Becoming the Woman God Wants Me to Be A 90-Day Guide to Living the Proverbs 31 Life

Donna Partow

Day 1

Place Your Full Confidence in God

Scripture to Memorize A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. Proverbs 31:10–11

Passage to Read

“For your Maker is your husband— the Lord Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit— a wife who married young, only to be rejected,” says your God. Isaiah 54:5–6

Guided Prayer

Dear heavenly Husband, how I thank you for choosing me to be your bride! I don’t pretend to understand all that this means, but I do know your Word says it’s true. You are my Husband. You are the one who loves, protects, and provides—even if you do it through my earthly husband. I acknowledge that you are the one behind every good thing in my life. It’s awesome to know that you are almighty. You have all might, all power in your hands. Therefore no situation in my life and no challenge I’ll encounter during these next ninety days will be more than you can handle. Thank you for being a redeemer, the one who can take something worthless and transform it into something valuable. I invite you to redeem every area of my life that has potential for greater value.

Thank you for calling me back to a closer walk with you. At times I have felt deserted, distressed, and abandoned, sometimes by people in my life and sometimes—I want to be honest enough to admit—I’ve even felt like you have deserted me. Thank you for promising to never leave me or forsake me. The truth is, whenever there’s been a distance between us, I’m the one who has walked away from you. I long to draw near to you once more; draw me close to you through the pages of this book. Thank you for calling me back once again. Amen.

Personal

We place the highest value on the scarcest commodities. M&M’s are made from cheap ingredients and available for easy grabbing on your way out the door at any convenience store. But you won’t find diamonds within reach on aisle nine. No, high-quality diamonds are locked away behind the counter, and only serious buyers get to take a closer look.

Today, more than ever before, a woman of noble character is hard to find. To be noble means to be dignified and gracious. In the Amplified Bible, the word for noble is rendered “capable, intelligent, and virtuous.” A woman like that is not easy to come by anymore.

God wants us to stand out as women who know we have something valuable to offer the world. We are capable, intelligent, and virtuous women who inspire full confidence in those who rely on us most, whether our husband, children, employer, or co-worker. The people around us can have full confidence in us because we have full confidence in God and we live accordingly.

You can have full confidence in God no matter what season of life you’re in right now. Maybe you’re a mother at home with small children. Or an empty nester. You may be single . . . or single again. I don’t know what situation you’re in, but I do know who is in the midst of that situation with you: a loving God who cares so much for you that he paid the ultimate price so you and he never have to spend even one day apart. He laid down his life to ensure that someday you’ll be the honored guest at the ultimate wedding in heaven, when Jesus celebrates the church as his eternal bride (see Revelation 21). In today’s Passage to Read, God declares himself our Husband. Since we’ll be studying in depth the Proverbs 31 woman—the wife of noble character—the passage in Isaiah is an ideal place to start.

You may or may not have an earthly husband, but you do have a heavenly Husband. Married or single, God wants you to be his wife of noble character. So this study of Proverbs 31 is relevant to all of us. I want to encourage you to listen for his encouragement along your journey, whether or not you receive any positive feedback from anyone else. You may live with a critical husband or be in an otherwise difficult marriage or family relationship. Remember, you are on the road to becoming the woman God wants you to be. Ideally, everyone shares the same goals for you as God does. Hopefully, everyone you know wants you to be the very best you can be, but that’s not necessarily the case. Some of you live with people who seem determined to discourage you or people who want to drag you down. Don’t focus on human feedback. Focus on your relationship with your heavenly Husband and live to please him.

As God transforms your life, you’ll become an ever more beautiful bride and a woman whose noble character eventually brings her praise from the most important people in her life, whether that’s your husband, children, extended family, or circle of friends. It may not happen overnight, but I believe someday our children (whether physical or spiritual) will stand up and acknowledge what God has done in and through our lives (see Prov. 31:28). Meanwhile, enjoy the inner satisfaction that comes from becoming the woman God wants you to be.

To begin our journey together, I want you to complete a simple but important exercise: writing your Personal Vision Statement.

1. List two of your unique personal qualities (e.g., creativity, enthusiasm) .

2. List one or two ways you enjoy expressing those qualities when interacting with others (e.g., through supporting, inspiring).

3. Assume the world is perfect. Then describe it as you see it—what are people doing, how are they interacting, what does it feel like (e.g., everyone is freely expressing his or her talents in harmonious and loving ways)? .

