A Woman is: Of A Quiet Spirit

Take the test if you are of a "quiet spirit" as in 1 Peter 3:4.  This character quality is related to a husband/wife relationship.  We can also be quiet outside and angrily loud in our hearts.  Here is example of what I mean shared by generation cedar:

You are walking through your house (bedroom, living room..), and your husband’s clothes and shoes are, let's just say, "misplaced"–a usual scene. Do you:

1.  Throw them all in a corner and “show him” what happens if he doesn’t pick up after himself?

2.  Pick them up grumbling as you put them away?

3.  Dwell on all the things he does for you that he doesn’t have to, and consider it a blessing to be able to serve him in such a small way? Proceed to fold/hang his clean clothes as neatly as possible for an “extra blessing”?

I know, we’ve all reacted the wrong way. I have many times.  The grumbling begins and I confess that I dwell on number 3 and gladly pick up my husbands shoes and clothes!    The same applies to chores I detest like washing dishes.  There was a time that I liked, or didn't mind, washing dishes.  But now with no dishwasher and or regular sink.  I find it a little "challenge".  I thank God I don't have to gather water from the river, well, and that I have hot water.  I thank God that I have a family that I love and uses these dishes.  I thank God for the laundry I fold with my daughters because they are for the precious family He has given me to love.

This quiet spirit will actually make us beautiful. That's right! more than make up and a stylish up-do.  The Bible says that it is an ornament.  A beautiful wife makes a husband happy and thus a happy marriage.  I bet you haven't heard this formula in the secular advises for a happy marriage.  We can be by God's grace a beautiful ornament for our  homes.

 

 

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The Woman's Place

From Ladies Against Feminism, a timely word from R. J. Rushdoony

We talk a lot on LAF about the "family economy" and how it eliminates the whole mythical "work-family balance" that causes eruptions in the blogosphere every time it is raised. Family is work, and what takes place within the family unit is far more than washing dishes and making beds. Those are normal routines of any daily life. The heart of the family is really and truly economic in every sense of the word. When the whole family is involved in work (whether it's a home-based business, a ministry, home education, hospitality and charity, community service, etc.), its members grow together in amazing ways and become more involved in one another's lives, thoughts, and dreams than if each member of the family goes in a different direction each morning to different locations with differing priorities and goals. Today, this is a radical way to approach life, but our ancestors prior to the Industrial Revolution lived it, breathed it, and built nations upon it. We can, too. What could be more empowering, freeing, or exciting? Enjoy the article!]

“The Woman’s Place” by R.J. Rushdoony

The Biblical doctrine of woman…reveals her as one crowned with authority in her “subjection” or subordination, and clearly a helper of the closest possible rank to God’s appointed vice-regent over creation. This is no small responsibility, nor is it a picture of a patient Griselda. Theologians have all too often pointed to Eve as the one who led Adam into sin while forgetting to note that her God-given position was such that counsel was her normal duty, although in this case it was clearly evil counsel….

It is a common illusion that in man’s primitive, evolutionary past, women were the merest slaves, used at will by primitive brutes. Not only is this evolutionary myth without foundation, but in every known society, the position of women, as measured in terms of the men and the society, has been a notable one. The idea that women have ever submitted to being mere slaves is itself an absurd notion. Women have been women in every age.

In a study of an exceedingly [so-called] backward society, the natives of Australia, Phyllis Kaberry has shown the importance and status of women to be a considerable one. [1]



Few things have depressed women more than the Enlightenment, which turned woman into an ornament and a helpless creature. Unless of the lower class, where work was mandatory, the “privileged” woman was a useless, ornamental person, with almost no rights. This had not been previously true. In 17th-century England, women were often in business, were highly competent managers, and were involved in the shipping trade, as insurance brokers, manufacturers and the like.

 

Up to the eighteenth century women usually figured in business as partners with their husbands, and not in inferior capacities. They often took full charge during prolonged absences of their mates. In some instances, where they were the brighter of the pair, they ran the show. [2]

A legal “revolution” brought about the diminished status of women; “the all too familiar view of women suddenly emerging in the nineteenth century from a long historical night or to a sunlit plain is completely wrong.” [3] A knowledge of early American history makes clear the high responsibilities of the woman; New England sailing men could travel on two and three year voyages knowing that all business at home could be ably discharged by their wives.

 

The Age of Reason saw man as reason incarnate, and woman as emotion and will, and therefore inferior. The thesis of the Age of Reason has been that the government of all things should be committed to reason. The Age of Reason opposed the Age of Faith self-consciously. Religion was deemed to be woman’s business, and, the more the Enlightenment spread, the more church life came to be the domain of women and children. The more pronounced therefore the triumph of the Age of Reason in any culture, the more reduced the role of women became. Just as religion came to be regarded as a useless but sometimes charming ornament, so too women were similarly regarded.



These ideas moved into the United States through the influence of Sir William Blackstone on law, who in turn was influenced by England’s Chief Justice Edward Coke, a calculating opportunist. As a result, his law books of the first half of the 19th century showed woman in a diminished role. Three examples of this are revealing:

Walkers’ Introduction to American Law: The legal theory is, marriage makes the husband and wife one person, and that person is the husband. There is scarcely a legal act of any description that she is competent to perform…. In Ohio, but hardly anywhere else, is she allowed to make a will, if happily she has anything to dispose of.

Roper’s Law of Husband and Wife: It is not generally known, that whenever a woman has accepted an offer of marriage, all she has, or expects to have, becomes virtually the property of the man thus accepted as a husband: and no gift or deed executed by her between the period of acceptance and the marriage is held to be valid; for were she permitted to give away or otherwise settle her property, he might be disappointed in the wealth he looked to in making the offer.

