Help! Love, MOM

Mothers have been on my heart for a few weeks now.

For those of you who always look forward to Mother’s Day and everything it represents: I love that for you! Seriously.

But there are women like me who do or used to HATE Mother’s Day.

A sense of upset and overwhelming anxiety would grip me just thinking about the day. Even this past holiday was a little heavy.

This is the final, installment, if you will, of an inadvertent (I wasn’t planning it) series on complicated emotions on Mother’s Day against the backdrop of bubbly ads, beautiful cards, delightful gifts and gatherings.

We’ve been talking about Rahab.

Rahab: an Atypical Woman to Admire

You may recall, or if you are not familiar with her story in the book of Joshua:

Rahab

• is a Canaanite prostitute living in Jericho;
• who harbors and hides Israelite spies, AND, who
• helps to save the same spies by misdirecting the soldiers hunting them.

Rahab’s actions demonstrate faith in the spies’ God, Jehovah.

In exchange for her protection and participation, Rahab asks the spies to spare her family during their planned invasion.

Rahab marks her home with a scarlet cord – BIG FAITH! – as a signal to Israel’s army to by pass her house in Jericho’s destruction. Later she integrates into the Israelite community through marriage.

Rahab’s Legacy: Faith, Action, and Inclusion

The book of Hebrews names her in the “Hall of Faith,” highlighting how her belief kept her from dying with the disobedient.

In the book of James her story illustrates that faith without actions is dead, showcasing her righteous works in sheltering the messengers .

Finally, the book of Matthew honors her by explicitly including her in the royal genealogy of Jesus Christ, cementing her status as an essential ancestral matriarch.

Rahab’s Story Conveys @ Least 5 Messages

Faith does not require a perfect past. Rahab had no religious credentials, no history of holy living, no community of believers surrounding her. Rahab heard a report and believed it which, in turn, directed her behavior in critical moments. This is what faith requires of us. Faith with no action is no faith at all.

Courage can be quiet. Some of Rahab’s acts of faith were hidden — strangers under floorboards, a whispered conversation, a cord tied in a window. Profound acts of faith and courage may happen where no one is watching. God misses none of them.

Courage can be quite loud. At least one act of Rahab’s faith was out in the open for all to see: a scarlet sash or cord or some brilliantly bright red cloth to mark the faith to be rescued. Having faith, in the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, strengthens you to stand out and up. Just ask David just one of Rahab’s descendants who stood up and out for Jehovah.

Saving faith in God changes lives AND legacies. Rahab saved herself and her family. Rahab’s faith filled action carried her children, and their children, forward in ways she could never have imagined when she was simply a ‘street’ girl surviving another night in Jericho.

God includes the unlikely. Matthew could have left Rahab’s name out of the genealogy. But the Spirit of God, inspiring those words, includes the woman and her work: Rahab the prostitute. Not because sex-work defines her, but because it declares something about the God who chose her and who chose you: that He redeems the rejected and He dearly loves the unlikely.

Life is Unfair but God is Faithful

The Bible through Rahab’s story DOES NOT promise

• that life will be easy or fair,
• that the past will not pierce us with suffering,
• that faith will feel simple.

Rather, because God promises “better” we are, by faith, walking obediently in that one direction.

The scarlet cord held.

The walls came down.

The woman who had every reason to be forgotten was remembered — not just in history, but in eternity.

So if Mother’s Day, even days later, is still a sensitive place, by faith, “hide the spies” and “tie your cord” in the window.

Trust the God who is able to make both the notorious or noted sinner, a glorious follower of Christ and to give exceedingly, abundantly above all you ever expected.

What are your thoughts? How did Mother’s Day 2026, or, others affect you or someone you know or love?

Blessings!

Kimberly