Happy Mother’s Day ladies.

Wed. is the one year anniversary of my blog.

What a blessing you have been in my life.

I have a special

give-a-way

starting tonight-

-it is super cool and super exciting.

²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praises her:

I have a blog follower and she is just the sweetest gal.  I will not share her name but I will tell you she asked for prayer for her family a couple months ago and has been sharing with me a situation that she is in.  She contacted me the other day and asked for advice on what to do.  The situation had escalated.  I prayerfully considered my words–I prayed all afternoon-I called friends who are a pastor and pastors wife for addition advice.  I know I am accountable for the advice I offer her.

As I read over the passages I am sharing with you today–I thought WOW–this could not come at a more appropriate time.  The Lord knew when I began going through the Prov 31 woman that this situation would arise and that I would be at this passage, this week.

²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Like I said before I will not give any names but you can definitely

pray for her as she comes to your heart.

I will call her Ashley–A couple of months ago, Ashley had left a  sweet comment on my blog, as she always does .  She has been following me since the beginning of my blog.  Nothing out of the ordinary.

That day she was on my heart and I would say a prayer for her each time she popped into my head.  I believe when people just pop into your head, it’s God’s way of letting you know you need to say a prayer for them.  I didn’t know why but she was on my heart.  We were out of town for a couple of days and when we got back home I e-mailed her just checking on her and letting her know that she was on my heart for the last few days.

She responded back asking some questions about her being on my heart and I told her how I feel about people popping in your head and said she almost asked me to pray for her and her family in that e-mail.

She began sharing with me the burden she was carrying.  Her husband had totally changed his belief system and was now claiming to be an atheist.  Not at all what she had signed up for when she walked down the aisle.  Her main concern–her children.  They couldn’t attend church, they could not pray, he was talking with the kids about atheism.  Her heart was breaking.

Over the weeks since the incident, I have e-mailed her checking on her and still lifting her up in prayer.

No changes.

Then the other day she asked me for some advice.

Now her husband wants to introduce their oldest child to porn when he turns 14–in a few weeks.

He says a pastor would tell her she needs to be submissive.

He already makes her sit through sessions weekly.

Here is part,  of one of my replies I sent to her:

As I thought about this today–I was like hmmm He doesn’t believe in God

and yet he wants to instruct you that a pastor would tell you to submit.

If he doesn’t believe in God then he doesn’t believe you need to follow

God’s law and that would include submissive wives.

It is also interesting that he pulls that information out of that text and

yet disobeys the instruction for him, including his submission to you.

The man is told more information on how to behave than the woman and if the man treats

his wife according to the instruction, the interesting thing about

submission is that she has no problem submitting because she is loved so

much and she knows her husband has her best interest at heart.

Ephesians 5:21-30 (New International Version)
21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives and Husbands

22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the

head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which

he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives

should submit to their husbands in everything.

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave

himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing

with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant

church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and

blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as

their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no

one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as

Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body.

Do you see verse 21 SUBMIT TO ONE ANOTHER…WIVES AND HUSBANDS

You’ve already have heard your submission part

and I will go back to that

in a minute.

VS 25–HE is commanded to love you like Christ loved the Church…to make

her holy, cleansing her and present her to himself as a radiant church,

without stain or wrinkle or blemish, holy , blameless.

You know that making you sit through weekly porn sessions is not how

Christ would treat the church and it is not how your husband is to treat

you.

If he loved you and respected you and showed that to you, he would never

ask you to submit to that.

YOU ARE EQUALS-he is told to respect your opinion. He is to be the leader

of the home and if the two of you can not come to a decision and both are

prayerfully considering it then the wife is to submit to the husband.

He want to throw all the other stuff out and pull one portion out.

The husband is not the dictator, he is never to treat his wife poorly. He

is to treat her like Christ treated the church. If he used that as his

example and applied the entire passage he would shut up pretty quick.

vs 28–he is instructed to love her as he loves his own body. If a guy is

in a situation where someone threatens to beat him up, he will fight to

protect himself. If someone or something comes towards their private

parts–they will protect it at all cost. They LOVE their own bodies–in

most cases. God knows how to get to the heart of the issue and so He

harps on all these things to get it through their thick heads.
Your husband does not do any of the things he is commanded to do.

That passage basically goes like this –in Cheri layman terms–

GOD: Ladies and Men –You are to respect each other, you are equals–do

you hear me mister? Pay attention this is important.

Mister: But Lord can you please tell her to submit to me, because I

really want her to quit chattering all the time and just listen to me and

submit.

God: Mister you just do not get it–yes she is to submit but with that

comes a ton of responsibility on your shoulders so man up right here and

now because most of this passage is for you. You hear the word submit but

you better listen up and quit being hard headed. If you would do it my

way, it would go so much smoother for you. I told her to submit but you

are to submit to her as well–did you hear me? I said you too MISTER.

Mister: Yes Lord I hear you But Lord if she would just

God: I am getting so frustrated with you–you said you heard me. If you

would shut up and listen, & really listen and respect your wife’s opinion

and treat her like you would treat your own body and submit yourself to

her needs and think of her first-before yourself, instead of thinking ‘You

have to submit to me-cuz GOD SAID SO’, things would go so smooth in your

relationship. I went over all of these things because I knew it would be

hard for you. I knew you would focus in on that word submit and get

tunnel vision and miss everything else. If she sees you giving up for her

and ALWAYS looking out for her very best then she will gladly submit but

because you are so hard headed and can’t see past the words Wife

submit-you are just making it so difficult.

That is the end of my award winning play but you get the idea.  I have a friend and she tells the funniest Bible story.

Here is her version in my own words.

Alethia: Did you know that when God made man He said “WOW-that man needs help.  He can not do it by himself, I have to create a woman.”

Alethia’s hubby Aaron: That is not true.

Alethia: Uh huh-it’s in the Bible.

Aaron: Where?

Alethia: Genesis–after God created each thing he looked at it and said “It is GOOD”.  Do you know that after God created the Baboons BUTT-he looked at it and said “IT IS GOOD”.  Have you ever looked at a Baboons butt?–God looked at it and said “IT IS GOOD” but what did he say after he created man.  He did not say ” IT IS GOOD-no he said-HE NEEDS A HELPMATE”.

God created man and wife not for one to rule over the other but to be a support system for each other.  That is why he took the rib==they are to be side by side-the rib case protects the heart, helping to support it and sustain it.

I then shared some other verses with  ASHLEY

Colossians 3:18-19 (New International Version)
Rules for Christian Households

18Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
19Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

God instructs a husband to be the provider. He is to provide for the

necessities of his wife and children. That does not clash with the Prov

31 woman. A wife can add to the household income and have a life but her

first responsibility is to her families needs. If the time comes that she

needs to stop working the husbands income should provide for all of the

families needs. There are spiritual consequences if  he fails to do so.

The Proverbs 31 woman is not a contradiction, it is a support system on how to be a business woman.

1 Timothy 5:8 (New International Version)

8 If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his

immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

I shared with her a lot of information.  If her husband is not going to guide and protect then she must.  Her children one day will be thankful for what their mother did for them.

²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praises her: