Strength of a Woman: Why You Are Proverbs 31

In this episode, Ruth Hovsepian and guest Lauren Crews discuss the timeless topic of the Proverbs 31 woman. They explore how modern women can relate to and embrace the qualities described in Proverbs 31 in their everyday lives. Lauren explains that Proverbs 31 is an acrostic poem in Hebrew, with each letter representing an image and meaning. They discuss the importance of understanding the original language to interpret Proverbs 31 correctly. They also touch on the role of women in the home, the importance of wisdom and kindness in speech, and the significance of serving others.

Takeaways:
✔ Proverbs 31 is an acrostic poem in Hebrew, with each letter representing an image and meaning.
✔ Understanding the original language of Proverbs 31 helps in interpreting it correctly.
✔ The Proverbs 31 woman serves as a role model for modern women in embracing qualities like wisdom, kindness, and serving others.
✔ Women play a crucial role in setting the tone and harmony in the home.
✔ Words matter, and women should be mindful of their words and their impact on others.
✔ Women can be both authoritative and serve others, finding a balance between the two.
✔ The Proverbs 31 woman is not a standard to be achieved but a guide for living a godly life.
✔ Women should focus on their own journey and not compare themselves to others.
✔ Women have the opportunity to be entrepreneurs and make a positive impact in their families and communities.
✔ The Proverbs 31 woman is a reminder of the importance of faith, family, and serving others.

✔ Website | www.laurencrews.com
✔ Instagram | @LaurenCrewsA2Z
✔ Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/lauren.monicocrews
✔ Podcast | https://www.messianiclambradio.com/

✰ SOCIALS ✰
✔Website - https://www.ruthhovsepian.com/
✔Podcast - https://outofthedarknesswithruthhovsepian.buzzsprout.com/
✔Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ruthhovsepian/
✔Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ModernDayRuthRedeemed/
✔LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthhovsepian/
✔Speaking - https://www.ruthhovsepian.com/speaking
✔Books - https://www.ruthhovsepian.com/booksruthhovsepian

✰ BUSINESS EMAIL ✰
info@ruthhovsepian.com

✰ MUSIC ✰
hot music - winning-elevation

Transcript

Ruth Hovsepian (00:03.222)
Welcome to another episode of Out of the Darkness, the podcast where we explore faith, transformation, and the journey to finding light in the darkest moments. I'm your host, Ruth Hovsepian. And today we're taking a look into the timeless topic of the Proverbs 31 woman. And our guest is Lauren Crews a multi award winning Christian nonfiction author.

public high school teacher and freelance writer. Lauren is passionate about studying and teaching God's word and hosts a weekly live show on the Lamb network. She's also the author of the award -winning book, Strength of a Woman, Why You Are Proverbs 31. Lauren, welcome to the

Lauren Crews (00:51.452)
Thank you, thank you. I'm so excited to be here, Ruth. Thanks for having me.

Ruth Hovsepian (00:55.03)
I'm excited to have this conversation. We all have heard about the Proverbs 31 woman. We've seen books, we've had the topics, but I really want to talk about how can modern women relate to and embrace the qualities that we read about in Proverbs 31 and talk about. you know, we're sometimes very flippant about it and talk about it, but how can a modern woman?

use the, you know, the described woman in Proverbs 31 in their everyday lives.

Lauren Crews (01:32.764)
First of all, I'm gonna start with the preface of the book that I've written is based on the Hebrew alphabet because the passage is actually an acrostic poem of the Hebrew alphabet. in Hebrew, Hebrew is a pictographic language. So every letter,

Ruth Hovsepian (01:45.76)
Mm -hmm.

Lauren Crews (01:54.766)
is not just a sound, but it has an image behind it. And those images are actually built into the meanings of the words. so, they're, acrostics are all over the Bible. They're usually used to help one memorize because Hebrew is a verbal language and, you know, Torah and Old Testament, everything was memorized. And so, when we know what the images of those letters are, and then we kind of do a bit of a word study and really what the

original audience how they would have handled that passage it ain't your mama's Proverbs 31 I always say that and it really helps us understand how we can apply that to us today so there's images like a door well

When we leave the door to our home, the verse says that she seeks wool and flax and we know that wool and flax are images of the flesh in the tabernacle or the priestly duties, but she's seeking them as if she's going to worship and search for them. So what that verse is basically saying is when we leave the door to our home, are we seeking wool, which would be a priestly garment, or are we seeking flax or flesh?