4. Combine your three answers above into a single statement (e.g., “My personal vision statement is to use my creativity and enthusiasm to support and inspire others to freely express their talents in a harmonious and loving way.”).

It’s really pretty simple. Here’s what I wrote: .

1. Energetic, powerful .

2. Challenging, motivating .

3. Everyone is activel.

4. My Personal Vision Statement is to use my energetic, powerful communication skills to challenge and motivate Christians to go into all the world, impacting lives and making the world a better place. .

There you have your first assignment and your first step toward becoming the woman God wants you to be.

Affirmation: I place my full confidence in God. He has a good purpose for my life.

Practical

Now it’s your turn. Become the woman you want to be—start with a clear Personal Vision Statement. .

1. Two unique personal qualities:

2. How you enjoy expressing these qualities: .

3. What people are doing in the ideal world: .

4. Combine into one sentence: .

Notebook: Assemble your notebook as described on page 19, if you haven’t done so already. Write your Personal Vision Statement on the first page of your notebook.

Day 2 Commit Yourself to Time Alone with God

Scripture to Memorize

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. Proverbs 31:10–11

Passage to Read

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. Mark 1:35–39

Guided Prayer Dear Jesus, thank you for coming to earth to show me how to live. I marvel that even though you are the divine Son of God, you still took time to pray to your Father in heaven. Just like me, you had people demanding your time and attention. I chuckle as I can almost hear Simon exclaiming, “Everyone is looking for you!” Sometimes I feel like the whole world wants a piece of me, too. I delude myself into thinking I’m too busy or that I can skip time with the Father and still stay on track. Forgive me, Lord! I notice too, Jesus, how you refocused on your life mission and set your agenda for the day after your time alone. I invite you, Holy Spirit, as my counselor, to show me a solitary place where I can get my priorities straight. I will consider this place and time your official invitation to call me there, morning by morning. Amen.

Personal

The Proverbs 31 woman got up while it was still dark, just as Jesus did. The Bible tells us Jesus left the house to find a solitary place to pray and thus meet with the Father. That may or may not be a realistic option for you on a daily basis. In either case, I encourage you to create a Prayer Oasis. Find an area in your house that you can transform into a beautiful place to meet with God each day. It may be a closet or a corner of a room. (Don’t laugh. I used a closet-turned-prayer room for years—and it wasn’t a walk-in closet, either!) Even if you have only three beautiful decorative items (painting, vase, etc.), put them in a corner with your Bible, Personal Notebook, and pen.

Prayer is an important enough priority that I eliminated our formal dining room (I gave away the furniture!) and transformed it into our family prayer chapel. I outfitted it with a comfortable couch, two rocking chairs, Bibles, prayer and devotional books, small tables with plants, a tabletop fountain, and mementos from various mission trips we’ve taken. The walls are covered with sacred items: Scripture plaques, crosses, and inspirational artwork.

Henri Nouwen said, “Discipline is the human effort to create the space in which God can be generous and give us what we need.”2 By setting up a specific place to pray, you are creating space in your life for God to bless you. Create the space and make the time to meet with God.

The reason the Proverbs 31 woman’s husband could have full confidence in her is because she had full confidence in God. Confidence in a relationship comes from investing time in that relationship. If we want to have something valuable to offer the world, we must first have something of value to offer. It must be more than material things. True, we can rush out the door first thing in the morning in pursuit of stuff to buy and give to our loved ones, but the things of this world are fleeting and have no lasting value. Instead, let’s invest our time seeking heavenly treasures, like spiritual insight, knowledge of Scripture, the power to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit, and the ability to carry the presence of God with us wherever we go. Any determined, hardworking woman can bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan. That’s no great accomplishment. A woman who is so wise she has figured out how to get the bacon to come to her and has trained her children to be servant-hearted enough to do the frying—now that’s a valuable woman! That’s a woman who will inspire confidence in her husband and everyone else who meets her.

If you want to be an inspiration to everyone you meet, meet with God first. If this were an important business meeting, you would make the time and instruct your staff to set up the best conference room in the building and have everything ready in advance. Well, you have important business to do with God, so set up the conference room and have everything ready.

Bruce Wilkinson, author of The Prayer of Jabez, observed: “I have yet to find a respected spiritual leader throughout history who had devotions at night.”3 Although I enjoy reading a devotional or Christian book at night, I concur with Wilkinson’s observation about the importance of morning time alone with God. Every book and biography I’ve ever read by spiritual leaders, past and present, and every person ever used mightily of God indicated that meeting with God was their first order of business. Morning devotions set the agenda and the tone for the day.