Wharton’s Laws: The wife is only the servant of the husband. [4]

There is an extremely significant clause in Roper’s statement: “It is not generally known….” The full implications of the legal revolution were not generally known. Unfortunately, they did come to be generally supported, by men. Even more unfortunately, the churches very commonly supported this legal revolution by a one-sided and twisted reading of Scripture. The attitude of men generally was that women were better off being left on a pedestal of uselessness. At a women’s rights conference, one speaker answered these statements, Sojourner Truth, a tall, colored woman, prominent in anti-slavery circles and herself a former slave in New York state. She was 82 years of age, had a back scarred from whippings, could neither read nor write, but had “intelligence and common sense.” She answered the pedestal advocates powerfully and directly, speaking to the male hecklers in the audience:

Wall, chilern, whan dar is so much racket dar must be somethin’ out of kilter. I tink dat ‘twixt de niggers of de Souf and de womin at de Norf, all talkin’ ’bout rights, de white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what’s all dis here talkin’ ’bout? Dat man ober dar say dat womin needs to be helped into carriages, and lifted ober ditches, and to hab de best place everywhar. Nobody eber helps me into carriages, or ober mud-puddles, or gibs me any best place! And a’n't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm!… I have ploughed and planted, gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And a’n't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man — when I could get it 00 and bear de lash as well! And a’n't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen ‘em mos’ all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And a’n't I a woman? Den dat little man in black dar, he say womin can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wan’t a woman! Whar did your Christ come from?… Whar did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothin’ to do wid Him. ‘Bleeged to ye for hearin’ me, and now ole Sojourner han’t got nothin’ more to say. [5]

The tragedy of the women’s rights movement was that, although it had serious wrongs to correct, it added to the problem, and here the resistance of man was in as large a measure responsible. Instead of restoring women to their rightful place of authority beside man, women’s rights became feminism: it put women in competition with men. It led to the masculinization of women and the feminization of men, to the unhappiness of both. Not surprisingly, in March 1969, Paris couturier Pierre Cardin took a logical step in his menswear collection show: “the first garment displayed was a sleeveless jumper designed to be worn over high vinyl boots. In other words, a dress.” [6]

Thus, the Age of Reason brought in an irrational supremacy for men and has led to the war of the sexes. As a result, the laws today work, not to establish godly order, but to favor one sex or another. The laws of Texas reflect the older discrimination against women; the laws of some states (such as California) show a discrimination in favor of women.



To return to the Biblical doctrine, a wife is her husband’s help-meet. Since Eve was created from Adam and is Adam’s reflected image of God, she was of Adam and an image of Adam as well, his “counterpart….” The Biblical doctrine shows us the wife as the competent manager who is able to take over all business affairs if needed, so that her husband can assume public office as a civil magistrate; in the words of Proverbs 31:10-31, he can sit “in the gates,” that is, preside as a ruler or judge. Let us examine the women of Proverbs 31:10-31, whose “price is far above rubies.” Several things are clearly in evidence:

 

1. Her husband can trust her moral, commercial, and religious integrity and competence (vss. 11, 12, 29-31).


2. She not only manges her household competently, but she can also manage a business with ability (vss. 13-19, 24-25). She can buy and sell like a good merchant and manage a vineyard like an experienced farmer.


3. She is good to her family, and good to the poor and the needy (vss. 20-22).


4. Very important, “She openeth her mouth with wisdom: and in her tongue is the law of kindness” (vs. 26). The useless woman of the Age of Reason, and the useless socialite or jet set woman of today who is a show-piece and a luxury, can and does speak lightly, and as a trifler, because she is a trifle. The godly woman, however, has “in her tongue the law of kindness.” People, men and women, who are not triflers avoid trifling and cheap, malicious talk. Loose talk is the luxury of irresponsibility.


5. She does not eat “the bread of idleness” (vs. 27); i.e., the godly woman is not a mere luxury and pretty decoration. She more than earns her keep.


6. “Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her” (vs. 28).

Obviously, such a woman is very different from the pretty doll of the Age of Reason, and the highly competitive masculinized woman of the 20th century who is out to prove that she is as good as any man, if not better. A Biblical faith will not regard woman as any less rational or intelligent than man; her reason is normally more practically and personally oriented in terms of her calling as a woman, but she is not less intelligent for that.

Another note is added by King Lemuel in his description of the virtuous woman:

“Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who reveres the LORD will be praised” (vs. 30, Berkeley Version).



Nothing derogatory towards physical beauty is here intended, and, elsewhere in Scripture, especially in the Song of Solomon, it is highly appreciated. The point here is that, in relation to the basic qualities of a true and capable help-meet, beauty is a transient virtue, and clever, charming ways are deceitful and have no value in the working relationships of marriage.

 

Important as the role of a woman is as mother, Scripture presents her essentially as a wife, i.e., a help-meet. The reference is therefore not primarily to children but to the Kingdom of God and man’s calling therein. Man and wife together are in the covenant called to subdue the earth and exercise dominion over it…. Certainly, the command to “increase an multiply” is very important, but a marriage does not cease to exist if it be childless…. God himself defined Eve’s basic function as help-meet, important as motherhood is, it cannot take priority over God’s own declaration.

Endnotes:

 

1. Phyllis M. Kaberry, Aboriginal Woman: Sacred and Profane (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1939).

2. Ferdinand Lundberg and Marynia F. Farnham, M.D., Modern Woman, The Lost Sex (New York: Harper, 1947), p. 130.

3. Ibid., p. 421.

4. Charles Neilson Gattey The Bloomer Girls (New York: Coward-McCann, 1968), p. 21.

5. Ibid., p. 105 f.

6. Time, April 18, 1969, p. 96.

7. Ibid., p. 213.

 

 

(Excerpted from Institutes of Biblical Law: Vol. I) 

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Homeschool Help: What Does a “Lifestyle of Learning” Look Like?

 

Again, the Boyer's advise on homeschooling our talented children have been very helpful.   My very adventurous girl will do her homework in the great outdoors and actually do it!  she is one of those who would hate to have to sit and be stuck indoors, rain or shine.

Here is Marilyn again  (here is the last post about A Life style of learning)

We must remember that the school classroom functions as it does NOT because that has been found to be the superior method of education, but because that is the only option for mass-producing students. It contradicts, in fact, the evidence that children learn best in a realistic, life-like setting, with hands-on experience.

As John Taylor Gatto reminds:

“It is absurd and anti-life to move from cell to cell at the sound of a gong for every day of your natural youth in an institution that allows you no privacy and even follows you into the sanctuary of your home demanding that you do its ‘homework.’

‘How will they learn to read?’…When children are given whole lives instead of age-graded ones in cellblocks they learn to read, write, and do arithmetic with ease if those things make sense in the kind of life that unfolds around them.”  From Why Schools Don’t Educate

So, what does a “lifestyle of learning” look like from day to day? Different for every family. But, upon many requests, I thought I’d offer some practical ways to encourage your child to utilize his curiosity about his world. The ideas are really endless. I’d love to hear YOURS!