So I've got that.

opposite. It's actually seeking flax, which is linen, which would be a priestly garment, or are we seeking wool, which is the flesh. And so that's something that applies to us today. You know, when we leave our home, are we seeking the world and our flesh or are we seeking the kingdom? There's others about a snake, which sounds yucky, a little bit of an ick, but a snake uses its tongue to kind of taste test where it's going and it feels the vibration.

Ruth Hovsepian (03:22.238)
Mm.

Ruth Hovsepian (03:28.896)
Yep.

Lauren Crews (03:43.186)
of what's in front of it and that verse goes with how she is looking at a field to purchase it and basically what we're doing is we're kind of giving things a taste test of where we want to plant ourselves.

and you know moms and women are so quick to get our kids involved in activities and you know what church are we going to go to and what you know book club are we going to be in and how you know we load our schedules up but are we pausing to see where we plant ourselves and so when we know some of those little details and the imagery of the letters it definitely takes on a different flavor of how we interpret Proverb 31.

Ruth Hovsepian (04:25.682)
You know, years ago, I don't even want to tell you how many years ago I was in my early 20s, which is a long time ago. I actually, there was a missionary here in Montreal that was coming to our church and she offered a class in Hebrew. It was, I tell you, it was a fun year of learning.

the alphabet and it was, that's just an aside note. But this, I find it really fascinating how you've used that imagery, you know, to talk about it. And I think that imagery always helps someone learn. I'm a visual person, so I love it. you know, when you're talking about all of this imagery, I'm like, it does make sense. And if you, when you look at it that way,

Lauren Crews (04:55.95)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Lauren Crews (05:11.74)
Yeah. Yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (05:22.39)
I love it. It's how I guess everyone learns a little bit different. But you also have been, you know, like even with a few examples you gave, it makes it so much relatable to the 21st century, to 2024 and how that applies. Because when you look at Proverbs 31, sometimes you wonder, you know, how does this apply? Like, what am I doing?

Lauren Crews (05:22.454)
Yeah.

Lauren Crews (05:47.91)
Right.

Lauren Crews (05:52.168)
I know when I initially started thinking like, because there's like a million books about Proverbs 31, who wants to write another one? So I really just began by asking, what do you think of this woman? Or what do you know of this woman? And so many people are like, my grandma was Proverbs 31. it's something that it's over a whole lifetime. We can't be all things to everyone. And so you just get so many different ideas of who she is.

Ruth Hovsepian (05:57.426)
Right. Yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (06:04.99)
Mm -hmm.

Ruth Hovsepian (06:10.143)
Mmm.

Ruth Hovsepian (06:16.704)
Christ.

Lauren Crews (06:22.074)
honestly the story that I have so there's 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet I have 20

stories of different women that if you met them in the thick of their story, you would have never considered them Proverbs 31 because that is often held as a standard or this is like if you're gonna be the perfect Christian woman you need to be her and often we fall short and we just pile that on ourselves of one more failure.

Ruth Hovsepian (06:37.504)
Right.

Ruth Hovsepian (06:47.84)
Yeah.

Lauren Crews (06:54.402)
you know, isn't that what's so great about God is he redeems stories and he, you know, takes those rubies and shines them up again and we're still able to be used in the kingdom. And so, yeah, it's just very different when you look at that original language and when you really have a good understanding of

you know, just the concepts are in there. There's a lot that's released from that standard that we have of ourselves.

Ruth Hovsepian (07:24.478)
Yeah, and I'm glad you touched on this, that women already are feeling the pressure of, you know, doing certain things in a certain way and the expectations of the world, the expectations of church, their family, whatever. And I think it is hard in the 21st century, not because it's any harder to

a woman per se, but it's because of social media and, the comparison world we live in. And I really wanted to talk about that a little bit as well, because as women, women of faith, women who really, my grandmother used to say, the man is the head of the house, but the woman is the neck of the house. Yeah.

Lauren Crews (07:58.47)
Yeah, I agree. I would agree with

Lauren Crews (08:20.578)
That's in my book.

