Welcome!

I am linking up with One Girl for another Chasing History Link Up.

Here are the directions:

"Just pick one of your favorite women in the Bible and then write about her. Do a little research, read the chapter(s) over again. Dig in deep or span out wide. Just learn.

And then come back and tell us all about her - and you. Share how God is using a woman's story from long ago to challenge you, teach you, or encourage you.

It doesn't need to be fancy. It doesn't need to be long. Write however much you feel comfortable. This isn't a bible study - this is community coming together to talk about Him and the Stories He has written."

And last week, I picked Leah.  And we talked about comparing.  Leah and her sister Rachel.

Now, this week, I am going to pick...

 Leah.

What?

Yes, but this week, I am talking about blessing~ an unexpected gift.

Her whole life might have been spent comparing to her sister Rachel.  Her husband had to work seven years for her hand in marriage and the another seven years for Rachel who he really wanted to marry.  

The names that Leah gives her sons show her journey to blessing. First is Reuben whose name means "son provided in my affliction." Then comes Simeon whose name means "gracious hearing of the Lord"; next is Levi, which means "my joining"; then Judah, meaning "the praise of God; next comes Issachar whose name means "a reward"; and finally, Zebulun whose name means "a joyful habitation." So, ultimately, Leah is fulfilled.

So all of these sons, and yet Rachel had no children. So blessings come in different forms for every person.
 

Jacob's family continued to grow until he had twelve sons and one daughter. Rachel would finally have a son named Joseph, and later a son called Benjamin by his father. While having Benjamin,  Rachel dies in childbirth.

And what about Leah? After Rachel's death she, no doubt, becomes Jacob's chief wife. 

God saw the suffering Leah endured and he blessed her above her  sister. Leah held a special place because of the sons she had. Her son Levi became the father of the priestly tribe of Israel and his descendants include Moses, Aaron, Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist, Barnabas and Peter. From the descendants of Judah came King David and Jesus, the Son of God.

At the end of their lives, it was Leah who was buried with her husband Jacob in the Cave of Machpelah.

It might have taken a while, but Leah become content with what she had. Remember her name means content, and not only that, she was blessed.  

At first it did not look like she was blessed for she did not have the full love of her husband, but God is bigger than a husband's love or lack of love.  God is bigger than infertility. God is bigger than not knowing where you are going to be working next year. God is bigger than a dream unfulfilled. God is bigger than where your child will go to college. God is bigger than a family torn apart.

These are earthly prayers that long to be answered, but God desires to bless us even more than we could ask or imagine.

We are content asking for basic things like protection and security.  Those are the things that he gives even to the unbelievers.  As children of God, we have the amazing power to not only ask for those things, but to ask for even more blessings. Deeper blessings.  Deeper gifts from His hand of grace.

We can ask for the blessing of wisdom, the joy of knowing Him better, the power to overcome affliction.

Leah couldn't see it at first, but little by little, she saw the hand of God and knew she was blessed.  Her greatest blessing came at the end of her life ~ being part of the line of Jesus and being buried with Jacob.  Our greatest blessing will come at the end of our lives when we see the face of Jesus, but as our Heavenly Father wants to give us good gifts, if we seek to glorify Him, He will be faithful to give us mighty blessings on earth as well.

And we will be blessed.  Maybe not always how we think, but He is faithful and we will be blessed.

How have you been blessed this week?

Check out even more beautiful stories of women in the Bible. This community of writers sharing what they know, what they feel, what they dream.  They share how His story becomes a part of their own.