Partners in Faith

07 May Partners in Faith

Last year I was asked to speak at a Mother Daughter Breakfast in celebration of Mother’s Day. While planning, I searched for biblical examples of mother daughter relationships. There were not many but I was able to find two great examples – one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. Below are excerpts from that talk. Whether you are a mother, daughter or both, I believe you will learn something from each of these remarkable women.

Jochebed and Miriam (Exodus 2:2-9)
Miriam is probably best known as the sister of Moses, but before that, she was Jochebed’s daughter. As you will recall from the story of baby Moses, Pharaoh wanted to get rid of the Hebrew baby boys that were born during that time. When Moses was born, his mother, Jochebed, hid him for a while and then put him in a basket and placed him in the river. Miriam, who was a young girl at the time, stood off in the distance to see what would happen to him. As the story progresses, Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the river to bathe and found the baby and decided to keep him. Miriam came out of hiding and approached Pharaoh’s daughter and asked if she wanted her to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. As a result of Miriam’s quick thinking, Jochebed was not only able to take care of her own baby but was paid for it as well.

This story is a great example of a mother and daughter working together as partners to achieve a common goal and ultimately to fulfill the will of God. Their goal was simply to save the baby but God had a bigger plan. He would eventually use Moses to deliver His people out of Egypt.

As I was reading this story, one interesting fact stood out. Miriam was not in the same place at the same time with her mother; however, when the opportunity presented itself she had her mother’s back. As mothers and daughters we may not always be in the same place at the same time. We may live in different homes, cities or states, but ultimately, like Miriam and Jochebed, we should view ourselves as partners divinely placed together to fulfill God’s will. We never know who God is planning to deliver through us.

Lois and Eunice (2 Tim 1:5)
The second mother and daughter pair that I will mention is Eunice and her mother Lois. You may not have heard much about Eunice or Lois because there is only one verse in the Bible that mentions them by name. Eunice is the mother of Timothy who was one of the great leaders in the early church and was very close to the apostle Paul. In 2 Tim 1:5 Paul is writing to Timothy and says “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” In this one powerful verse we see the impact of a legacy of faith passed down from a mother to a daughter. The faith of this mother and daughter was so impressive that when Paul thought about Timothy all he could think about was the powerful, rich faith of his mother and his grandmother. These women had no idea at the time of who Timothy would become but they had their faith and they obviously knew the importance of passing that faith down to their children and their children’s children. As daughters, we must grab on to the faith of our mothers and as mothers we must pass the baton of faith to our daughters.

This weekend as we celebrate Mother’s Day, let us remember to celebrate the partnership that we share with our own mothers and may we continue to pass along a legacy of faith to our children and to our children’s children.

Happy Mother’s Day!!