Another Woman of Valor

“Eshet chayil—woman of valor— has long been a blessing of praise in the Jewish community. Husbands often sing the line from Proverbs 31 to their wives at Sabbath meals. Women cheer one another on through accomplishments in homemaking, career, education, parenting, and justice by shouting a hearty “eshet chayil!” after each milestone.  Great women of the faith, like Sarah and Ruth and Deborah, are identified as women of valor.”

--Rachel Held Evans

My friend Rachel, who makes her living as a writer and hosts a blog, has a series dedicated to women of valor.  I have been inspired by these stories and want to share this story as my own reflection on a “woman of valor” that I know.

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This is a picture of Lindsey with her best friend, Karlee.  They are both wonderful girls, but I want to tell you about Lindsey.  One of the best parts of my job is that I get to work with the same kids year after year, and because of this I get to see the progress they make as they mature.

When I first met Lindsey as a third grader, she was lots of fun, but she could often be almost paralyzed by fear.  She was afraid of tests and grades and lots of other parts of school, and she could often have a melt-down.

When she got to middle school she faced some tremendous challenges with her health.  She had to learn to manage diabetes, and also had to have some brain surgery for ongoing issues she has dealt with from very early in her life.  After her surgery she had to undergo some occupational therapy to regain some physical skills that she was struggling with.

She has always had a love for music and theater and over the time I have known her, I have been able to attend many of her performances at the Cumberland County Playhouse.  She competed and won the honor of being All-State in Choral Music last year.

She has always had courage.  When you have as many challenges as she does, you have to have courage.  But the past couple of weeks, I've been so impressed with how far she has come in facing obstacles.

Last week I offered a trip to visit the Tennessee Tech campus for a tour.  Lindsey signed up to come, but one of her teachers was very upset that she would miss her class right before EOC testing.  There was a time when this would have led to a meltdown for Lindsey, but after some thought and some discussion with her parents, she was able to tell her teacher she was still going on the trip.  She said, "I've got a 100+ average in this class; I think it will be okay."

Saturday I took students to the zip line at Ruby Falls.  Lindsey came along, even though she would be the first to tell you that she is not the most coordinated person in the world.  She said, "I just want to be able to say, 'I've done a zip line.'"  So even though she was quite unsure if she would be able to make it through, she stepped out onto the obstacles.  She did many of them by herself with a few words of advice or encouragement from those around her.  There were a couple that she needed extra help with, and our guide did an excellent job of getting her through the rough spots.  

I am so proud of her, and all she has accomplished.  She has a strong and courageous spirit, and I wanted to take this moment to salute her.

Eschet chayil, Lindsey, Woman of Valor!