• Simply expose them. To books, to conversation, to places, to people, to animals, to cooking, to building, to nature. We simply cannot underestimate a child’s ability to take in, process and store information–something inherent at birth. This begins at birth and the fewer distractions like TV or phones, the better for motivating them to learn about their world.

 

• Listen and watch. A child learns things best in the context of what interests him. Find out what that is, give him experiences around his interests and then look to see the learning opportunities. For example, my 8-year-old son loves building things and he loves large machines. And by “love” I mean he’s obsessed. We have let him build a playhouse (with a little help from Sis), supervising his use of the saw and nail gun. It has taken quite a bit of thought about measurements and angles and my husband has been able to really show him the importance of “squaring” the frame, etc. It’s an excellent exercise in problem-solving. That geometry makes sense to him whereas if I handed him a geometry worksheet right now he wouldn’t have a clue.

• Bait the house with books. This is my favorite. I leave books on art, science, animals and other subjects lying around and sometimes an older child will pick it up and become absorbed and even begin to read and explain it to a younger one. Or when someone crawls up beside me, I open it and start reading. I just ordered a set of “Nature Friend” magazines from Ebay and I’m excited to see how they like those too.

• Let them learn from other people. Do you have friends or family who have a particular trade or skill? Would they mind some of your children hanging out to observe? If that isn’t an option, there are great videos that teach different skills for children who show interest.

• Build vocabulary naturally. Being intentional about the words we use with our children is the best way to build their vocabulary. Random words on a worksheet are much harder to memorize than if they learn the word in context of life and language. Conversation is the best way to improve communication skills. Something, in our technologically-filled lives, that takes deliberate attention.

• Focus on the traits that matter. Any time you research for “most important qualities of a successful person” or “qualities employers look for”, or something similar, the results that turn up always focus on character and NEVER include test scores or degrees. Do we take that to heart and intentionally teach and train character? Communication skills, problem-solving, and integrity rank at the top of almost every list.

LIVE. That’s the way to a superior education. Here is part of our check list, academically speaking:

1. Can they write well, speak well and convey their thoughts well? What are some activities that will facilitate these?


2. Are they numerate? Do they know how to handle numbers, do they understand fractions and how to work out number problems? As they get older, do they know how money works, do they understand debt and interest and budgeting? Very important.


3. Can they type?


4. Do they have a good grasp of history and the workings of the government? We especially want them to read biographies from great men and women of the past.


5. Are they exposed to art in a variety of forms, and music? (If they show giftedness/interest, are we doing what we can to help them excel?)


6. Do they have a heavy dose of common sense?

Charge ahead with confidence!

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A Different Way To Homeschool: A LifeStyle Of Learning

I have a daughter who loves to learn just about anything.  Here she is flying an airplane in this plane simulator.  Life is so interesting to her except when she is sitting down on a desk and asked to do some copywork.  Well, when you're 7 or 8 years old, who wants to do that, when you can be out on a beautiful day learning about how a goat births her kids?  I went to Government schools where I was very good at sitting down and doing everything my teachers said.  Now, I have had to unlearn that this is the way you learn things.  Not so, most children are naturally explorers and are given to us with a natural love for learning.  We must be careful to not spoil it by purchasing all these expensive homeschool curriculums and expecting they follow the rigid schedule and not miss a day because they might not learn or be at the same academic level as public school kids.  Take a big breath.  Aaaahhhh, teaching has never been so much fun with my older daughter as I dropped continuous assignments.  Every year I got more and more flexible with the homeschool schedule that I don't even have it scheduled. 

Our homeschool rule is:  If there is nothing more exciting or interesting going on, then we'll sit down and do some school work.  Well, this is hardly the case.  There seems to always be something more educational going on like, attending to our vegetable garden, picking up two little birds that fell from their nest, watching the goat birth twin kids, talking to visitors, walking to a creek, building a little boat, doing art, selling craigslist items, acting out Bible stories, writing letters to Christians in Prison, cooking, excavating for dinasour fossils, singing, playing piano, helping Dad, working on our family business.....When we are not doing this, my kids favorite time indoors with Mom is to read real living books about historical biographies, God's creation, inspirational stories and of course The Scriptures.

Here is an excellent guide by the Boyer family who have gone before us and from whom I have learned a lot:

(Guest post by Marilyn Boyer of Character Concepts)

One thing I have learned?from one of my struggling learners is that unless some children?want?to learn, they just won’t apply themselves to do it. Unless they?have a desire to learn something, it’s extremely hard for some of them to be able to concentrate and focus.

Some kids are motivated and know what they have to do, set their own goals and get it done.?Other children, however, need to understand why learning is important in order to apply themselves.

If you have a child like this, train yourself to study him and see what matters to to him the most. Then, look for a way to apply what you are trying to teach him to something that he cares about.

For instance, if you are trying to teach handwriting skills and your child just doesn’t care if he writes neatly, let him write something that’s important, like a letter to the editor of the newspaper.

Letters to the editor are one of the most highly read sections of the newspaper, and we found editors love to publish letters written by kids, because it’s so unusual to have a child care enough to write.

Have your child read about an issue and write a letter to be read by thousands of people he can potentially influence. Suddenly, he will care about handwriting, grammar, spelling and communication skills.

If he struggles with math, find a use for that skill you are trying to teach. For example, if you are teaching percentages, go to a sale, let him figure out how much off you are getting on deals, or let him bake a pie and cut it up to learn fractions.

For a boy who loves to build, buy him some wood and let him use measurements to build a bookcase or birdhouse. If your child is interested in airplanes, but not in geometry, let them see the plans the Wright Bros. drew up to make their first glider. These examples are examples of projects I have actually done with my kids.

Find creative ways to apply what you teach, by connecting learning with your kids’ passions, and see if that doesn’t make a huge difference in how they learn.

If you are teaching skills for writing a paper, let your child choose the topic, whether it is about the Tuskegee Airmen or hunting white-tailed deer.

Let your children make bread and sell it, raise chickens, sell the eggs and learn about accounting and small business.

This is the beauty of home education- being able to customize your teaching to your unique child!?I admit, it takes some reprogramming on the part of you, the mom, because we do things the way we’ve seen them done, the way they were taught to us in school. But remember, if there is a better way for your child to learn, climb out of the box and train yourself to enjoy learning with your children!