Ruth Hovsepian (08:22.696)
And honestly, I don't know if this is a cultural thing. There was no disrespect when she said it. And, and, you know, like she would like kind of joke about it, but she wasn't joking because culturally, I'm of Armenian heritage and in my grandma, my grandmother grew up in Turkey and Egypt and Turkey and Greece. And she was the one that.

Lauren Crews (08:26.236)
Mm

Ruth Hovsepian (08:52.042)
really took care of the family, not because my grandpa was anything but a hardworking man, but because he was a hardworking man, she was the one that ran the household. And he, you know, he had some physical ailments that he had to deal with, but she never ever, I never saw her belittle him.

And she never belittled herself and her role as the leader of the household in the way that she saw it. So she would say to me, you know, without the neck, the head would never move. The head would not be able to see what is happening around

And I didn't understand it when I was young, but as I've gotten older and understood it and understood where she was coming from, I really appreciate that. And it's hard. And as a single mom, I have to say that my home, my family, my little nuclear family,

missed out on having a man in the house. And I've heard all kinds of things, Lauren, about this, and I've heard, well, better an absent father than a bad father in the home, and you know, like all kinds of things. But I tell you, I see the results of not having a man of God in the home.

Ruth Hovsepian (10:47.912)
Yeah, there's so much I can say about that. I'm going to leave it there for that part. But what do you think about where we are today?

Lauren Crews (10:57.646)
So much is going through as you share that.

So I'm going to start with the neck because one of the images of the Hebrew alphabet is actually the neck. It's the back of the head and the neck area. It's the letter Kuf. And I'm going to read the verse that goes with it. We can talk about a little bit, it's Proverbs 31 28. Her children rise up and bless her. Her husband also and praises her saying. And then it goes into the next one. So, you you were talking about your grandmother having that respect of her husband and her

Ruth Hovsepian (11:09.641)
Yep.

Ruth Hovsepian (11:23.272)
Mm.

Lauren Crews (11:33.069)
well, he couldn't be the man that he is without her working in the background. And that's our goal as wives and women is to, you know, to support our husband and to do everything that we can to make them the best men of God that we have. Well, if I'm a huge proponent of everything in the Old Testament pointing to Christ. Okay, so that has to include Proverbs 31. How does that relate? Well,

whether you're a single woman, a divorced woman, a widowed woman, you what do I do if I don't have the man of my house? However, if we could really understand Jesus being our bridegroom, right? And then read through Proverbs 31.

Ruth Hovsepian (12:07.647)
Mm -hmm.

Lauren Crews (12:19.536)
with him as the husband, right? And so our husband, our bridegroom, rises up and calls us blessed, right? And sings our praises. And then our job is to do everything we can to make his name known, right? To make him the best that he can be. And so sometimes that helps a little bit.

Yeah, it doesn't discount what we need here physically in the now and here on earth and everything, but it does kind of ease it a little bit. It's a little bit of a balm knowing that, you know, we're living to make our bridegroom's name known and him to be the best that he can be in the world that we live in, you know, because we have a city gate that was the big place of commerce and that's where all the business was done and the judgment and everything. And so we all have

Ruth Hovsepian (12:59.061)
Yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (13:09.343)
Right?

Lauren Crews (13:12.148)
and individual city gates and so he sits with the elders at the city gate and you know he is known. Hopefully that's something that's because of what we've done for him. yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (13:23.198)
Yeah, and I believe I'm very much in agreement with what the woman will do will not just lift the man, but lift herself and her family.

Lauren Crews (13:39.825)
Mm -hmm.

Lauren Crews (13:43.653)
Right, and I was going to say think of what the neck does because the neck is the joint between the head, right, and the body. And so you can take that as, you know, a man may be the head of our home, but we're the connection to the body. But also, you know, our bridegroom, you know, we should be filling our mind with the knowledge of scriptures and with that relationship with God because

Ruth Hovsepian (13:47.679)
Mm.

Ruth Hovsepian (14:01.162)
Mm -hmm.

Lauren Crews (14:11.142)
We have to be that connection and how we live that out and teach our children and our families. So

Ruth Hovsepian (14:15.614)
Right. And I'm glad you brought that point up. That was something I was going to ask you about is how much do you think a woman's journey and walk with the Lord comes into play with the harmony and where her family is? How does her faith?

