"Wives, in the same way be submissive to your own husband that, if any of them do not believe the word, they my be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, (2) when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. (3) Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. (4) Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. (5)For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, (6) like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. Your are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear."
The last week or so, I have been really challenged by the Lord in regards to being submissive to MY husband. When I asked Jeff if he thought I was doing a good job, he said yes. I knew different. Between reading Nancy Wilson's "The Fruit of Her Hands" (which i think EVERY married or engaged woman should read!!!!), and watching a video online (which i will post the link at the end) by Mark Driscoll on marriage and women, I've come to realize there are some big areas of my life i need to change. I'm tempted to re-read 'The Fruit of Her Hands' and this time write everything that comes to mind down.
Lately, though, I've been convicted specifically about what submission looks like. I am Jeff's helper. My job is to help him with things. If he needs my advice or opinion, I give it and leave the ultimate decision up to him. The curses that Eve received as a result of eating the fruit is 1. childbearing will be painful (this i knew) and 2. women will want to dominate over the men. They will have a really difficult time submitting to the head of the household. (this i did NOT know! but it makes perfect sense). Learning this has been a great joy. It's removed a heavy burden off of my shoulders. Together we watched the 'marriage and men' video by Mark Driscoll and it was amazing! It really helped me realize what God calls married men to do for the home, wife, children. Again, burden gone. Praise our God!! I cannot stress enough how much i think married couples should watch these videos!
I've also been learning that my duties as a homemaker bring pleasure to God; as long as I do them with a cheerful heart/mind/attitude, etc... So, today, i was 'joyfully' dusting the blinds.....as joyful as you can get while doing that. Pretty sure the whole time i was saying 'Lord, please fill my heart with joy...' over and over and over. :) But seriously, working hard in the home not only brings happiness to my God, but also to my husband. And i want to please both.
I'm learning to focus on God more than myself or Jeff or Roman. Now, you may say, well duh!, but this is actually a difficult thing to do. Keeping God the focus of my day is quite hard when Roman doesn't nap well, i have a dirty home to clean, dinner to figure out, run here and there.... it's easy to get caught up in the day. But I'm going to take things slower from now on, and just learn who and how and what God wants me to be and act and do. I'm really pumped!
There is SO much more that I've learned, but my brain is going a bazillion miles a minute i cant get my thoughts in order. If you'd like to chat w/ me more about it though, let me know! I'd LOVE to! :)
Here's that link: http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/trial/marriage-and-women
and here's the one about men and marriage: http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/trial/marriage-and-men
SO GOOD! WATCH THEM BOTH!!!
4 comments:
Don't forget to learn about all of 1peter/the bible and not just the part about being a good wife!
oh yes....i dont plan on stopping there :)
the fruit of her hands is SOOOOO good.
Sounds like a good book! How long have you guys been married again?
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