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Why Have Babies?

"Four is a good number, you're done, right?" This is a typical comment I get coupled with "What beautiful children you have!"  Well, these two comments don't really go together.  If my children are beautiful, why should I not want more of them?  Then, they would also say, "Wow, you have your hands full!"  Well, isn't better full than empty?

Candice Watters did an excellent job at answering the question of why have babies?  She writes:

 You may think your reasons for having babies are biblical, but if you're like me, you've absorbed a lot more culture and a lot less Bible than you realize.

Do you hope to have children? That's the question I've started asking the young married women God brings into my life. It's not as bold as the question Mary Morken asked me,^[1] but it gently opens the conversation about babies — enabling me to go, by God's grace, where most would say angels fear to tread.

Why press for information about such a personal decision? In part because I know how much I needed someone to ask me that question. Once married, Steve and I were on a path of delay. I also ask because we live in an age when there are a hundred reasons not to have babies and very little encouragement to have them; and because I'm convinced, from Scripture, that by God's design, babies are not only uniquely the work of marriage, but also a blessing from God. I want to encourage Christian couples not to miss the blessing.

What do women say when I ask? Their answers go something like this:

• "Oh, yes, we hope to have children someday."


• "We're focusing on our marriage right now."


• "We're saving for a house first."


• "We want to finish grad school before we start a family."


• "We want to pay off our loans before we conceive."

It's pretty much the same answer I gave Mary when she asked me about our plan for babies. I think that's one of the reasons I feel compelled to ask. We didn't really have a plan, but our non-plan of waiting till we reached some fuzzy financial goal was a plan of its own. Our plan was to delay. Fourteen and a half years and five pregnancies later, I know how in-the-now and incomplete our reasons were for putting off babies in our first year and a half of marriage. We thought we were being responsible, and because we deeply desired a family and were looking forward to having children someday, we assumed we were being biblical in our thinking. But we had absorbed a lot more of the culture around us than we realized.

We live in a world where people take great pains and lots of pills to prevent babies when they don't want them, and spare no expense to get them when they do. According to our culture, babies before you want them are an accident, mistake or crisis — a result of a birth control failure. And if you can't have them naturally when you decide you're ready, they're treated like a commodity you have a right to buy, as long as you can afford the price tag. Birth control is no longer a noun, something we use to prevent pregnancy; it's an adjective describing our whole culture. We live in a birth control culture, the key word being control.

Good Reasons to Ask the Question

Mary's question, "What makes you think you'll still be fertile when you decide you're ready to have babies?" jolted me because it offended my sense of control. I figured I knew best when I'd be ready to be a mom. Even though I wasn't on the pill, I was very much in the birth-control mindset. I thought this decision was up to Steve and me. We believed we were in control. Her question hit me like a bucket of ice water.

What if we're not in control? What if by saying no to children now, we miss our window of opportunity? What then? These questions raced through my mind, and later that day, they raced around our family room as we hashed them out with the Morkens. God used them to challenge our assumptions. Steve saved his best counter for last: "But, Dr. Morken, we can't afford them." Dr. Morken didn't waste time looking at our balance sheet or examining our checkbook. He knew we weren't paupers, but even that wasn't the issue. (He and Mary had a fraction of what we did when they got married and started their family, as have most human beings for all of recorded history). The point is that it's not about money. He went to the deeper issue: "Babies are wealth," he said. "Budget for everything but babies."

You can't measure the worth of a baby — a human being made in the image of God — with a spreadsheet or calculator the way you would material things, entertainment, travel or education. People have intrinsic value and worth that is unlike anything else in creation.

The truth is we weren't living on much of a budget, and we weren't really being intentional about getting out of debt. We just knew we liked our current life, our freedom to spend our double incomes the way we wanted to, to have maximum control over our schedules and time. Having a baby would certainly spin us out of control. But not like a car wreck. More like a Peter-walking-on-the-water-and-needing-to-keep-looking-at-Jesus-so-he-wouldn't-drown wreck. This would be bigger than us. And we knew it. We didn't want to lose control.

But we never had it to begin with. Ephesians 1:11 tells us, "In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will …" (emphasis added). Isaiah 46:9b-10 says, "I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose…'" God is sovereign over what happens in our lives. Every bit of it.

The control we think we have is an illusion — something we realized once we started trying to get pregnant and it took longer than we imagined, and again after we had two babies, when we encountered secondary infertility. We really did think we'd be able to make babies if and when we were ready. We believed it was ultimately up to us. By God's grace and through the Morkens' challenge, however, we realized it wasn't. We stopped assuming our timeline was best; stopped basing our decision primarily on our comfort, ease and consumption patterns; and started asking God when He wanted us to start our family. We started seeking God's wisdom instead of the wisdom of men (Colossians 2:8). Scripture is sufficient for all of life — even the how, when and why of baby making (2 Timothy 3:15-17, 2 Peter 1:21).

Good Reasons to Have Babies

The world says babies are expensive, that they diminish your happiness, and that they limit your spontaneity. They are, they do, and they will — just like a whole host of other things (some worthwhile and some not) that you'll say yes to in your lifetime. Those negatives are not the whole story. And they're not reason enough to delay starting your family. Babies are wealth. They increase your joy, and any challenges they may bring are God's means for your sanctification.

Babies are God's blessing. God's first words to His newly created man and woman were a blessing but also a command, "Be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28). Children are a reward from God. "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward" (Psalm 127:3). The blessings God promised His chosen people in the Old Testament when they entered the land always included the fruit of the womb: babies (Deuteronomy 7:12-14).

Babies are part of God's good design. The only thing that was not good at creation was man being alone (Genesis 2:18). We were designed for community, fellowship and family. Sex and babies were part of the created order, and the procreative process was in place before sin entered the world. Having babies is part of the normal order of creation. Why?

God wants the earth to be full of people. Isaiah 45:18 says, "For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): 'I am the Lord, and there is no other.'" And how will all these babies come to know God and worship Him?

Married couples are called to make babies — disciples of Jesus Christ.^[2] All Christians are called to make disciples (Matthew 28:19), that is, spiritual children. But Christians who are married have the added calling — where God enables them — to make physical offspring (Malachi 2:15). Couples are called to be fruitful and faithful to raise children in the fear and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), to the praise of His great glory. And where will that glory be fully realized?