Before you meet with your family, before you face the world, before you do anything else, meet with God. Give him the first half hour or so of your day. This step alone will transform your life. Just think how different your life will be ninety days from now if you take time, every day, to meet with God first! I promise it will be dramatic. Affirmation: I commit myself to time alone with God.

Practical

Create a specific place for time alone with God, a place where you do nothing else but spend time with him. Equip it with all the tools you need for Bible study, prayer, and meditation. Place your Bible, this book, your Personal Notebook, pens, index cards, tissues, lip balm, and Post-it notes in a small basket. Make it the most inviting place in your entire home and you will be drawn to it like an oasis in the desert.

Establish a lifetime habit of TAG (Time Alone with God). Give God the first thirty minutes (or more) of every day.

Note where you’ll meet with God:

What time?

Write out your commitment to TAG, then sign and date below:

Dear Lord, I hereby commit myself to giving you the first minutes of my day for the next ninety days. I believe you are a rewarder of those who diligently seek you, so I have set my heart on seeking you first. I believe, by faith, that one of the rewards you will give me is supernatural wisdom and the ability to conduct the affairs of my day with greater efficiency so that my TAG will in no way diminish my effectiveness but will in fact increase it. I sign this on (date).

With love,

(your name)

Noteook: Label the first tab divider in your notebook tag. (We’ll be adding more labels and contents to the notebook in the days to come.)

Day 3

Meditate on God’s Word

Scripture to Memorize A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. Proverbs 31:10–11

Passage to Read

How can a young [woman] keep [her] way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. . . . I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. Psalm 119:9–11, 15–16

Guided Prayer

Dear Lord, it’s not easy to keep my way pure in the midst of an increasingly corrupt world. Sexual innuendo is everywhere. Standards of modesty become more and more lax, and I’m hard-pressed to find clothing that honors you and protects the purity of the men around me. The only answer is living according to the principles set forth in your Word, not the standards of this world. Today I’m seeking you with all my heart. Holy Spirit, empower me to walk in obedience, not straying from your commands. Help me as I hide the Word in my heart, so I won’t stumble into sin. Train me to do as Jesus did: use the Word of God as a weapon against temptation. Teach me the art of meditation. There’s so much mumbo jumbo and distortion in the world, it can be intimidating. But you are my Teacher, so teach me your way of meditation. Right now, I renew my commitment: I will not neglect your Word but will take delight in it. Amen.

Personal

If we are serious about our goal of becoming a capable, dignified, virtuous woman of noble character, we will have to do more than casually read the Bible. We have to meditate on it so it seeps deep down into the fiber of our being. If we want to be women who can stand firm in the face of Satan’s onslaught of temptations, then we need the Word of God on our lips. The Bible says, “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34). That’s why we meditate on the Word and store it in our heart, so that it can flow from our mouth when we need it.

When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1–11), Jesus responded with confidence. He knew exactly what God’s Word said and he used it as a weapon. We need to learn to do the same. When Satan says something to you, you need to open your mouth and say to the devil: “You’ve got it wrong! This is what the Bible says!” Don’t be duped like Eve, who fell for Satan’s oldest line: “Did God really say . . . ?” (Gen. 3:1). Remember, Satan is the father of lies. The only way to cut through his lies is with the truth. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free” ( John 8:32). Memorizing Scripture also helps keep our thoughts pure. When we fill our mind with Scripture, there’s less room for all the other junk we usually have hanging around up there.

Unfortunately, New Age gurus and Eastern mystics have given meditation a bad name. When we think of meditation, we think of chanting “ummmmm” with our legs crossed, trying to drive away bad karma. Christian meditation almost sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Nevertheless, meditation is an important tool for our transformation. We need to take back meditation! It was God’s idea and his gift to us as his children.

This 90-Day Jumpstart incorporates Scripture memorization as a tool for meditation. Let me encourage you to go beyond rote memorization to genuine meditation. Take time to think about what you are memorizing, to pray over the words even as you say them over and over again in your head. Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you the meaning and application of each word, and let his instruction begin to transform who you are and how you live.

Over the course of the next three months, you will memorize the entire passage of Scripture describing the Proverbs 31 woman. We’ll take it one bite-sized portion at a time. I find it particularly helpful to write, write, and rewrite a passage I’m trying to memorize. Go ahead and use any white space available on these pages to rewrite your verse each day or just use scratch paper. Then, every Sunday afternoon you will face your weekly challenge: to fill in the blanks in the cumulative memory Scripture. Each week, the challenge will become harder and harder as we build to the finale. Stay with it. What an amazing accomplishment it will be to commit this vital passage of Scripture to memory! But more than an accomplishment, it will be an awesome opportunity for spiritual growth and will provide material on which you can meditate for years to come. Affirmation: I meditate on God’s Word day and night.

