Happy New Year to our faithful readers! With a new year comes a new theme. This year we are excited to delve into the lives of some amazing women in the Bible. And there is no better way to start than at the beginning—the very beginning.

I was barely pregnant when a well-meaning friend gave me some advice. She said, “Krista, remember these five words when you go into labor. ‘I WANT MY EPIDURAL NOW!’” I’m sure she meant well, but in my naïve, pregnant state, I thought to myself, “No way, I’m doing this natural.”

Well, the big day came. I could tell the nurse was reluctant to admit me to the hospital given that my labor wasn’t progressing much, but she showed pity on my husband and me when she saw our eager and exhausted faces. This baby was two weeks overdue and we were ready for our precious bundle to make her entrance into the world.

We had been settled in the birthing room for a couple of hours when I started feeling more uncomfortable. I firmly announced that I was ready for my epidural (so much for the natural route). My husband called the nurse in and she said, “Oh Honey you still have a ways to go before you can get your epidural.”

Suddenly the panic set in. All my hopes for a calm, natural birth were gone. I wanted this over quickly and with minimal pain. But it was not to be. After twenty three hours of labor, critical blood loss, two fainting spells and a difficult recovery, we finally had our Madeline.

During that particular “storm” in my life I remember being angry and bold enough to blame Eve for my childbirth woes. After all God told Eve (and every generation to follow) her punishment for sinning in the Garden of Eden:

To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Genesis 3:16

We all know how the Enemy, in the form of a serpent, approached Eve and tempted her to question the commands of God. But why did he approach Eve and not Adam? There are many Bible scholars who have debated this topic. I am not a Bible scholar in the least, but I do have an opinion based on what I’ve read. I believe the enemy chose Eve because of the very purposes she was created; mainly her ability to bear children and populate the earth. Satan went right for the one thing that would strike at that human race before it ever started.

Though I’m not happy with the way things turned out in the garden, I know it was meant to be this way. Sooner or later sin would have entered this world. What I learn from Eve is that we as women were created for a wonderful purpose. As wives, mothers, friends, teachers, daughters and sisters, we are wired to nurture and build relationships. The enemy knows the Godly influence we can have on those around us and that is a huge threat to him. Think about that, we are a threat to the enemy.

In Genesis 3:15 God says this to the enemy: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heal.”

Do you see the hope in the midst of this curse?  Though Eve would never know redemption for sin in her lifetime, it is her Seed (Jesus) that would bruise the head of the serpent.  It’s time we remember Eve, not for her sin, but for her awesome part in the human race. We are her offspring, redeemed by Jesus, focused on spending eternity with our Creator.