Heaven will be full of worshipers. Only people are made in God's image. Every baby born is an eternal being made in God's image, with the potential to praise Him. We know that one day the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9). Babies born and given hope through Christ are those people who will one day enter heaven. Where there will be "a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" (Revelation 7:9-10).

The Bible is full of glorious motivation for having babies. Steve and I just weren't in the habit of studying those passages. We didn't even know about a lot of them until after we started researching for our book Start Your Family. It's not that we weren't reading the Bible. We were, but we were reading with an eye toward what we hoped to get out of it, rather than coming to it to learn what the Bible says about God. We are people of our age — influenced by the world around us that says you read the Bible for what you can get from it. God calls us to something different. Scripture tells us that we are responsible for studying God's Word, for hiding it in our hearts, for knowing what God commands and obeying Him.

You don't have to be married to answer the question, "Do you hope to have children?" It's helpful to start thinking about it now. Recognize where the desire for babies comes from. Then submit your desire to God, and let Him shape it to conform with His will, resisting the pressure around you to conform it to the pattern of the world. He'll change you in the process, making you more like Him. And that's one of the best things about His good gift of children: the way they point us to our Father.

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The Myth Of A Mother's Paycheck

The greatest excuse women give for not staying at home is that they can't afford it.  They need two incomes to survive.  I live in one of the top 4 most expensive areas of the nation and even here, I have been able to stay home.  But for those who think they need that second job.  I would pose the challenge of sitting down and add up some numbers.  You will be surprised.  Here is a very conservative example.

Annual wage                             $14,000.00

Monthly salary                              $1,166.66

EXPENSES (Monthly)

1. Federal income tax (25%)                $292

2. State income tax (5 %)                          58

3. Social Security tax (7%)                         81.66

4. Tithe                                                           117.00

5. Gas (400 miles @ 60 c per mile)        240

6. Car (maintenance, ins., registration)  35

7. Meals ($6 a day)                                      120

8. Extra clothes and cleaning                 100

9. Forteited savings on thrift

shopping                                                   116.66

10. Hairdresser                                            20

11. Employee insurance                            80

12. Day care

($150 a week, one child)                 200

13. "I owe it to myself" expense             95        


                                       TOTAL   $1,555.32

Net Loss    ($388.66)

 

As you can see, the numbers are pretty conservative.  You may have higher numbers and higher income as well as extra unnecessary expenses.
For some reason, just because a family has two incomes they excuse having extra memberships and things that are not really needed.  Therefore, the numbers are different for each.  Even if you end up with, let's say, $388.88 positive instead of negative, is it worth it?  All that absence from your family, your children, missing out their growing up, having others enjoy them (or not) every day and not enjoying your home because you are gone all day?  Just for a few hundred dollars a month.  God is bigger than a few hundred dollars a month.  He is able to supply all our needs.  When we are face with a need, then we become creative.  Your home can become a center of industry and productivity.

How are your numbers?  Are you willing to let go and let God provide?  Is your husband supportive of you staying home?

 

 

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The home as a place of real hospitality - Part 8

Is hospitality throwing a Martha Stewart fancy or trendy dinner or superbowl party for our friends or family? According to the Bible, it definitely does not end there. One thing is for sure, as I looked into Scripture for home as a place of hospitality, I saw that it meant to welcome strangers, foreigners, and God’s ministers. One example of welcoming strangers is when Abraham welcomed the three visitors into his tent and fed them (Gen 19:2-3).
“Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!” (Hebrews 13:2) Who knows if I have ever entertained angels.

[caption id="attachment_2079" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Notice Hospitality is very much tied to food. Best way to make use of your kitchen.[/caption]

We have had many different precious people come in and out of our home. Brothers and sisters who have been in need of housing have found a place of refuge under our roof. Interestingly, just months after we have hosted a couple who were homeless, we were hosted by a beautiful sister in the Lord when we were homeless. You never know when you will be on the other side of a situation.

[caption id="attachment_2081" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Celebrating The Feast of Tabernacles. Sukkot. A Time of Rejoicing.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2082" align="aligncenter" width="453"] We eat on the floor, like camping. And of course lots of delicious food.[/caption]

One great reason the Lord commands us to open our home to strangers is because He wants us to remember when we were strangers, and homeless in Egypt meaning that without Him we were lost and enslaved. Isaiah 58:7 says that if we feed the hungry and provide a home for the homeless, the promise is that ‘salvation will come!’ There is also a place for great home banquets and feasts. I love these moments. Feasting in the Bible is common. In fact, God is waiting for us to feast with Him once more. Jesus went to feasts into people’s homes like Levi and Zacheaus.

[caption id="attachment_2083" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Our table would overflow with guests and filled with God centered conversations[/caption]

Another of my favorite hospitality experiences is hosting God’s people and ministers of His Word. “When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality” (Romans 12:13). This was so common for missionaries to be hosted in Believer’s homes. Remember Mary and Martha? Paul would also send ministers to churches and ask the churches to receive them. Lydia in Acts 16:15 was one of those Believer’s who opened her home for Paul and Silas to stay. How many times have we asked missionaries to stay at our home? We have had quite a few over the years. Ministers from Uganda, Argentina, China, Philippines, Mexico and different US states have blessed our home with their stay.

[caption id="attachment_2085" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Notice the little people. They grow up around the older and hopefully wiser.[/caption]

I have heard the reservations to this type of hospitality. Some Christians have said, “I can’t live like that with people coming in and out all the time, I need my privacy.” Many of us weren’t taught to open our homes. But, as we come to the Lord, He becomes the Lord of our lives including our homes. Everything we have is His, including your house. We are also commanded to obey His Word as Christians we need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us put aside our insecurities and grow us in love for others. Here is a suggestion, once you know that hospitality is expected of you if you are God’s child, then you can start by inviting families in need and lonely young adults over to your home for dinner.

[caption id="attachment_2084" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Awww! How I miss those special moments of sharing our lives with others. Living in community is hospitality at its best.[/caption]

Wow! The potential we have in using our homes as a blessing to many is truly amazing. Are you ready to give up your privacy for a greater purpose God has for your house? Many Christians don’t have homes like yours around the world. Why do you think God gifted you with this one? If we don’t have a vision for our homes we will fall into the temptation of coveting nicer kitchens, be frustrated with meaningless things around the house and just be miserable. But if we view it as a place of hospitality, then we will gratefully keep it clean and prepared to host whomever the Lord would bring.

