Learning from the 50 cow woman

There was a girl in an African village who always saw herself as a very common young woman. One day her fiancé asked her father for her hand in marriage. As is the case in many African nations, the future husband needed to pay the bride’s parents a dowry before they would release her to marry him. And dowry was to be paid in cows, not dollars. Even though the dowry for her would have been two or three cows, her fiancé gave her father fifty cows for her hand in marriage. It totally changed the young bride’s countenance and self-perception! She beamed from ear to ear! She became known in the village as the 50-cow woman. She felt transformed and so valued and encouraged by her new husband. Our God encourages us to see ourselves as He sees us; totally forgiven, loved by Christ, and a child of God (Eph. 1:7, Rev. 1:5, I Jn. 3:2). It completely changes our perspective when we see ourselves as the Lord sees us!