Practical

Cut out the Scripture memory verse cards at the back of this book, place them in one of the binder pockets in the front of your Personal Notebook, and begin carrying these cards around with you wherever you go. Spend an extra fifteen to thirty minutes writing out the verses on index cards and/ or Post-it notes. Place these around the house, in your car, anywhere you might have a few extra minutes to review your Scripture memory verses. Notebook: Create a page labeled scripture memory and put it in the tag section of your notebook. Whenever you encounter a verse you would like to memorize, write it out here for future reference, memorization, and meditation. Add additional scripture memory pages as needed.

Day 4

Be a Woman Worthy of Confidence

Scripture to Memorize A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. Proverbs 31:10–11

Passage to Read

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:10–12

Guided Prayer

Dear heavenly Husband, my deepest desire is to become a wife of noble character for you. I know the real test of my character is who I am when no one is watching but you. It’s not what I do to impress others or please myself that counts. What matters are those choices I make simply because I want to honor you. I want you to be able to have full confidence in me. I want you to be able to call on me and count on me to do the right thing. Although I’ll never attain perfection this side of heaven, I don’t want to use this as an excuse for sloppy living. Instead, I want to be a valuable asset to your cause on the earth. I want to bring you good, not harm, all the days of my life. Thank you for loving me. Empower me to live a life of grateful service in response. Amen.

Personal

The Proverbs 31 woman’s husband had full confidence in her because she brought him good and not harm all the days of her life. Can your husband or employer or friends have full confidence in you? Do you bring them good, not harm?

As we have already seen, God is our spiritual husband. Are you the kind of woman that God can have full confidence in? Have you ever thought about the idea of bringing God good and not harm?

First, how might we bring him harm? The most obvious way to harm a husband, earthly or heavenly, is driving him to jealousy by pursuing other exclusive relationships. The very first commandment reveals how important this issue is to God. Throughout the Old Testament, God’s anger burned against Israel for their adulteries—meaning they pursued other relationships and priorities more than him. Jesus reiterated this when he said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matt. 6:33). God wants to be first, and when we get our priorities mixed up—when we give him second, third, or tenth place in our heart and on our schedule—we bring him harm.

By contrast, we bring God good by living in such a way that he can have full confidence in us. One of the best messages I ever heard was titled “Can God Trust You?” A good wife is one who does the right thing even when her husband isn’t watching, who remains faithful and diligent no matter the circumstances. She is trustworthy.

Can God have full confidence in you? Do you do the right thing even when no human is watching? In private are you the same woman you proclaim to be in public? The Bible assures us that what is done in secret will eventually be shouted from the rooftops (Luke 12:2–3). Don’t tell yourself, This little pet sin of mine isn’t doing anyone any harm. Be trustworthy in secret things so God can 0800730727 Becoming the Woman God Wants Me to Be A 90-Day Guide to Living the Proverbs 31 Life Donna Partow Day 1

Place Your Full Confidence in God

Scripture to Memorize A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. Proverbs 31:10–11

Passage to Read

“For your Maker is your husband— the Lord Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit— a wife who married young, only to be rejected,” says your God. Isaiah 54:5–6

Guided Prayer

Dear heavenly Husband, how I thank you for choosing me to be your bride! I don’t pretend to understand all that this means, but I do know your Word says it’s true. You are my Husband. You are the one who loves, protects, and provides—even if you do it through my earthly husband. I acknowledge that you are the one behind every good thing in my life. It’s awesome to know that you are almighty. You have all might, all power in your hands. Therefore no situation in my life and no challenge I’ll encounter during these next ninety days will be more than you can handle. Thank you for being a redeemer, the one who can take something worthless and transform it into something valuable. I invite you to redeem every area of my life that has potential for greater value.

Thank you for calling me back to a closer walk with you. At times I have felt deserted, distressed, and abandoned, sometimes by people in my life and sometimes—I want to be honest enough to admit—I’ve even felt like you have deserted me. Thank you for promising to never leave me or forsake me. The truth is, whenever there’s been a distance between us, I’m the one who has walked away from you. I long to draw near to you once more; draw me close to you through the pages of this book. Thank you for calling me back once again. Amen.

