Leah (Beautifully Mended edition)

Leah was Jacob's first wife. She was given by her father instead of her sister, Rachel, "whom Jacob loved much more than Leah". YIKES!

Leah really didn't have much of a choice in the circumstance she was given and understandably felt unloved and unwanted. Repeatedly, she offers her heart to Jacob and is repeatedly rejected by him and thus feeling "not good enough".  God saw and heard Leah's pain and opened her womb in consolation, thus bearing Jacob his first son, and then 5 more, and a daughter.  (Whom later would become the first 6 tribes of Israel.) She then turns to her children in hopes of receiving love. 

Although Jacob "settled" with his relationship with her, she did NOT settle and learns to set aside her idols of marriage, family, and children and sets her sight on things higher than her circumstances; God. 

Leah is a symbol of what God can do with those who are rejected and how he faithfully pursues and consoles them.

Read more about Leah in Genesis 29.