(Lesson 5)
By Patsy Norwood © 2026. All rights reserved. Any and all commercial use of this study is prohibited. Permission is given for use in ladies Bible classes as long as there are no changes made in the study and no monetary gain involved. This Bible study is written for women.
Luke 2: 36-38 (NASB)
And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Here's the portion of these verses we're going to dissect in today's lesson “ … and lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four.”
The name of Anna’s husband is not given but we do know that he died after only seven years of marriage … how sad. We have no record of Anna having any children either. It seems that she was young, alone and most likely childless in a society that was extremely difficult and that pretty much guaranteed a life of poverty for widows. Yet, even as a young widow, she chose God. I’m sure her Christian heritage, which we talked about in lesson three, had something to do with her choice.
What will our heritage/legacy say about our choices?
For whatever reason Anna never remarried but instead of focusing on what she didn’t have, she focused on what she could do … which was to devote her life to serving God.
Is there a lesson in that for us?
When life gets difficult, do we focus on the negative and what we can't do, or do we purposefully and intentionally focus on what we can do?
Do we purposefully and intentionally devote our lives to serving God even through the tough times?
Questions:
What does ‘choosing God’ look like in the life of a godly senior citizen woman?
Think about a godly senior citizen woman you know? How does she serve God?
Take away lesson: When life hands us difficult situations we should follow Anna’s example and choose God.
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I love reading your comments, so don't be shy!
I'll meet you back here next Thursday for the next lesson.
May you be blessed by this study!
patsy @ From This Heart of Mine
~ a place for women to gather and study God's Word ~
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