Sarah, The Mother Of Nations Series

An Indian chief's daughter by the name of Shell Flowers came to appreciate the ways of

the white man. She learned English, and then took for herself the Christian name of

Sarah. She was fortunate to come under the influence of General Howard, the

commanding officer of Fort Lynn, for he loved minorities and fought for their rights. He

was a hero of the Civil War who had fought for the rights of blacks, and now he was

trying to be a peacemaker between the Indians and the whites.

When the Indians of Idaho went on the war path, Sarah risked her own life by finding

their camp and rescuing 75 of her own people. Then she rode on horseback for 223 miles

in three days to get General Howard. He was able, because of her information, to put

down the uprising and prevent widespread blood shed. General Howard wrote a book

titled Famous Indian Chiefs I have known. In this book he wrote this of Sarah Winnemucca:

"If I could tell you but a tenth part of all she willingly did to help the white

settlers and her own people to live peaceably together, you would think as I do that the

name of Sarah should have a place beside the name of Pocahontas in the history of our

country."

Most people are not aware of this Sarah who played a major role in part of our

countries history, nor are they aware of the thousands of Sarah's all over the world who

have made this an honorable name by their achievements. We have such women as

Sarah Caldwell, the only woman who has ever conducted at the Metropolitan Opera in

New York. Many are the famous and ordinary people who proudly wear the name

Sarah. It has been a popular name all through history because of the first woman to ever

wear that name, which was Sarah the wife of Abraham. She is the only woman I am

aware of who had her name changed by God, like many of the famous men in the Bible.

The name Sarah means princess, and it was given to her directly by God. Sarah could

not imagine that her name would become so famous for all the rest of human history.

After all, she was 89 years old and barren, so the future looked very bleak as far as

posterity goes, and any chance of making her name of any significance in history. Yet,

out of these extremely limiting circumstances Sarah became one of the most famous

mothers in all of history. It is hard to find anyone who can come close to matching Sarah

in the fame she achieved in a world notorious for putting women down.

As Abraham is the father of Judaism, so Sarah is the mother of Judaism. These two

were Gentiles who married each other in the pagan culture of Ur of the Chaldees, and

they became the first two Jews in history. What a paradox that Judaism started with Ma

and Pa Gentile. No wonder God says of Sarah in verse 16, "I will bless her so that she

will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her." No other mother in

history has been so honored by so many nations. The Jewish nation, the Christian

nations, the Mohammedan nations, all trace the origin of their faith to father Abraham

and mother Sarah.

They are the only couple in the Bible who are both referred to in the great faith

chapter of Heb. 11. They are the only parents in the Old Testament who are promised by

God that their seed would be a blessing to every family on earth. They are the only

couple in biblical history whose tomb is still a place of honor in the world today. The

only burial of a woman recorded in the Bible is that of Sarah. She is the only woman in

the Bible whose age at the time of death is recorded. She was 127 years old. She and

Abraham had over a 100 years of married life together, and she had 37 years of being a

mother in spite of her late start at age 90.

Sarah is the first woman in the Bible to have the journey of her life recorded. More is

more recorded about Abraham and Sarah than all of the human race up to their time.

Certainly God intended us to learn something about motherhood from this most unique

of all mothers. The first thing the record compels us to examine is-

I. HER MISSED MOTHERHOOD.

There are few people who know both sides of the story like Sarah. She knew by

experience the full impact of non-motherhood. It seemed strange, but the most famous

mother in history is also the leading authority of what it is like not to be able to be a