Sarah

Sarah, originally named Sarai, was Abraham's wife and also his half-sister, sharing the same father. She was exceptionally beautiful, which both blessed and endangered her throughout her life. She left her home in Ur with Abraham when God called him to Canaan, demonstrating faith by following her husband into the unknown.

Sarah's great trial was her barrenness. In a culture where a woman's worth was often measured by her ability to bear children, Sarah remained childless for decades. God promised to make Abraham into a great nation, yet year after year passed with no child. Sarah's struggle with this promise led her to take matters into her own hands.

When Sarah was about 75 years old, she proposed that Abraham have a child with her Egyptian servant Hagar, a culturally acceptable practice for producing an heir. Abraham agreed, and Hagar conceived Ishmael. Yet this human solution to fulfill God's promise created deep family strife. When Hagar became pregnant, she despised Sarah, and Sarah treated her harshly. The consequences of this decision would affect both families for generations.

When Sarah was 89 and Abraham was 99, God appeared to Abraham and changed their names from Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah, meaning 'father of many nations' and 'princess' or 'mother of nations.' God specifically promised that Sarah herself would have a son. When Sarah overheard this promise, she laughed in disbelief—she was far past childbearing age and her husband was old. God challenged her laughter: 'Is anything too hard for the Lord?'

True to His word, God enabled Sarah to conceive and bear Isaac when she was 90 years old. The name Isaac means 'laughter,' and Sarah declared that God had brought her laughter—everyone who hears about this will laugh with her. The son of impossibility had arrived, proving that God's promises don't depend on human ability but on His power.

Yet motherhood didn't erase Sarah's struggles. When Isaac was weaned, Sarah saw Ishmael mocking and demanded that Abraham send away Hagar and Ishmael. Though this troubled Abraham, God told him to listen to Sarah because Isaac was the son through whom the covenant would continue. God would also make Ishmael into a nation, but the covenant promises would flow through Isaac.

Sarah died at age 127 in Hebron. Abraham mourned and wept for her, then purchased the cave of Machpelah as a burial site—the first piece of the Promised Land that Abraham actually owned. Sarah's life demonstrates that God can work through our doubts and failures, that His promises may take longer than we expect, but He is always faithful. Her faith, despite its imperfections, made her a model for all who trust in God's promises.