Will you host in your home someone new, lonely, or homeless?

What are some ideas you practice hospitality?

The Home - Part 9

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The Home As A Lighthouse - Part 7

 

The home is to be a place where we shine as lights in the world (Philippians 2:15).  This world needs to see God’s goodness in our families.  Friends, relatives and neighbors are watching and waiting to see what a home in Christ really is.  A great challenge we have before us is in Acts 2:46 where the early church believers gather together to share their lives, food and learn more of the Savior.  These homes were full of thankfulness and generosity.  One way we can teach thankfulness to our children is always around the meal table.  It may be like a meaningless routine to say grace before eating.  But it is up to us how we do it.  I make it very clear that we are fed by God’s gracious hand.  Food on our table is a gift from God and it is just plain rude to eat without saying thanks.  Just by this simple act of gratitude wherever we are, we are shining our light.   We also make it a joyful time by singing our thanksgiving to God before we eat.



Wherever we go, we try to stay together as a family.  You will be surprised what an impact this is to many, even Christians.  Many have come to us and told us that they were blessed just by watching our family and how we interact with one another.  Then I try to be more conscious and careful of my actions and attitude.

A farmer at farmer’s market, finally approached my and said, “you know, I am getting married in two weeks and I wanted to ask you for advise on how to raise my children because I have been observing every week your kids and they are very obedient.  How do you teach them?  I like children and I look forward in having my own someday?”  Wow!  First of all, I commended him for liking children.  This is very, very unusual.  Almost all the comments I get weekly as I am out with my children are that children are a burden.  Sure they are “cute” but only one or two of them and that was enough.  I also let the gentleman know that my children are just as any other children, sinful by nature, but we teach them what God requires of them.  They only way to godly parenting is through Christ and by His grace only.

One way we can be a lighthouse is by prayer walking our neighborhood.  Simply pray with your children for your neighbors.  You will be surprised how the Lord opens opportunities to share His goodness with others.

Here is a great tool if you want to connect with others praying in for your neighborhood: http://www.transformourworld.org/en/adopt

 

How do you cultivate a spirit of gratitude in your home so it can shine with joy?

The Home - Part 8

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The Home: A Center For Discipleship - Part 6

 

When we gather as a family to brainstorm for ideas to do or make for others, our mission is always before us.  Christ charged us with the Great Commission, “Go ye and make disciples of all nations…”   Therefore, everything we decide to make and do has that in mind, “to make disciples”.  That is the purpose of this site, too.  In the home, we focus on discipleling our children as they also watch us, parents, how we try to imitate Christ and be His disciples.  This aspect of the home is so critical.  It is parenting by intent rather than by default.

Parenting by default is also parenting but with no purpose or vision, just let life go by and do what you have to do to survive.  You know, sleep, eat, go to school, get a job, get married and have kids so they can go to school and continue the cycle.  Parenting by intent is having a purpose.  Our purpose for every Christian home should be to point our children to the Savior so they can have their personal relationship with Him.  Jesus commands us to let the children come to Him.  Wow to us is we are stumbling blocks for our children to come to Him.  The way we present the Gospel, our prayer life and even the way we read His Word will communicate a love for God or religion.

The home is the place where children meet and encounter God.  It is a place of Evangelism.  It is not Sunday school, youth group or children’s church.  It is the home.  The home needs to be supplying the church with the leaders, pastors, teachers, evangelists, apostles and prophets.

How do we parent intentionally?

The answer is very simple:  Just being with your children.  As Deuteronomy 6:4-6 teaches us, when you rise up, when you sit down, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down.  Everyday, there are many opportunities to disciple our children in the ways of the Lord, which is the way they should go.

I have mothers coming to me asking me to have play dates with them so their children homeschooled or toddlers can grow in their social skills.  I do like to get together with other moms who are homeschooling or have little children.  But, I am also always concerned because small children tend to learn from each other’s sinful natures.  Parents misunderstand that their children don’t need other children their age to learn social skills.  On the contrary, children need to be with older adults or mature older children who can teach them good social skills.  What is a three year-old going to learn from another three year old?  Proverbs 13:20 says, “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.”

Some ways we disciple our children in a day to day basis is by simply pointing out what the Word of God says about issues that come up or about His Creation as we talk a walk.  When they disobey, I instruct the what God requires from them, to obey their parents.  When they are unkind to one another, I remind them over and over that Jesus commanded us to love one another.  As we study History, we draw lessons from His dealings with man.  As we study God’s Creation, we marvel at such powerful designs in plants, animals and the entire physical world.

Jesus certainly demonstrated it to us when he chose his twelve disciples.  They pretty much lived together.  They saw Him pray, eat, love, teach.  The disciples turned around and did the same.  It is my prayer that my children will do the same and even go beyond what we teach them.

How do you disciple your children?  How have your children encountered God in your home?

The Home - Part 7

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The Home, A Garden To Grow - Part 5

3.  The Home, A garden to grow

The model we see in Deuteronomy 6:4-6 is that disciple-making goes on continuously throughout the day.  This is a great challenge!  We, as mothers ought to diligently assist our husbands in the training up of our children.

We must dedicate our day to this aspect of our home.  It is extremely important because if we neglect it, our children, church and society will suffer huge setbacks.

Our children’s hearts are like a garden.  This spring we have a garden going on which we have to tend to everyday.  We have to water it, check for weeds, protect it from predators and prune it when the time comes.  Our children too grow and need the tender nurture that only a mother can give.  We are with them most of the time.  We see the “weeds” springing up.  We take note, pray about it and pluck them out.  Those grow naturally;  it’s the sinful nature.  Proverbs commands us to diligently discipline our children (Proverbs 13:24).

Having a multigenerational vision will help us see even past our children but great grandchildren.  We want to grow a solid family legacy that will flourish in this world with the love of God.  For this, it will take diligent vigilance.  Remember that the weeds grow naturally and can choke up a beautiful plant.
When I see a mature tree that is crooked.  I like to point it out to my children and tell them,  “Do you see that tree over there?  Why do you think it just grew like that, sideways, instead of straight up to be tall and provide shade or good fruit without breaking?”  They would answer,  “It was not disciplined with the rod.”  “That’s right”, I would affirm and point to a small tree that is growing with rods tied to it so it can grow straight.  “How do you think this tree will grow?”  I ask, “Straight,  they answer.  “That’s is with us, God has to discipline us and help us through His Spirit to grow straight into His Likeness, not crooked looking like the world.”


Just this task of the home alone takes daily full attention to all your children’s hearts.   I confess, that I am nervous at times when someone wants to take my children or want them to visit.  One exposure to the world’s ways, can defile a child’s innocent mind and undermine all the work I’ve tried to cultivate for years.  I take my job very seriously before God.  That is why I don’t desire more a “Mom’s day off” from my children, as much

as a “Mom’s day off” from household duties, so I can free up more time to tend to the hearts of my children.

There is a big deception in many women who think that caring for your children at home is full of mundane activity.  This is not true.  I have even come to like washing dishes, because my precious five-year-old is

so excited to do it with me.  I take this opportunity to bind her heart to mine, and disciple her to Christ likeness.  It is when I see my daughter struggling, giving up, on a task, that I am right beside her encouraging her and reminding her of God's promises.  Of course there are chores I detest, but as I properly align my heart to His Word, I begin to thank Him for all these dishes that need to be put away or all these laundry that needs to be done.  I can’t imagine life without these children or my husband.  How sad it would be if I didn’t have dishes or clothes to clean for them.  And the more the merrier life is!



This careful tending of our children’s hearts can only be done by mother.  Even father’s role is different.  He will lead the whole family in taking dominion.  He is not so in tune with the day-to-day growth of the children because he doesn’t spend as much time with them as Mom does.  But his role is extremely important, so much so that family is dysfunctional without him.   We have a fatherless society, a broken down society.  Fathers who have abandoned their families physically or psychologically.  Yes, there are parents who have switched the responsibility of the growth of their children to school teachers, youth group pastors or Sunday school teachers, who will never be wiling or able to daily pray for them, weed them, discipline then, nurture them so they can grow into men and women of noble character.

At the same time as we devote our lives to cultivate a heart of wisdom in our children, our hearts are also growing into His likeness.  I can say, I am more patient and selfless, thanks to God who gave me these children to mold me in these areas.  My marriage is the primary plant to focus on making sure it is not drying up.  It takes more time and commitment to serve and help my husband.  This is our priority from which the rest overflow.  If we don’t tend to the garden of our home daily with sacrificial love, intentional parenting, and service, we will have a home that resembles the sluggards, full of thorns and weeds.  Our children, to my shame or careful teaching of Proverbs, are quick to point out when they see a front yard that is dry, dirty, full of weeds, thorns and thistles.  “Look, those people are like the sluggard.”

Let’s tend to our hearts, our children’s and our husbands’ with careful and faithful labor so we can grow healthy, and fruitful homes.

What is the state of your garden?  What are your favorite things to do to make it flourish?

The Home - part 6

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The Home Is A Place For Continuous Learning- Part 4

Most of us are pretty familiar with the words in Deuteronomy 6:6-9. “And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up…Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”   This scripture is recited everyday in Jewish homes and weekly in the synagogue, yet, those reciting it have yet to understand it or begin to obey it.  God is clearly charging parents with the education of their children of both knowledge and Biblical truth.   It doesn’t mean that parents are to be the sole teachers of their children.  But, we are responsible and have complete authority to choose what kind of education and who teaches our children.  I would advocate that it is a great advantage to have the children, especially the young ones, being home educated because parents would be more able to shepherd the child’s heart than only seeing him a few hours a day.   Deuteronomy does say to teach our children throughout the day. 

In fact, due to our present controlling government, home educating our children can have the greatest impact to how our government and country changes in future years.   Making our homes a center for our children’s education will give a big blow to the “socialist agenda” our government has planned to go.

Nothing is “free”

The idea that public education is free is a big lie.  Every time something is said to be free, we become very discerning, especially if it comes from the government.  Public school, including charter schools, comes with a price tag, your freedom and your children.  For the last 200 years, people lost sight of how important freedom in education is.  We have given our children away to be indoctrinated by a humanist, atheist and immoral system of education.   One of the most important documentary films that clearly explain the indoctrination in the public schools is Indoctrination.  Get it. It is absolutely to be in our home library.  I have given it to neighbors and they have immediately made the decision to home educate their children just by watching this documentary.

Best Time To Home Educate Is Now

Like never before in history, we can home educate our children and be able to teach them anything we want under the sun.  Information has never before been so readily available with technology, like the internet and all the books available for free.  Seriously, who can’t home educate?  When my children ask me a question that I don’t know the answer,  I tell them, “let’s research it”.  They are learning that there are no limitations to learning.  If the Wright Brothers could invent the mechanics of flying, with limited resources available, and the countless of inventors and discoveries made, we have no excuse.

Advantages of Home Education

I will give just a short list of the benefits of home educating because they are simply many.

1. We have the privilege of being our children’s main teachers.


2. Learn to love to explore and make discoveries in
   God’s creation.


3. We can better shepherd our children’s hearts.  And have their hearts.


4. We indoctrinate our children in Biblical Truth and how to love God.


5. We can teach them what they are interested about instead of insignificant or unwanted material.


6. The whole world is their classroom instead of being locked up in a school campus.


7. Experience the blessings of God by obeying this command.


8. The subjects to learn together as a family are limitless.


9. Build stronger faithful generations as our children also home educate their children and continue.

10.Our churches and government will be stronger and more godly as we raise our children to lead in the world and take dominion.

11.We teach and learn from living an adventurous life with our children.

12.No time restrictions and no wasted time:  We teach while cooking, cleaning, gardening, home birthing, shopping, eating, at every moment and opportunity.

There are so many more.  These blessings are not easy either.  There will be things we may need to sacrifice to have our freedom.  I don’t believe anyone has obstacles in this area that can’t be overcome.  I speak from experience.  When you weigh the cost, the obstacles are worthless.  The souls of our children are worth more.

Is your home a place for education?  If you wish to home educate what are your fears?

