To Love Their Husbands

There are several women who have been role models and teachers to me.  Esther Friend was one of those people in my life.  Titus 2:3-5 says,

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.

Esther taught me much about how to love my husband.  I remember meeting Esther when I was twelve years old.  To me she was beautiful.  She often had a smile as she cheerfully worked serving those around her.  She was in her element when she had a kitchen at her disposal with lots of people to feed.   Over the years what stood out to me about Esther was the way she worked alongside her husband.  They farmed together, raised dogs together, and drove a mail truck together.  Whatever her husband was doing, she was there helping him and supporting him.

At Bible study one day Esther told the younger ladies that each day she got up and did her hair and put on her make-up because she wanted to look good for her husband.  That made an impact on me because I realized that often I only "did myself up" when I was going out.   I rarely did my hair nice or put on make-up for my husband at home.  She was one of my "older women."  I needed her wisdom.  
 
There were tears when I learned God had called Esther home.  She was a formative part of my life teaching me what it meant to love my husband.  Yet my mind quickly turned to praise of God.  I praise God with the psalmist who says, "Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.  One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts." (Psalm 145:3-4)  

Esther loved to tell about what God had done in her life, about prayers he had answered, and the way God had led their family.  She commended the works of God to me and pointed me to him always by the way she lived.  

I know Esther missed her Billie these past four years, yet I saw her face the days with courage and in the love of her Lord.  She lived for Jesus.  She pointed us to Jesus whether it was through her love for her husband or her love for her family.  It wasn't about her.  

So it is with tears for this night, but with joy in the morning that I can say..."Great is the Lord and worthy of praise!"  

When I remember Esther I think "Jesus," and that's exactly what she would have wanted.