Lauren Crews (14:38.498)
it's huge. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure you've heard.

you know, we set the tone of our homes, right? Right? We, yeah, I mean, we are the heart of our homes. So I'm just gonna, I've got, the only thing I can do is relate it to Proverbs 31, right? So who can find a virtuous woman? And so the first letter of the alphabet is alif, and that's an oxen. And if you think about it, right, the husband and wife become a team, like kind of like yoked together like an oxen.

And if you want to take that in a scriptural next level, you're yoked to your bridegroom, right? So you have to work as a team. Well, then the next one says the heart of her husband trusts in her. Well, the only way our husband's heart is going to trust in us or even God is going to trust in us is if we have made his heart.

our home, right? Bet is the second letter. It means house, but the word labeb is lamed bet bet. It's two hearts, two hearts walking together. And so bet is often related to the home and the heart of the home. And so we are the heart of our home. And that relationship between our husband and I sets the tone, but also our relationship with Christ sets the tone.

Ruth Hovsepian (15:44.104)
Mmm.

Ruth Hovsepian (15:50.644)
Right.

Lauren Crews (16:02.988)
our husband is fully going to trust in us, whether it's a birthly husband or God the Father, bridegroom husband, you know, we have to have a heart for him and our heart has to be, you know, directed and settled.

It's huge. ancient history and ancient Israel, the mom was in charge until about five years old. So we not only set the tone, but we are the beginnings of any kind of spiritual teaching before we turned them over to Hebrew school and working with the teachers and the rabbis. We have them for five years and we the foundation. yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (16:34.282)
Right, right, right.

Ruth Hovsepian (16:43.918)
It's so sad, and I say this with sadness in my heart that society has turned families against each other in the sense that the roles are stripped away from each member of the family. And looking back, I'm an empty nester. My kids are all grown.

Lauren Crews (17:05.5)
Yeah, I agree.

Lauren Crews (17:13.554)
same.

Ruth Hovsepian (17:13.84)
And yeah, and I look back and I made lots of mistakes. was not the person I am today, but I see the role of a mother in the household. And when I, I want my, you know, those listening and watching today to understand when I say the role of a mother in a house, in the home,

is very important. I'm not downplaying the man's role. I'm not knocking down men. I would never do that. I'm on the opposite side of it where I'm very vocal about society knocking men down and their masculinity and what God has made them. But we're talking now about, you know, the Proverbs 31. But what I want to say is

You said, and you said this, you set the tone of your family. If you, as a woman are dissatisfied with your circumstances or you are constantly griping, if you're complaining about this, you're complaining about the lack of funds. If you're complaining about responsibilities and tasks that you are doing.

You are setting the tone and you are teaching your you're doing a disservice to your children. I had a woman recently tell me, well, if I don't speak out, my daughter will be a welcome mat to her future spouse. Lauren, I was taken aback by that because

I don't have that viewpoint of it. And it saddened me because obviously this person has things to deal with and maybe the past. But I think we need to teach our daughters and their sons as mothers what it means to appreciate what we have and to acknowledge what we have today.

Ruth Hovsepian (19:40.642)
not constantly looking at others and saying, you know, if we had this house or if we went on this trip and we are really setting up our children for disappointment when we live this

Lauren Crews (20:00.252)
I agree. have, I and I have two daughters and a son. And so, you know, I have the balance of teaching my son to be a man of a home, you know, but also my daughters to be independent and strong women.

Ruth Hovsepian (20:07.862)
Mmm.

Lauren Crews (20:15.282)
but to still have a kindness and a grace when dealing with others. I wanted them to be educated. I wanted them to have options and not to be afraid if they were ever in abusive relationship to walk out. mean, that's important for your girls to have that confidence, but not in a...

Ruth Hovsepian (20:18.026)
Yes.

Ruth Hovsepian (20:28.702)
Right. Yep.

