Except for one brief year when I had a class composed only of boys, I have found my life to hold a fairly even mix of the traditional gender identities. It would make sense that the world would hold an equally even mix of stories and traditions featuring male and female identities, but if you’ve spent any time in children’s ministries, you know that curriculum very often omits females. I have spent a good deal of time rewriting lessons so they are more inclusive. I am thrilled, that after two decades of modifying, more inclusive resources are becoming available. When Her Story, Her Strength; 50 God-Empowered Women of the Bible by Sarah Parker Rubio arrived on my doorstep from the publisher, I happily snatched it up and sat down to see what was between the covers.

Her Story, Her Strength dives into the stories of fifty women from the Bible. Each person has three sections; her story, her world, and her God. The author retells each woman’s Biblical story in her story, gives information about her culture and community in her world, and discusses how God values each in her God. Difficult stories (such as Rahab and Jael) are told with sensitivity and the reader can easily read more about them by using the Scriptures that the author cites in each section. The illustrations are representative of what people living in those times in those locations would look like. Language is traditional; husband and wife are presented as the ones that get married. 

This resource can be used in many different ways. It is a good resource for going more deeply into the stories we traditionally use in our Sunday School classes. You have easy access to more information and directions to go even more deeply into the stories, cultures, and implications. It provides you with a framework for further conversations about what we believe and why. Perhaps you have concerns about some of the information; this resource has the space to let you discuss that with the children. This resource could be used as the spine of a midweek ministry that focuses on women, and would be equally useful as the spine of a session for Bedtime Stories and Prayers sessions. This resource is definitely worth perusing!