Why a woman found?- Some of my story

Proverbs 31:10 says, "An excellent wife who can find?" (ESV).

One day while studying this passage, Genesis 2:20 came to mind. The passage says, "And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him." (KJV). The similarity struck me. Both passage are seeking to find a wife/help meet for a man.

Who finds help meets? Who finds excellent or strong wives? Proverbs 19:14 says, "Houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers, But a prudent wife is from the Lord." The LORD!!! The Lord finds excellent wives/help meets.

But wait. Is the Lord on a search, trying to find a really good wife and when He comes upon a woman who is strong and skilled He then plops her in front of a man? No! That's not the kind of "find" I believe the Lord is talking about in these verses. For as I studied this out I kept getting drawn back to the Genesis account where after God saw that it wasn't good for man to be alone and after He let Adam see that he was alone and didn't have a mate, GOD CREATED A WIFE FOR HIM! God FOUND Adam a wife! And it struck me back then when I was studying this, that just as it was in the begining, it is now for those wives who are in Christ.

When we are in Christ we are created NEW creatures...it's like creation all over again only we're without sin.

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10 NKJV)

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Cor.5:17)

As a wife, when you are created anew in Christ, you are FOUND by God an excellent, prudent, wife!

When I studied this out I was a newly created new-creature-wife :) My husband and I had just reunited after a painful 9 month seperation and near-divorce and I was falling on myself, tripping over my weakness after all we'd been through like a new baby, learning to walk. I didn't feel like a prudent or excellent wife. But I remembered the days when the divorce was filed, and I was alone in my apartment with my newborn baby and my 20 month old, on my face, crying out to God, seeking what He would say to me. What He spoke to my heart was, "You are a wife of valor Sheila!"

I remembered the blushing of my soul. I can't explain it, but I knew without a doubt that like Gideon, God was speaking to my heart. And I knew that just like Gideon was called a mighty man of valor and had a hard time believing it since he was hiding and in bondage, oppressed by the enemy like the rest of his people, I was being called or found- created anew- a wife of valor or an excellent wife. I wasn't one already and God just happened upon me! NO! I was plagued by my sin, fearful and rejected. I had no evidence of this excellence God was pronouncing on me in my life.

But God spoke something to Gideon that day when He found him. He said, "Go in this might that is yours...do I not send you?" (Judges 6:14 ESV) Gideon protested in disbelief cause he showed no evidence of being a mighty man of valor, but God said, "Hey! Go! I've found you, I've made you this mighty man of valor because I'M SENDING YOU! If I say you're a mighty man of valor, you are. My word is your might! Whoever I say you are, that is who you are!" (my paraphrase)

That's what God did with me. While I was flailing around, fearful and haunted by my past as a wife and the perverse choices I had made, and also by the pains of rejection, God found me! And He made me a new creature!

Proverbs 31:10 goes on to say, "Her worth is far above rubies." Which makes me think of another proverb, "The ransom of a man's life is his riches..." (Proverbs 13:8)

A woman found by Christ, found in Christ, created by God IS AN EXCELLENT WIFE! And only a woman found by Christ can be an excellent wife. ONLY HE CAN FIND HER! And only He can make her worth riches that are above rubies. It's the price paid to find her that makes her worth so much!

Jesus said, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45)

Jesus paid a lot to creat me all new! He suffered a rejected sinner's death to make me worth more than rubies!

I was a woman lost, but now I am A woman found!