L - Lydia - The Purple Merchant

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Acts 16:14-15 (NKJV)
14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us. 

Lydia is a wonderful example of a successful business woman. It she was not a Jew but we know that she worshiped God. When she heard Paul speak she opened her heart to the Lord. She and her house hold became believers. She was prior to her conversion to Christ already hungry to know God. She would have been a Jewish sympathizer and likely in the process of becoming Jewish. She has taken time out of her work day to go to worship and pray.

Thyatira was known for its wool and dying. Lydia dies purple cloth. Purple was an expensive color to make. So her cliental would have be the more wealthy. She is apparently the head of her household which would likely be a considerable group of family and servants. She opens her home to Paul and his traveling companions.     

This may be my shortest post in this A-Z series. My day kind of went in an unexpected direction. I spent most of the day trying to help a young (formerly homeless woman) to get her dress ready for her wedding next Saturday.  Some one brought by a dress, and it was pretty but needed to be altered. Its hard to find anyone to do wedding dress alterations on short notice. So after visting and calling a few places. We checked the thrift store stores to see if we could find a dress that did not need altered. We found some pretty dresses but they were the wrong size, or too expensive. Finally we headed to my house and decided to tackle the alteration. It seemed a simple enough task to take in a couple inches from the sides. When we had managed to do that we decided the dress needed a veil. So we went to Hobby Lobby to get supplies.  

Anyway, the good news is that it is done. She is very pleased with the dress. She has not seen the finished veil. I dropped her of and said I would do the final trim work on the dress and the veil while watching shows with my kids or something. 

So my creative energy went into dress problem solving rather than writing today. I'll have to beef this one up when I go back to do editing for the A-Z Women of The Bible e-book. Generally I have to edit things down not beef them up. I'm sure a lot more could be said about Lydia but my brain can't stay focused so I'm going to head to bed. 

Prayer: I pray the Lord will bless you to be a blessing to the people who become a part of your day. I pray that you will recognize the leading of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord that it is your kindess that leads us to repentance. I do lift up this young woman and pray that she would feel see your love poured out, and like Lydia would open her heart to know you Lord.