The Mamas

Several years ago I realized and admitted that I would love to be a woman who shared life with other women as a speaker ... of course, with that kind of admission came waves of fears – of looking (or worse, being) foolish; of having nothing worthwhile to say; of saying I wanted to do something but never having the chance (wait, I think that’s the foolishness fear again). So it’s entirely humorous to me that my first opportunity to speak at a women’s conference would be with a Swahili translator in the middle of Africa. In front of women who are not critiquing style, humor, how I look, or whether I have something interesting of my own to say … but women (“mamas”) simply hungry for the Word. Stories that have become Sunday-school recitations to so many of us were like fresh drops of water to them … Tamar, Rahab, Ruth & Bathsheba. Several times throughout the two-day seminar we would pause to ask questions about previous sessions for the benefit of those who came in late, or had to be in and out with crying babies. Their answers – especially the depth of detail they retained – astounded me.

While they hunger and thirst for more of the Word, there still reigns a tremendous fear of losing their salvation … likely that the one contributes to the other. The more fear, the more desperate for hearing God’s Word; the more the Truth is taught, the less legitimate grip fear has on them. When you listen to women talk about fear of going to hell because of one un-forgiven sin, it’s pretty silly to feel afraid of … well, just about anything else, really.