Rachel (46 page)

The struggles Rachel and Leah carried in sharing a husband, however, were theirs. The Bible gives us a good glimpse of just how personal things got in the names Leah chose for her sons and in Rachel’s bitter cry that she would die if she could not bear children! I wonder if Jacob didn’t feel rather like a pawn in some childbearing chess game.

My favorite part of this story, though, is not in the struggles of the women over their want of children or over Jacob’s love, but of the struggle Jacob faced when he wrestled with God. Have you ever carried fear as long as he did? While he surely stuffed the fears and guilt aside to live his life, Jacob never quite forgot what he had done to his brother, and he did not know peace at a heart level until he settled the matter (and many more matters, I’m sure) with God alone.

And isn’t that the way it is for each of us? Life is filled with struggles, some nearly impossible to bear. We grapple and fight and flee and live with guilt, and yet what our hearts are longing for is restoration and reconciliation. For Jacob, that meant facing his brother. For Rachel, it meant realizing that God was more important to her than raising children, and it meant coming to some sense of peace with her sister. I’d like to think Rachel and Leah were friends in the end.

That’s not to say that all relationships can be restored. We can live at peace with men only as far as it concerns us. And Esau was not a man Jacob could trust. He was a man Jacob could forgive and seek forgiveness from. Still, in the end, they went their separate ways.

Someday, when Jesus (Yeshua) reigns on earth, all things will be fully restored. But until then, we, like Jacob and Rachel, will struggle. And sometimes we will wrestle with God’s best for us.

Like Jacob, I hope we can come away from such encounters changed and yet blessed.

In His Grace,
Jill Eileen Smith

Acknowledgments

Authors work and research alone, but we also work in a community. Through the years of email support loops, I have met some wonderful friends. Together we encourage each other and pray for one another. To thank them as a whole seems like such a small gesture, but I would need to fill a book to mention all of those who have touched my life and blessed my career.

As for the writing of this book, my biggest thanks goes to my first reader and critique partner, Jill Stengl. Thank you, dear friend, for helping me through another story!

Other mega thanks go to my editor, Lonnie Hull DuPont, whom God first put in my life in 1991 as a sneak peek of the fact that He wanted us to work together. It took until 2007 for that to be realized in His perfect timing. Thank you, Lonnie! You’re the best!

And to my line editor, Jessica English. I’m so glad we got to meet and have lunch in person this year! Your style of editing is so uplifting and encouraging! Thank you for making my work look good!

To all of the great people I get to work with at Revell—Twila, Michele, Claudia, Deonne, Robin, Janelle, Jennifer, Lindsay,
Cheryl, Donna, Mary—thank you for believing in me and for all you do to support this work. I love you guys!

To Wendy Lawton—I loved getting to know you better at the Books & Such retreat this year. You are a rare gem, and I’m so glad God made us a team.

To Randy, my heart’s true love. I’m so glad I never had to share you like Rachel did her Jacob!

To my California guys, Jeff and Chris, who make me so proud to be your mom! (And jealous of your sunshine!)

To Ryan and Carissa, who will be married by the time this book sees print! I can’t tell you how happy I am to get to love the two of you! I’m pretty happy about having a girl in the family too!

To my mom, whose love of reading got me started in the first place. I’m so glad we still have you here on earth to celebrate the joy of living!

And above all, to the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob—the God who is true and living through all of the struggles of all generations.

Selah.

Jill Eileen Smith
is the author of the bestselling
Michal
,
Abigail
, and
Bathsheba
, all part of the Wives of King David series, and of
Sarai
and
Rebekah
, books 1 and 2 in the Wives of the Patriarchs series. Her writing has garnered acclaim in several contests. Her research into the lives of biblical women has taken her from the Bible to Israel, and she particularly enjoys learning how women lived in Old Testament times. Jill lives with her family in southeast Michigan.

Contact Jill through email (
[email protected]
), her website (
www.jilleileensmith.com
), Facebook (
www.facebook.com/jilleileensmith
), or Twitter (
twitter.com/JillEileenSmith
). She loves to hear from her readers.

Books by Jill Eileen Smith

THE WIVES OF KING DAVID

Michal

Abigail

Bathsheba

WIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS

Sarai

Rebekah

Rachel

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