Lauren Crews (20:36.39)
dissatisfaction leaving because life is not what it should be. It's very different. I know my daughter is a teacher. She did go to college and she married a young man who didn't have a degree and he's just fabulous guy. We love him to death. But my conversation with her is you're marrying somebody that is not gonna have CEO opportunities for hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in salary.

you have to be okay with that and you have to acknowledge that now. You guys are gonna have to work together. You're gonna be dependent on two salaries. It's gonna be a little tougher. You gotta know that now before you make that commitment to him and you understand and acknowledge that's what we're getting into. So they did. Yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (21:22.454)
Right. But that's, that's because you have the wisdom, right? So to me, that's a proverbs 31 woman that is having the wisdom to counsel your children. So we've had the same very similar experiences. You know, I have a daughter that went through college and, and, you know, did her thing. And I love my son -in -law to bits. I love him to bits.

Lauren Crews (21:30.374)
Yeah.

Lauren Crews (21:48.742)
Yeah, we do too.

Ruth Hovsepian (21:51.412)
and he's a tradesman.

Lauren Crews (21:54.544)
Right. And there's nothing wrong with that. yes, yes.

Ruth Hovsepian (21:58.234)
We are a family of tradespeople and I kind of had the same conversation about it. But, know, just as a side note, tradespeople are lacking, especially here in Canada, and they are in demand. But having said that, if you set the right expectation with your sons and your daughters, then they are

Lauren Crews (22:15.175)
Mm -hmm.

Lauren Crews (22:25.692)
Mm -hmm.

Ruth Hovsepian (22:27.718)
Surprise, but you cannot do that unless you yourself have the right mind frame and set up. And I've always encouraged them to have conversations and to talk and to understand and know what each one wants there. And no one can really tell you whether.

Lauren Crews (22:29.0)
Right.

Lauren Crews (22:36.925)
Right.

Ruth Hovsepian (22:56.744)
Your relationship is working or not in that realm, right? So if I have to be careful as a parent as well, not to say, yeah, but that's not your job. That should be his job or that's her job, right? Because it works for them. You know, I think there is that as well as parents to be discerning about that, but I've always encouraged my girls.

You know, I too have two daughters and a son. I too encourage my girls, you know, especially the one that's married to a builder. What can you do to help him? Not just in the home, but get involved in his business if you can, if you, if you, you know, whatever. And, know, it has been appreciated. And now she does his, his payroll.

Lauren Crews (23:40.541)
Mm -hmm.

Lauren Crews (23:45.273)
Mm -hmm.

Ruth Hovsepian (23:55.638)
and many other things. And I've noticed a difference in their attitudes because she understands better why he puts in 12, 14, 16 hour days. She understands the business and why he's working when he has employees. Why does he work so hard? Well, because of what it's exactly. And I think

Lauren Crews (24:01.682)
Good.

Lauren Crews (24:08.156)
Thank you.

Lauren Crews (24:18.125)
Right. It's his business and he's proud of it. Yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (24:26.118)
That is what we need from the women is stop, think, look, understand, don't be ready to just jump on someone without, bring harmony into the home. I repeat this all the time and

Lauren Crews (24:50.727)
Right.

Ruth Hovsepian (24:54.856)
It's the harmony in the home really comes from you and how you set the tone early in the morning. You know, it's, it's interesting. had a woman recently, a young mother say, don't know. I struggle in the morning and whatever. And I said, well, this is how I dealt with

Lauren Crews (25:04.36)
Right.

Ruth Hovsepian (25:19.006)
I prepped at night and in the morning there was peace with my children because again, as a single mom, I had to do it all. it's not like I had someone to fall back on and say, my husband doesn't help me. was, I had to do it. And it was almost like, it was like, really? And I thought, okay.

Lauren Crews (25:20.764)
Mm -hmm.

Ruth Hovsepian (25:44.222)
I mean, grace, because she doesn't understand that she could do it the day before or prep the night before so that there is a harmony. There is peace and family in the morning.

Lauren Crews (25:58.076)
Right, right.

Ruth Hovsepian (26:01.259)
I don't know. It's a balancing

Lauren Crews (26:04.846)
It is for sure. It is for sure.

I was someone that definitely taught my kids. They had chores. I didn't take it all on myself, you know, and they had to learn how to do things along the way. know, I think mamas pile it on and I know and I say this in my book too, a lot of times it was easier for me just to do it rather than to take the time to teach someone else, but also because, you know, the control freak tendency

Ruth Hovsepian (26:32.158)
Yes, of course.