Personal

We place the highest value on the scarcest commodities. M&M’s are made from cheap ingredients and available for easy grabbing on your way out the door at any convenience store. But you won’t find diamonds within reach on aisle nine. No, high-quality diamonds are locked away behind the counter, and only serious buyers get to take a closer look.

Today, more than ever before, a woman of noble character is hard to find. To be noble means to be dignified and gracious. In the Amplified Bible, the word for noble is rendered “capable, intelligent, and virtuous.” A woman like that is not easy to come by anymore.

God wants us to stand out as women who know we have something valuable to offer the world. We are capable, intelligent, and virtuous women who inspire full confidence in those who rely on us most, whether our husband, children, employer, or co-worker. The people around us can have full confidence in us because we have full confidence in God and we live accordingly.

You can have full confidence in God no matter what season of life you’re in right now. Maybe you’re a mother at home with small children. Or an empty nester. You may be single . . . or single again. I don’t know what situation you’re in, but I do know who is in the midst of that situation with you: a loving God who cares so much for you that he paid the ultimate price so you and he never have to spend even one day apart. He laid down his life to ensure that someday you’ll be the honored guest at the ultimate wedding in heaven, when Jesus celebrates the church as his eternal bride (see Revelation 21). In today’s Passage to Read, God declares himself our Husband. Since we’ll be studying in depth the Proverbs 31 woman—the wife of noble character—the passage in Isaiah is an ideal place to start.

You may or may not have an earthly husband, but you do have a heavenly Husband. Married or single, God wants you to be his wife of noble character. So this study of Proverbs 31 is relevant to all of us. I want to encourage you to listen for his encouragement along your journey, whether or not you receive any positive feedback from anyone else. You may live with a critical husband or be in an otherwise difficult marriage or family relationship. Remember, you are on the road to becoming the woman God wants you to be. Ideally, everyone shares the same goals for you as God does. Hopefully, everyone you know wants you to be the very best you can be, but that’s not necessarily the case. Some of you live with people who seem determined to discourage you or people who want to drag you down. Don’t focus on human feedback. Focus on your relationship with your heavenly Husband and live to please him.

As God transforms your life, you’ll become an ever more beautiful bride and a woman whose noble character eventually brings her praise from the most important people in her life, whether that’s your husband, children, extended family, or circle of friends. It may not happen overnight, but I believe someday our children (whether physical or spiritual) will stand up and acknowledge what God has done in and through our lives (see Prov. 31:28). Meanwhile, enjoy the inner satisfaction that comes from becoming the woman God wants you to be.

To begin our journey together, I want you to complete a simple but important exercise: writing your Personal Vision Statement. .

1. List two of your unique personal qualities (e.g., creativity, enthusiasm). .

2. List one or two ways you enjoy expressing those qualities when interacting with others (e.g., through supporting, inspiring). .

3. Assume the world is perfect. Then describe it as you see it—what are people doing, how are they interacting, what does it feel like (e.g., everyone is freely expressing his or her talents in harmonious and loving ways)? .

4. Combine your three answers above into a single statement (e.g., “My personal vision statement is to use my creativity and enthusiasm to support and inspire others to freely express their talents in a harmonious and loving way.”). .

It’s really pretty simple. Here’s what I wrote .

1. Energetic, powerful .

2. Challenging, motivating .

3. Everyone is actively serving God by serving others, thereby making the world a better place.Therefore: .

4. My Personal Vision Statement is to use my energetic, powerful communication skills to challenge and motivate Christians to go into all the world, impacting lives and making the world a better place.

There you have your first assignment and your first step toward becoming the woman God wants you to be.

Affirmation: I place my full confidence in God. He has a good purpose for my life.

Practical

Now it’s your turn. Become the woman you want to be—start with a clear Personal Vision Statement.

1. Two unique personal qualities:.

2. How you enjoy expressing these qualities: .

3. What people are doing in the ideal world: .

4. Combine into one sentence:

Notebook: Assemble your notebook as described on page 19, if you haven’t done so already. Write your Personal Vision Statement on the first page of your notebook.