The Home - Part 5

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Embracing Our Real Identity Part 2

I am a graduate of two prestigious Christian universities.  You would think that going to a higher education Bible school would teach you about what you are called and created for.  Well, to this day, I don’t believe there is a class for ladies on “How To Be A Godly Keeper Of The Home.”  I entered Bible college because I wanted to be a missionary.  Half way through my studies, I was discouraged by other colleagues.  “You want to be a missionary?” They would ask. “I would recommend you get a different degree that would be easier to get a job.  You can always be a missionary without a degree.  But it is hard to support yourself.  You need like a teaching degree.”  I listened and switched my degree to Education.  Women don’t go to college to become better wives, mothers or better homemakers, but to secure a career and make it on your own.  After all, "it’s a very insecure world" they say.

God desires to “transform us into His Likeness” (2 Cor. 3:18).  When He created us he said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…” Genesis 1:26). Therefore, my life, my marriage, my home must reflect His Likeness.  How can we reflect His Likeness and His Image?  By being Christlike in all we do.  Instead of accepting who we are to excuse our sin nature.  “Well, that is just who I am” kind of attitude.  We should instead “be transformed by the renewing of our minds” to be in Christ what He has called us to be.  This is a huge responsibility we have before us.  God has entrusted us The Home and as we shine in His Image, our Homes will bring glory to the Creator and communicate His beauty, His joy, His love and our true contentment.

Many have been lost in this culture trying to find this true identity in materialism, prestige, career, in people, leisure, and achievement rather than embrace what God has planned for us already.  Happiness and fulfillment will never happen until we embrace our real purpose, which is in Christ.  Rebellion to this sacred calling of reflecting His image in our homes has destroyed our society. The world is waiting to see rich, vibrant blessed homes once again.

A simple way to start bearing His Image is by embracing what He has done for us.  No more resisting our true identity by trying to be something or someone we are not.  In Him we are complete.  He is the one doing the work everyday of transforming us into His Likeness.  We simply have to surrender to His glorious work in our lives.

Secondly, learn from His Word how He wants you to use the gifts and talents He has given you as you build your home.

Our relationship with our husbands will speak loud to the way we comport ourselves toward them.  This is first and foundational as we wisely work the soil of our home so it can be fertile and grow healthy generations of faithful children.

Once this groundwork has been set, we understand how God designed the home to be like.  People have spent millions in a home, which was a sterile, cold, empty place.  Sure it looked good in the magazines and before family and friends.  But they have lacked vision and purpose for it.  God has a grand and holy purpose for our homes according to His Word.

Next, we will look at how God wants our homes to be used.

Being transformed from glory to glory into His image is an unfathomable thought.  What areas of your life shine His likeness and what areas need more transformation?  The eyes of the world are on us.

The Home - Part 3

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Embracing the True Meaning of Home Part 1

Ever since I was a little girl entering first grade, I was often taunted with the question from teachers, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  After my answers, “a teacher” or “a police woman”, I was given the lecture of empowerment of how I can be anything I wants to be and the, “yes, you can,” pep talk.  I grew up believing that she had to do something outside the home to be someone important.  Being a homemaker is out of the picture.  Who wants to be just that?  The idea was greatly devalued.  Now, when I am filling out some paper work and the dreaded question of “occupation” comes up, and I answer “homemaker”, most think of washing dishes, mopping floors and changing diapers.  Somehow people truly believe anybody can do that.  The truth of the matter is that women are able to be homemakers, but now a day, not every woman is capable of being a homemaker.  It takes training to prepare for such a profession.

It is hopeful to see that more and more women are realizing that real freedom lies in staying at home to raise their family.  Even if the family is grown, the woman’s home ministry continues as an older woman teaching the younger ones as stated in Titus 2.  Living next to me is a very nice lady who works sometimes up to 130 hours in two weeks.  She is away from home through the night at times.  Her husband is home sick and she doesn’t have the privilege to nurse him.  She doesn’t “like” it but, like most in her situation would say, “you gotta do what you gotta do.”  She is the one brining in the paycheck and her husband stays home.  What slavery!  She is not free to plan anything because she is always on call to go work even on her one day off.

In contrast, keeping home is the opposite and very rewarding.  You are building a home for God’s glory and future generations, not some man’s business idea.  What a difference in eternal meaning!  Staying home is not boring at all, or frustrating, not even just mundane.  Many woman in the workforce, now envy the homemakers.  “You get to stay home with your kids?”  The young lady cashier would ask me, “you’re lucky”.

But staying at home is not just taking care of your children.  The opportunities for achievement are really unlimited.  Our home is filled with new ideas almost everyday of how to further the Kingdom of God in business, in ministry, in media, education, government, food industry, missions, marketplace through creative and innovative ways.  I have known of doctors and lawyers who are now envying the profession of a homemaker!

The homemaker is not the romantic picture of perfection painted by Jane Austen.  Although, that time period had distinctive femininity and domesticity, it is not what I am attempting to bring alive here.  But rather, what does the Bible say about our homes and about the homemakers.  The home is also not the Martha Stewart type or the Home and Garden magazines kind and homemakers are not to be the perfectionist -I-have-it-all-under-control type of woman either.

The home was not always devalued. Pastor Steven Wedgeworth describes the home in this way:

“The home used to be a center of agriculture, economic affairs, and education. For the woman to be a “homemaker” was to be an executive over the central nervous system of society. It was to be a master of arts. It was to be a farmer. It was to be a maker. It was to be a temple, a sacrament, a superlative.”

Pastor Wedgeworth compares the home to the body’s nervous system.  If it is injured, or if the wife is not in her post, the body will start decaying, by developing diseases.  Damage to it could end up in paralysis, and even death.The body is made up of many other important parts or professions.  But we can’t argue that these other parts are more important than the Central Nervous System, for without it, they cannot function properly.  If it is broken down, church and society suffer.

God desires for women to embrace this holy mission.  We will never be complete and satisfied unless we undertake the call to "build  our homes (Proverbs 14:1).  

We will very briefly look at what the Home and the Homemaker should be.  This subject is so extensive that I will only describe some of the main components that make a True Home.

So join me this month as I dedicate it to enticing many women to embrace the true meaning of their homes.   As we celebrate our homes and families in the perfect love of God, they will shine bright to the world.  I hope to turn hearts to our Creator by our example of love and joy.  The world is always watching and learning.  What an opportunity to teach by being godly women who love their husbands, children and keep our homes in wisdom and Christ-centered.

What about your home?  How does it look like right now?  What is it's culture?

The Home  - Part 2

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