Thursday, August 5, 2010

I Would Like to Thank.....(The books that got me from there to here)




I was asked recently about what kinds of books I read and in particular, which ones “recovered me from feminism”. (Hi Tess!) = D

And it got me to thinking about it a great deal.

It has been hard for me so far to nail down an exact turning point where I drew the line and said I was going to be “this way” instead of “that way”. I can map out the road that led me to it but the pinnacle of the change eludes me.

Upon careful thought and consideration the only thing that I could come up with was a book. Well, The Book, The Holy Bible. I don’t want to risk sounding cliché but I remember when it happened.

When you read About Me you see that we, or more accurately, I had got us into quite a pickle trying to get our business to work. We lived in our shop, so to lose our business meant we were losing our home. We were devastated. I asked God for help which I had done many times before but this time I opened my heart. And most who are followers of Christ probably know what I mean. As much as our culture doesn’t like the word I submitted myself to God.
Tearfully, I opened the Bible.

For the first time in my life that Bible spoke to me. See, its not just about reading a book, if your heart is open and you have submitted your will to the Lord the Bible will speak to you. The words lept of the pages and into my heart. Everywhere I turned I could see a clear and definite path for my life and I wasn’t on it.
My ambition had gotten me far but I had forgotten to ask for direction and was going the opposite way. It reminds me to ask God daily to give me direction.
The most poignant thing that I gathered from that random Bible reading were the following verses:

Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, being himself the saviour of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their husbands in everything. (Eph. 5:22-24)

1Pe 3:1 In like manner, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, even if any obey not the word, they may without the word be gained by the behavior of their wives;

Let the husband render unto the wife her due: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power over his own body, but the wife. 1Co 7:3-4


I saw that I was not letting my husband lead me. The good little feminist I was, I was forging ahead and trying to lead him with disastrous results.

The next thing that really changed my outlook and my faith was the following blog:

http://inashoe.com

Especially this article http://inashoe.com/2007/08/patriarchy-is-not-a-bad-word/

I hasten to cite a mere blog as a driving influence but this woman is a Titus 2 woman if I ever saw one. She walks the walk and talks the talk. She convicted me as an anti-feminist as I realized through her example and the examples of others which she provided, that having it “all” would not make me happy. I learned that by submitting the the Lord I must also submit to my husband. And believe me, that was hard to swallow. But more on that in another post.

Through reading this blog and implementing many of the virtues I saw her portray (after looking through the Word and verifying them through scripture), I came upon book references and began to order them from Amazon.

The 1st most important one would be Passionate Housewives, Desperate for God. Beautifully written and full of scripture references, it addresses what the average housewife needs to know about the evils of feminism that we don’t even realize are there.

The 2nd book was The Excellent Wife., another great title about God’s plan for wives and mothers.

And the 3rd book was Becoming God’s True Woman.

We’ve also read the following list:

Family Driven Faith
The Fruit of Her Hands
Standing on the Promises
The Man in the Mirror
Shepherding a Child’s Heart.
Raising Godly Tomatoes.
Christian Living in the Home

There are so many more I would like to read but haven’t gotten around to it, namely the Pearl’s books Created to be His Helpmeet and To Train the Up.

I have hesitated on these because of the large amount of controversy surrounding them. I have heard many good things though and would love to hear y’alls input.

What books have convicted y’all in the ways of patriarchy, anti-feminism, biblical discipline or overall Christian living? I would love to hear!

God Bless,
Melodie

4 comments:

  1. Wow, wow, wow! Great post, I'm bookmarking this. Thanks for sharing. I never would have classified myself as a feminist, all I ever wanted to be was a wife and mother, but being the wife and mother that I want and should be has been a fight for me. Everyday I have to choose decision that help me become the wife and mother I want to be, and it isn't always easy. I had a lot of feminist-ish influences growing up and that made if very hard to not try to lead :) I am going to add a few of those books to my Amazon wish list, I can hardly wait to read them!

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  2. Thank you so much for the compliments! I believe we have struggled with the same things. With all of the women-are-god noise we hear in our culture it is no wonder women have great hardship trying to find the "narrow path" and be biblical wives and mothers.
    So glad you enjoyed, and I love your blog!

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  3. God keeps working in each of our hearts! Although I never fell into the category of "feminist" I certainly struggle with rebelling against what God desires for the family to be. What a joy it is in our home when we each live in obedience to the Lord! Thanks for sharing your story!!

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  4. Hi,
    Thank you for your post :-)
    I have read some of those books also.
    I appreciate you pointing out the scriptures that speak of the wife's biblical role.

    The promise is always that God's Word will not return to Him void, but will accomplish what He has purposed.
    Isaiah 55:11
    So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
    I am also reminded of Ephesians 2: that speaks of God's grace in our lives to accomplish what He has desired for us to do.
    Ephesians 2: 4-10 4But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
    Is it not amazing that all we are learning about godly femininity and what we are to do and be as God's daughter and our husband's wife were predetermined by God, and it is in His grace alone that we can boast -- not only grace for our salvation, but also grace for walking in these works which He has called us to ?!
    Praise Him for His sufficiency in salvation and in all godliness.
    2 Timothy 3:14-17 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

    Blessings to you and yours.
    Tess

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