Day 2 Commit Yourself to Time Alone with God

Scripture to Memorize

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. Proverbs 31:10–11

Passage to Read

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. Mark 1:35–39

Guided Prayer Dear Jesus, thank you for coming to earth to show me how to live. I marvel that even though you are the divine Son of God, you still took time to pray to your Father in heaven. Just like me, you had people demanding your time and attention. I chuckle as I can almost hear Simon exclaiming, “Everyone is looking for you!” Sometimes I feel like the whole world wants a piece of me, too. I delude myself into thinking I’m too busy or that I can skip time with the Father and still stay on track. Forgive me, Lord! I notice too, Jesus, how you refocused on your life mission and set your agenda for the day after your time alone. I invite you, Holy Spirit, as my counselor, to show me a solitary place where I can get my priorities straight. I will consider this place and time your official invitation to call me there, morning by morning. Amen.

Personal

The Proverbs 31 woman got up while it was still dark, just as Jesus did. The Bible tells us Jesus left the house to find a solitary place to pray and thus meet with the Father. That may or may not be a realistic option for you on a daily basis. In either case, I encourage you to create a Prayer Oasis. Find an area in your house that you can transform into a beautiful place to meet with God each day. It may be a closet or a corner of a room. (Don’t laugh. I used a closet-turned-prayer room for years—and it wasn’t a walk-in closet, either!) Even if you have only three beautiful decorative items (painting, vase, etc.), put them in a corner with your Bible, Personal Notebook, and pen.

Prayer is an important enough priority that I eliminated our formal dining room (I gave away the furniture!) and transformed it into our family prayer chapel. I outfitted it with a comfortable couch, two rocking chairs, Bibles, prayer and devotional books, small tables with plants, a tabletop fountain, and mementos from various mission trips we’ve taken. The walls are covered with sacred items: Scripture plaques, crosses, and inspirational artwork.

Henri Nouwen said, “Discipline is the human effort to create the space in which God can be generous and give us what we need.”2 By setting up a specific place to pray, you are creating space in your life for God to bless you. Create the space and make the time to meet with God.

The reason the Proverbs 31 woman’s husband could have full confidence in her is because she had full confidence in God. Confidence in a relationship comes from investing time in that relationship. If we want to have something valuable to offer the world, we must first have something of value to offer. It must be more than material things. True, we can rush out the door first thing in the morning in pursuit of stuff to buy and give to our loved ones, but the things of this world are fleeting and have no lasting value. Instead, let’s invest our time seeking heavenly treasures, like spiritual insight, knowledge of Scripture, the power to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit, and the ability to carry the presence of God with us wherever we go. Any determined, hardworking woman can bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan. That’s no great accomplishment. A woman who is so wise she has figured out how to get the bacon to come to her and has trained her children to be servant-hearted enough to do the frying—now that’s a valuable woman! That’s a woman who will inspire confidence in her husband and everyone else who meets her.

If you want to be an inspiration to everyone you meet, meet with God first. If this were an important business meeting, you would make the time and instruct your staff to set up the best conference room in the building and have everything ready in advance. Well, you have important business to do with God, so set up the conference room and have everything ready.

Bruce Wilkinson, author of The Prayer of Jabez, observed: “I have yet to find a respected spiritual leader throughout history who had devotions at night.”3 Although I enjoy reading a devotional or Christian book at night, I concur with Wilkinson’s observation about the importance of morning time alone with God. Every book and biography I’ve ever read by spiritual leaders, past and present, and every person ever used mightily of God indicated that meeting with God was their first order of business. Morning devotions set the agenda and the tone for the day.

Before you meet with your family, before you face the world, before you do anything else, meet with God. Give him the first half hour or so of your day. This step alone will transform your life. Just think how different your life will be ninety days from now if you take time, every day, to meet with God first! I promise it will be dramatic. Affirmation: I commit myself to time alone with God.

Practical

Create a specific place for time alone with God, a place where you do nothing else but spend time with him. Equip it with all the tools you need for Bible study, prayer, and meditation. Place your Bible, this book, your Personal Notebook, pens, index cards, tissues, lip balm, and Post-it notes in a small basket. Make it the most inviting place in your entire home and you will be drawn to it like an oasis in the desert.

Establish a lifetime habit of TAG (Time Alone with God). Give God the first thirty minutes (or more) of every day.

Note where you’ll meet with God:

What time?

Write out your commitment to TAG, then sign and date below:

Dear Lord, I hereby commit myself to giving you the first minutes of my day for the next ninety days. I believe you are a rewarder of those who diligently seek you, so I have set my heart on seeking you first. I believe, by faith, that one of the rewards you will give me is supernatural wisdom and the ability to conduct the affairs of my day with greater efficiency so that my TAG will in no way diminish my effectiveness but will in fact increase it. I sign this on (date).

