This morning I was reading in 1 Peter for Godly submission for women and I was referred back to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. There, Paul outlines the godly role for women and I started feeling offended when I read that only men should lead the church and teach other men. I felt that old “you’re not worth anything” feeling well up in my heart. So I prayed. Now, if you read my first post when I started writing this book, then you know that I prayed that God would remind me when I started feeling this way and that He would, first of all, forgive me. I also prayed that He would lead me to the truth and that is exactly what He did this morning.
I stopped my reading and started praying. I talked to God and let Him know that I didn’t understand why I was offended and defensive. Then God, in His true faithfulness, revealed that my inner emotions were coming from the fact that the men in my life as I was growing up did not set the godly example that heads up God’s perfect design for the family. The men in my life were addicts – alcohol and drugs, they were sexual predators and false Christians, and they did not show the respect for the women in their world as God commanded. I did not want men like that telling me what to do and I was always trying to prove my worth by being better than they were at whatever.
God calls men to walk side-by-side with their wives to fulfill the trinity of marriage. The man represents the godhead in that he looks to God for his direction, decisions and leads his family in God’s way. The woman supports her husband in prayer, caring for his family while he goes out into the world and fights the battles against whatever would come against the family. He can do this with confidence when his help-mate is filling the role that God gave her.
I have a godly man as my husband. He works hard to support us both financially and morally. He talks to God when he has problems and witnesses to others of God’s grace and provision. But most of all, he has helped me take the rightful role of wife through his respect for me and honor for what I do. We pray together when we have decisions to make. Sometimes he asks me to pray for him, because he trusts me. I have traveled a long road to submission and I have only done it through God’s direct path through my husband.
I still have a lot to learn about godly submission, but I believe that God has called me to write this book and as I do, He will teach me.
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Heart Notes of Life 