A. Hebrews 11:11 (ESV) says, "By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered Him faithful who had promised."
This sounds as if Sarah is not only a woman of faith, but this scripture is often used also saying that Sarah was such a Godly woman, whom other women should aspire to be like.
B. 1 Peter 3:5-6 Sarah is praised for, she,"...obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord."
Calling someone Lord, and then going against God and telling your husband to also not believe God and go against Him, by doing things your way, is not something to be praised for. (See D.)
C. Genesis 18:12-15 Sarah laughs at God when he promises she will have a baby, then lies and denies laughing.
These are the actions of someone, not faithful or believing, and is just plain rude in behavior.
D. Genesis Chapter 16, tells of Sarah telling Abraham, and then him doing it, to have a child with Hagar. Sarah (Sarai) then deals "harshly" with Hagar when Hagar "looks at her with contempt".
Not only is Sarah, and Abraham, proving with both their actions that they didn't believe/have faith but they did what they wanted to do when they wanted to do it, and how they wanted to do it. This is not the heart or actions of someone faithful, nor even Godly. (Human, of course, but someone Godly to emulate/aspires to be) absolutely not.
E. Genesis 21:9-10 Sarah, tells Abraham to cast out Hagar and Ishmael (Hagar and Abraham's son), when she sees Ishmael laughing...and after she had Isaac.
These are the actions of a jealous, vengeful, and spiteful woman, not a loving, caring, humble, God-fearing faithful woman.
F. Genesis 21:6 Sarah is happy over her birth of Isaac, stating, "God has made laughter for me", seeming to show joy and surprise for everyone and herself being a witness to God's gift.
God tells you something will happen that seems impossible, and believing in Him is faith. Not believing Him, doing what you want to show you don't believe Him, then being happy when He fulfills His promise to you is NOT faith, it is gratitude.
So my questions are:
Why does Hebrews state Sarah is a woman of faith?
Why are Christian women told we should admire Sarah, calling her a Godly woman of faith? What am I missing? Are there other scriptures to clear this up? Is she, as she acts, and appears to be, which is a regular fallen woman such as I and many others like me, or is she, as widely depicted in secular Christianity a woman to admire?
If she is the latter, a woman to admire, please tell me, from the bible, how and why you got to that conclusion, because I just don't see it.
Please help me to understand these Bible questions.