good wife is a good housewife, friend, supporter, mother, daughter-in-law, and lover.  This is what God had in mind when He created you and me.  Now, do you know your reason in this world?

 

In faith,

 

Mrs Cristiane Cardoso