With love,

(your name)

Noteook: Label the first tab divider in your notebook tag. (We’ll be adding more labels and contents to the notebook in the days to come.)

Day 3

Meditate on God’s Word

Scripture to Memorize A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. Proverbs 31:10–11

Passage to Read

How can a young [woman] keep [her] way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. . . . I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. Psalm 119:9–11, 15–16

Guided Prayer

Dear Lord, it’s not easy to keep my way pure in the midst of an increasingly corrupt world. Sexual innuendo is everywhere. Standards of modesty become more and more lax, and I’m hard-pressed to find clothing that honors you and protects the purity of the men around me. The only answer is living according to the principles set forth in your Word, not the standards of this world. Today I’m seeking you with all my heart. Holy Spirit, empower me to walk in obedience, not straying from your commands. Help me as I hide the Word in my heart, so I won’t stumble into sin. Train me to do as Jesus did: use the Word of God as a weapon against temptation. Teach me the art of meditation. There’s so much mumbo jumbo and distortion in the world, it can be intimidating. But you are my Teacher, so teach me your way of meditation. Right now, I renew my commitment: I will not neglect your Word but will take delight in it. Amen.

Personal

If we are serious about our goal of becoming a capable, dignified, virtuous woman of noble character, we will have to do more than casually read the Bible. We have to meditate on it so it seeps deep down into the fiber of our being. If we want to be women who can stand firm in the face of Satan’s onslaught of temptations, then we need the Word of God on our lips. The Bible says, “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34). That’s why we meditate on the Word and store it in our heart, so that it can flow from our mouth when we need it.

When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1–11), Jesus responded with confidence. He knew exactly what God’s Word said and he used it as a weapon. We need to learn to do the same. When Satan says something to you, you need to open your mouth and say to the devil: “You’ve got it wrong! This is what the Bible says!” Don’t be duped like Eve, who fell for Satan’s oldest line: “Did God really say . . . ?” (Gen. 3:1). Remember, Satan is the father of lies. The only way to cut through his lies is with the truth. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free” ( John 8:32). Memorizing Scripture also helps keep our thoughts pure. When we fill our mind with Scripture, there’s less room for all the other junk we usually have hanging around up there.

Unfortunately, New Age gurus and Eastern mystics have given meditation a bad name. When we think of meditation, we think of chanting “ummmmm” with our legs crossed, trying to drive away bad karma. Christian meditation almost sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Nevertheless, meditation is an important tool for our transformation. We need to take back meditation! It was God’s idea and his gift to us as his children.

This 90-Day Jumpstart incorporates Scripture memorization as a tool for meditation. Let me encourage you to go beyond rote memorization to genuine meditation. Take time to think about what you are memorizing, to pray over the words even as you say them over and over again in your head. Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you the meaning and application of each word, and let his instruction begin to transform who you are and how you live.

Over the course of the next three months, you will memorize the entire passage of Scripture describing the Proverbs 31 woman. We’ll take it one bite-sized portion at a time. I find it particularly helpful to write, write, and rewrite a passage I’m trying to memorize. Go ahead and use any white space available on these pages to rewrite your verse each day or just use scratch paper. Then, every Sunday afternoon you will face your weekly challenge: to fill in the blanks in the cumulative memory Scripture. Each week, the challenge will become harder and harder as we build to the finale. Stay with it. What an amazing accomplishment it will be to commit this vital passage of Scripture to memory! But more than an accomplishment, it will be an awesome opportunity for spiritual growth and will provide material on which you can meditate for years to come. Affirmation: I meditate on God’s Word day and night.

Practical

Cut out the Scripture memory verse cards at the back of this book, place them in one of the binder pockets in the front of your Personal Notebook, and begin carrying these cards around with you wherever you go. Spend an extra fifteen to thirty minutes writing out the verses on index cards and/ or Post-it notes. Place these around the house, in your car, anywhere you might have a few extra minutes to review your Scripture memory verses. Notebook: Create a page labeled scripture memory and put it in the tag section of your notebook. Whenever you encounter a verse you would like to memorize, write it out here for future reference, memorization, and meditation. Add additional scripture memory pages as needed.

