Mothers, Daughters, and Mentors (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798198388031)

Some of the most important work in the Bible was done by women carrying other women forward.

Mothers raising daughters. Grandmothers passing faith to grandchildren. Older women taking in younger ones who had no one else. Foreign daughters-in-law refusing to leave. Mentors who saw something in the next generation and would not let it die. The Bible is full of these women - though scripture sometimes leaves them in the margins, unnamed or barely mentioned. This book brings them forward.

Mothers, Daughters, and Mentors tells fifteen of their stories at length, with the kind of cultural context and narrative depth that lets each woman come alive on the page. These are not summaries. They are stories - told slowly, almost like a novel, with attention to what scripture says and what scripture leaves between the lines.

You'll walk through the lives of:

Eve, the first mother, holding her newborn in a world that had only just learned what death was. Sarah and Hagar, two mothers in one household, one of them sent into the desert by the other. Jochebed and Miriam, a mother and her daughter who together saved a baby brother named Moses. Naomi and Ruth, and the daughter-in-law who refused to leave when she had every right to. Naomi and Orpah, the daughter who left, and what scripture quietly says about her. Hannah and Peninnah, two mothers caught in a marriage that was poisoning them both. Jephthah's daughter and the friends who walked into the hills with her to weep. Bathsheba, survivor of a king's violence, who rose to become the queen mother of Israel. Jehosheba, the aunt who hid an infant king from a murderous queen and saved the line of David. Elizabeth and Mary, the older woman who blessed the calling of the younger before the world knew what she carried. The Syrophoenician mother, who refused to be dismissed when her daughter needed a miracle. And Lois and Eunice, a grandmother and a mother whose quiet faith built the foundation of the early church.

Each chapter is built to read slowly. A long narrative section that brings the story alive. A short reflection on what the story has to say for today. One or two questions to sit with, plus generous space for journaling. The book works equally well for individual reading, mother-daughter studies, mentor-mentee conversations, women's small groups, and church book clubs.

For every woman who has ever been mothered. For every woman who has ever mothered. For every woman who has been raised, blessed, or sent forward by another woman, whether by blood or by choice.

The chain of women carrying women forward is older than the Bible itself. It has not stopped. These pages are an invitation to find your place inside it.