Today’s article is another installment in Sister Alena X. Ricci’s series on Women of the Bible.

Miriam is an interesting woman, and we get to see a lot of her life play out. We see her watch her mother’s act of faith as her brother is sent down the river in a basket. We see her follow her siblings out of Egypt. We see her punished, and we see her restored.

I mean, if you ask me, it sounds a lot like each one of our testimonies. We see something that we want, and we follow it; we sin, but we are restored. 

In my opinion, Miriam’s greatest moment is the fact that — through all of this, of literally being cast out of her nation — she still played an integral role in being part of Israel’s journey and the deliverance of God’s people.

Miriam’s own sins and mistakes don’t change God’s plan; they don’t affect His work.

And that’s something that we each need to understand.

Every day, we make mistakes. Every day we make bad choices. And every day God still moves in our lives.

I’ve learned that, even though I’m a planner and don’t like to do things on the fly, I thank God that my life hasn’t turned out at all like I thought. 

Honestly, I thank God that my plans don’t really affect His because His are infinitely better.

If Miriam is anything to me, she is a symbol of hope. She is an example of the fact that God uses everyone (and uses them differently). She shows me that through all my mistakes and bad ideas and even worse execution of them, God’s hand is still pushing me and protecting me.

Reading this story reminds me that I still hold on to hope, because I believe that God can use me, and I firmly am convicted that God can use you too.

There is always a ram in the thicket; it may not be the size we want or the timing we’re hoping for, but it’s there.

And it’s there because there is a lamb, there is Jesus Christ on the throne.

Image credit: “Miriam” by Anselm Feuerbach, 1862

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.