Lauren Crews (26:37.866)
if I know I would get it done correctly and I wouldn't have to do like that in the way I want

Ruth Hovsepian (26:39.89)
Right. And the way we want it. Yes, I know. Yep.

Lauren Crews (26:43.304)
Right, but I'm doing a disservice because I have not been teaching my kids and you know, I'm going to throw it back to Proverbs 31 because the next, you know, after a home and a marriage and a home, the next thing is she's a benefit to her family. And the letter that goes with that is a camel. And that sounds kind of strange, but think about what the camel's job was in ancient Near East. The ship, you know, the desert of the ship. And so we tend

Ruth Hovsepian (27:11.008)
That's right, yeah?

Lauren Crews (27:13.43)
think that we have to carry it all and we have to you know we're gonna go without water and we're gonna die the martyr and you know but what does a camel have to do they have to kneel down and they have to kneel before anything can be put on them and when they're done that has to be unloaded before anything else can be loaded and so if I'm gonna be a benefit to my family

And the other thing that that means, that word gammal means to to nurse until weaned. And so basically I'm supposed to work myself out of a job. Right. And so I have to teach my kids and lead my family and do these things. But I have to do it by kneeling down and unloading before I can load up. And I need to do it so that they're they're weaned and they don't need me anymore.

So sometimes it's hard. It's easier just to do it ourselves quickly, but we have to keep in mind what is the disservice we're doing to our family in the long run? What skills are we not teaching them or giving them the opportunity to fail at even by taking it on ourselves?

Ruth Hovsepian (28:20.69)
Right. And I expected both my son and my daughters to do the same chores at home. Yep. Listen, my son cooked before my girls did. And I remember they must have been in their 20s, know, early 20s. And I heard my youngest daughter say to my son, Joshua.

Lauren Crews (28:26.658)
Yeah, my son's a great cook and he totally knew how to do laundry when he went to college. I think that might be the case. Yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (28:49.814)
Can you make me mac and cheese? And it's become a bit of a joke about it. But yeah, I think we need to do it. The other thing that really stood out to me in Proverbs 31 is where it refers to how she saw land and she bought it. And to me, that is the entrepreneurship of women.

Lauren Crews (28:51.526)
Ruh!

Lauren Crews (28:56.465)
Yeah.

Lauren Crews (29:11.037)
Mm -hmm.

Ruth Hovsepian (29:18.76)
And I don't know, I would, I'd have to look that up. I'm interested now that I'm telling you, is how often did women do that back in that day where they would go buy, you know, buy a field, buy land and be, do business transactions?

Lauren Crews (29:42.022)
I don't know specifics, but I do know the way that Torah and the Old Testament was set up was that women had benefits that other outsiders did not have. Women could inherit. Yes, we had law of the Levites and, you know, marrying the brother in the event of a death, but that was done to protect women. So.

Ruth Hovsepian (29:52.308)
Mmm.

Lauren Crews (30:06.316)
Other cultures don't have that. So that was given so that women could be protected. Think about a widow, the only other thing we had was marrying someone else or a life of prostitution or slavery. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.

Ruth Hovsepian (30:21.322)
Well, that's the story of Ruth, right? And Naomi, right? All widows,

Lauren Crews (30:27.688)
Yeah, so, you know, so there were options of inheritance and the all over Proverbs 31 there's there's so many suggestions of her being, you know, she made trade, she made belts, it's called belts, but sashes and sold them to the tradesmen. And I'm to tell you that word tradesman in Hebrew is actually the word Canaanite. And if you think about Canaanite were the arch enemy of

And so she's making things and she's doing business with the enemy and so she but she was so firm in her faith and and the understanding and belief of Torah and in living the good godly life that She was secure enough to be able to walk into the enemy's area You know, she it was not a threat to her. She had the confidence to do that and she was able to do it

Ruth Hovsepian (31:10.164)
Mmm.

Ruth Hovsepian (31:19.946)
Right?

Lauren Crews (31:24.742)
you for her family. And so, you know, I kind of liken that today is, know, some, you got two camps for women, either you're a working mom or you're a stay at home mom. And a lot of times those two camps clash with each other and that shouldn't be the case. You know, you should be able to provide for your family,

Ruth Hovsepian (31:39.208)
No.

