By: Elizabeth Robison The Bible, God, and prayer were used to start each day in a positive way when I began teaching elementary school in 1958.  Now, at the close of the twentieth century, federal law forbids any such action.  What has happened in our public schools? We shall recall those early days and how things used to be, how they are now and, most importantly, what can be done to rectify the situation. When I commenced my career forty-one years ago, I kept a Bible on my desk at school. Every morning “Opening Exercises” consisted of reading a few verses (either by a student or myself) from God’s Word, followed by the class repeating the model prayer, commonly called the “Lord’s Prayer” (Matthew 6:9-13).  We sang a patriotic song and concluded with all of us reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in unison. During the course of the day, as we studied various subjects, I felt that I could (and I did) freely mention God’s part in our lives.  For example, I recall in  Health class that we studied the human body as, according to our textbooks, “a masterpiece of engineering design.” We would discuss how well-suited our various systems are to do the jobs intended, how we have back-up features, such as two eyes, two ears, etc. From there, the logical conclusion I would guide my class to reach was that all these wonderful features could not have “just happened.”  Where there is design, there must be a designer. 

The Bible contains the record of many women who were of sterling character. In this study we will examine the account of the young Hebrew girl taken into slavery to be the servant of the wife of Naaman, the Syrian captain, who was afflicted with leprosy. Many lessons about daily living may be gleaned from studying this girl–her motives and actions display some godly characteristics that we all should strive to possess. We will examine three traits: contentment, courage and faith. Second Kings 5:1-3 reads, “Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper. And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. And she said unto her mistress, ‘Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! For he would recover him of his leprosy.’” From reading these three verses we can see that very little information about this unnamed servant girl is recorded. We need to “read between the lines” to discover the wonderful traits she must have possessed to prompt her speaking out to suggest a source of help for her captor, Naaman. One writer has described this account as a “pretty” story; pleasantness rested in her character. Slavery, in Bible