My most important ministry...

A couple nights ago I picked up a book, The Excellent Wife. I found it this summer and started reading, but for some reason I could tell the timing just wasn't quite right. Ever felt that? You want to make yourself get lots and lots out of the text, but it doesn't feel timely for whatever reason - even if you think it is or construct your life so it is. Well, I picked it up again and am thrilled that I waited until now, because now I am enthralled. I love, love, love it. The Lord is already using Martha Peace's words to reprove some of my tendencies and thought patterns. From the beginning, she said something that justifies not only the reading of this book, but a close examination of how I'm wired, how I tend to respond, and how the Father desires for me to be as a wife.

"God's will for every Christian wife is that her most important ministry be to her husband." (Genesis 2:18)... The husband should be the primary benefactor of the wife's time and energy. So far, the book has taken me through some basics to make sure we can get to what's next. I've looked at A Wife's Understanding of God, A Wife's Understanding of Sin, A Wife's Understanding of Relationships, A Wife's Understanding of Marriage, and a Wife's Understanding of Her Role. A couple of these sections have been pretty basic, but I hope to post some of my thoughts on some of the sections that particularly gripped me.

A closing thought: Peace does an excellent job explaining the necessity of God's protective authority over us, first through Himself, and secondly through our husbands. She explains that as women, we need protection because of the world's influence (1 John 2:16), Satan (Ephs. 6:10-11, 13), and how we are often more easily deceived (1 Tim. 2:12-14). I always thought I anticipated submission, even though that sounds corny... I have wanted to be a wife for forever, and I knew from an early age that yielding to my husband's authority would be part of that. However, I'm learning a little more of what that looks like. One more quote to end this first EW posting: "You will never be what God wants you to be until you place yourself under God's plan by coming under the authority of your husband."