Day 4

Be a Woman Worthy of Confidence

Scripture to Memorize A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. Proverbs 31:10–11

Passage to Read

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:10–12

Guided Prayer

Dear heavenly Husband, my deepest desire is to become a wife of noble character for you. I know the real test of my character is who I am when no one is watching but you. It’s not what I do to impress others or please myself that counts. What matters are those choices I make simply because I want to honor you. I want you to be able to have full confidence in me. I want you to be able to call on me and count on me to do the right thing. Although I’ll never attain perfection this side of heaven, I don’t want to use this as an excuse for sloppy living. Instead, I want to be a valuable asset to your cause on the earth. I want to bring you good, not harm, all the days of my life. Thank you for loving me. Empower me to live a life of grateful service in response. Amen.

Personal

The Proverbs 31 woman’s husband had full confidence in her because she brought him good and not harm all the days of her life. Can your husband or employer or friends have full confidence in you? Do you bring them good, not harm?

As we have already seen, God is our spiritual husband. Are you the kind of woman that God can have full confidence in? Have you ever thought about the idea of bringing God good and not harm?

First, how might we bring him harm? The most obvious way to harm a husband, earthly or heavenly, is driving him to jealousy by pursuing other exclusive relationships. The very first commandment reveals how important this issue is to God. Throughout the Old Testament, God’s anger burned against Israel for their adulteries—meaning they pursued other relationships and priorities more than him. Jesus reiterated this when he said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matt. 6:33). God wants to be first, and when we get our priorities mixed up—when we give him second, third, or tenth place in our heart and on our schedule—we bring him harm.

By contrast, we bring God good by living in such a way that he can have full confidence in us. One of the best messages I ever heard was titled “Can God Trust You?” A good wife is one who does the right thing even when her husband isn’t watching, who remains faithful and diligent no matter the circumstances. She is trustworthy.

Can God have full confidence in you? Do you do the right thing even when no human is watching? In private are you the same woman you proclaim to be in public? The Bible assures us that what is done in secret will eventually be shouted from the rooftops (Luke 12:2–3). Don’t tell yourself, This little pet sin of mine isn’t doing anyone any harm. Be trustworthy in secret things so God can have full confidence that you will bring him good, not harm, all the days of your life.

Honestly examine your life. Is there anything you are doing, or failing to do, in your private life that you excuse because it is “secret”? Imagine that your little pet sin became public. Would it harm your reputation, your family, employer, or church? If so, you are already harming God in the eyes of the “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1) and have the potential to do far greater harm in the future. Resolve, with God’s help, to deal decisively with potentially harmful practices in your life.

When dealing with difficult areas, it helps to have at least one person, an accountability partner, with whom we can be completely open about our struggles, someone who will love us enough to tell us when we are heading in the wrong direction. Be sure you have such a person available to you. If necessary, reach out for help from your local church or support group.

Now is the time, while you are on the journey to becoming the woman God wants you to be, to deal decisively with anything that might hold you back from that goal. Be determined that nothing will prevent you from becoming someone worthy of confidence.

Affirmation: I bring God good, not harm, all the days of my life.

Practical Identify areas in your life that might hold you back from becoming the woman God is calling you to be. Know your weaknesses, be honest about them, and determine to deal decisively with them. Find an accountability partner and/or support group to help you. Notebook: In the tag section of your Personal Notebook, label a blank piece of paper power tools. Here you can list Scripture verses, practical tips, and resources to strengthen yourself in weak areas. Also note the name of one person you can call on for help in each area of weakness.

have full confidence that you will bring him good, not harm, all the days of your life.

Honestly examine your life. Is there anything you are doing, or failing to do, in your private life that you excuse because it is “secret”? Imagine that your little pet sin became public. Would it harm your reputation, your family, employer, or church? If so, you are already harming God in the eyes of the “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1) and have the potential to do far greater harm in the future. Resolve, with God’s help, to deal decisively with potentially harmful practices in your life.

When dealing with difficult areas, it helps to have at least one person, an accountability partner, with whom we can be completely open about our struggles, someone who will love us enough to tell us when we are heading in the wrong direction. Be sure you have such a person available to you. If necessary, reach out for help from your local church or support group.

Now is the time, while you are on the journey to becoming the woman God wants you to be, to deal decisively with anything that might hold you back from that goal. Be determined that nothing will prevent you from becoming someone worthy of confidence.

Affirmation: I bring God good, not harm, all the days of my life.

Practical Identify areas in your life that might hold you back from becoming the woman God is calling you to be. Know your weaknesses, be honest about them, and determine to deal decisively with them. Find an accountability partner and/or support group to help you. Notebook: In the tag section of your Personal Notebook, label a blank piece of paper power tools. Here you can list Scripture verses, practical tips, and resources to strengthen yourself in weak areas. Also note the name of one person you can call on for help in each area of weakness.