A Pilgrim Widow: Elizabeth Warren

I've posted this previously, but looking back on history always helps me put life in perspective, and gives me a lot to be thankful for.

Can you imagine crossing the Atlantic in a hand-built wooden sailing schooner without bathrooms, electricity, heat or running water? Did I mention you have five daughters in tow, and you're going from England to America to meet your husband who sailed there three years previous on the Mayflower?

Did I mention the year is 1623?

This was the life of Elizabeth Warren. Kind of makes you glad you're you, doesn't it?

When Elizabeth arrived in Plymouth, her husband, Richard Warren was waiting for her. He hadn't died yet. That would happen in 1628, after the birth of their two sons. Did I mention there were no hospitals or anesthesia or Lamaze classes, and she had 7 children in all?

Hardly anything is known about the women of Plymouth, and even less about the widows among them. But Elizabeth, who lived well into her 90's, over 45 years without Richard, broke through the social conventions of the 17th century and lived out her life in goodness and victory.
 

"A woman of valor, who can find? Far beyond pearls is her value…

Give her the fruit of her hands, and she will be praised at the gates by her very own deeds."

Proverbs 31:10

Have a blessed Thanksgiving Day, and live each day to its fullest for the Lord.

♥ ferree