Clothed With Strength and Dignity

"She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future." Proverbs 31:25 (NLT)

I've been receiving private messages and emails from several ladies this week, and it's been striking how many of us landed in the same place. Afraid of the future. Not having a plan. Not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Or just not being satisfied with where they are right now.

Different situations, different stories, but the same weight underneath. Marriage. Ministry. Family. People we love. Things we can't fix. Things we wish we could change. Things we don't understand. And, of course, the future.

That word can carry a lot of weight, can't it? Sometimes we look ahead with excitement, and other times, if we're honest, we look ahead with a knot in our stomach. What if this happens? What if things don't work out? What if something changes? What if I can't handle what comes next? What if the thing I've been praying about doesn't turn out the way I hoped?

And that's why I love Proverbs 31:25. "She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future." I think we sometimes read verses like this and imagine a woman who has everything together: strong, confident, organized, a clean house, wonderful children, a perfect marriage, a consistent devotional life. She probably wakes up before everyone else, exercises, drinks her green smoothie, has already prayed for three hours, and somehow has dinner in the slow cooker by 7:00 a.m. Okay... maybe that's just the version of the Proverbs 31 woman I created in my head. 😂

But Scripture doesn't say her life is easy. It doesn't say she knows what tomorrow will bring. It says she is clothed with strength and dignity. And then it says something that really gets me: she laughs without fear of the future. Not because she knows the future will be easy, not because she knows everything will go according to plan, and not because she has figured out how to control every possible outcome. She can face the future without fear because her confidence isn't ultimately in the future. Her confidence is in God. And that changes everything.

I think this is one of those places where our thoughts really expose what our hearts are trusting. Fear of the future often comes with a long list of what ifs, and underneath those what ifs can be the belief that somehow we need to know, control, or guarantee what happens next in order to be okay. But Scripture keeps bringing us back to something much better: God is sovereign, God is wise, God is good, God is faithful. And I don't have to know tomorrow to trust Him today.

That doesn't mean we never feel afraid, or that we pretend difficult things aren't difficult, or that we stop planning, preparing, seeking wise counsel, or taking responsible action. Biblical trust isn't passivity. Sometimes faith looks like making the phone call, having the difficult conversation, setting a wise boundary, or asking for help. Sometimes it looks like taking the next faithful step when you really wish God would just show you the entire staircase. And sometimes faith looks like sitting on your deck with a cup of coffee, your cat beside you, a bird screaming somewhere in the trees, and realizing that you still don't know what tomorrow holds, and being okay with that. Because God does.

Isn't that what we all want sometimes? A five-year plan from God, preferably with detailed instructions and a little reassurance at the bottom: Don't worry. Everything is going to work out exactly the way you want. He rarely gives us that note. Instead, He gives us Himself, and honestly, He is better. Because if God simply promised us that everything would turn out the way we wanted, our faith would still be centered on an outcome. Instead, Scripture teaches us to trust the One who holds the outcome. That is a much deeper kind of peace.

And maybe that's what we need to remember when the future feels heavy. You don't have to know what is coming. You don't have to solve tomorrow today. You don't have to rehearse every possible disaster in your mind so you'll somehow be prepared when it happens. You don't have to carry a burden God hasn't asked you to carry yet. Today has enough trouble of its own. Jesus said that for a reason. He told us not to be anxious about tomorrow, because tomorrow will bring its own worries. "Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" (Matthew 6:34). Tomorrow will come with its own grace, and when it does, God will still be God. He will still be faithful. He will still be wise. He will still be good.

So, friend, maybe today we can take Proverbs 31:25 and hold onto it a little differently. We can be women who are clothed with strength and dignity, not because we are naturally strong, but because we know the One who is. And we can face the future without fear, not because we know what it holds, but because we know Who holds it.

Maybe you don't feel particularly strong today. That's okay, strength doesn't always feel like strength. Maybe you're tired, or waiting, or praying for someone you love. Maybe you're walking through a season you never expected, with no idea what the next chapter looks like. You don't have to pretend otherwise. Just take the next faithful step, trust God with what you cannot see, and let tomorrow stay where it belongs: in His hands.

So if you're one of the ladies who reached out this week, or if you're just reading along and this is landing a little too close to home, hear this: you don't know what the future holds. And you don't have to. God does. ❤️

I'm praying for each of you.

Love,

Andrea Anderegg