Lauren Crews (31:43.656)
in doing so in such a way that your faith is not going to be compromised, your faith is strong enough that you understand what you're doing and you're still able to provide. So there's just so many lessons within Proverbs 31 that we miss because we don't know the original language. Yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (32:00.764)
Exactly. I actually had to open up. grabbed my Bible because I couldn't, I couldn't remember the verse of it, but it's, yeah. yeah. And I was actually looking at this one here. She opens her mouth with wisdom. And to me as women, yeah, wisdom and kindness. and,

Lauren Crews (32:04.962)
Yeah, I mine open.

Lauren Crews (32:10.408)
It's first test 16.

Lauren Crews (32:16.711)
Okay.

Lauren Crews (32:24.336)
wisdom and kindness. Yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (32:30.228)
To me, that is something that we need to, I think, adopt. The words that we use and the way we speak, whether to our children or to our spouses and to those around us, I think is so important because words made some people think that just words matter.

Lauren Crews (32:56.232)
Words matter. Yeah. Words matter. Yeah.

Ruth Hovsepian (32:59.158)
They, know, children will take it and your husband will take it and carry it with them. And I really, it's just, there is a lot of wisdom in all of this. you know, even, what's the, I think it's verse 20 that says, she opens her hand to

core, right? And she, she, is it? And let me, why am I? Yeah. And reaches out her hands to the needy. And, and, and I think that to me shows the fact that it's not about her. It's not about her family only. She also has concern for others. And oftentimes, advice to women is stop thinking about yourself only.

Lauren Crews (33:30.258)
It extends it to the knee.

Ruth Hovsepian (33:58.654)
And when you start to care about others, you will realize how blessed you are and how much you have. And when you, you help others and think of others, there's less time to stew over what you wanted and don't have and what's missing. And I found that to be true as well when I started to pray about

others. It really opened my eyes to the fact that my troubles, and I'm doing air quotes for, you know, were not as great as I thought they were. I may have been just too hyper -focused on my needs.

Lauren Crews (34:50.92)
Yeah, let me just compliment you on your wisdom because Ruth, think you were closer to the true meaning of that verse than you even realized. So that verse is Proverbs 31 20 and the image behind that, it begins with the letter cough, which is a K if you want to use that. But cough is a wing or it's a hand of service. It's a cupped hand that holds something. So think of how

hold and you mold, right? But also a wing and I'm going to do my wings out to the side, you know.

Ruth Hovsepian (35:21.748)
Right?

Lauren Crews (35:28.381)
but think about the wing that is covering over and protecting and serving. So that whole verse talks about how she serves others and how she's willing to extend a hand in service. And so you're exactly right in what you're talking about. So the verse before that though is

a yud, which is also a hand, but that's a hand of authority. That's a hand of ownership and authority. So there's two different ways we as women, you know, take on things. You know, we do have an authority. We have authority in our home, right? We have authority in what we do in our lives, but there's a difference between being an authority and being a hand of service. So you are on the right track.

Ruth Hovsepian (35:56.374)
Mmm.

Ruth Hovsepian (36:05.802)
All

Ruth Hovsepian (36:14.71)
You know, I, I, I love this and you know, I, I want to thank you so much, Lauren. It, the time has flown by. but I really thank you for being here and sharing and showing us a different way of looking at Proverbs 31. And I encourage our listeners to grab a copy of your book. Yeah. Grab a copy and go through

Lauren Crews (36:17.735)
Hahaha.

Lauren Crews (36:23.909)
And he does.

Ruth Hovsepian (36:42.708)
There is so much wisdom and I, as I said from the top, I love illustrations and I love visuals and this is, this is great. so thank you so much for, you know, exploring the meanings and helping us understand just a little bit of all of those verses. So ladies, grab a book, men, get a book for yourself and for your wives and sisters and mothers.

Lauren Crews (37:09.522)
That's right.

Ruth Hovsepian (37:11.862)
and whatnot, but to our listeners who want to connect with Lauren and learn more about her work, be sure to check out her weekly live show on the Lamb Network and grab a copy of her book, Strength of a Woman, Why You Are Proverbs 31. You can also follow her on social media to stay updated on her latest projects. Don't forget to subscribe to Out of the Darkness for more conversations and stories.

Until next time, I'm Ruth Hovsepian Keep seeking the light and sharing it with others.