"Passionate Housewives Desperate for God"

Wow! I am truly enjoying this book. I'd love to quote whole portions, but...so let me paraphrase a couple of the points that have really spoken to me:

• I can experience God's presence in my everyday tasks, even changing that diaper.
• My service to my family -- wiping that face, folding those clothes, washing those dishes -- IS my service to God.
• It's not about what I do, but about what God does through me and in spite of my failures.
• My goal is to die to self that Christ may be glorified.

I didn't need to be convinced that what I am doing is of eternal value, but I did need to be reminded that God is glorified even in what I might consider the mundane, in that "dying to self" and in the serving. After all, Christ came to serve. I'm reminded that I have a long way to go before I have developed the heart of Christ. I grow weary of laundry and weary of dishes and weary of cleaning. Yet it is in joyfully performing these acts of service for my family that God will be glorified. And yes, it is even in my failure that He will be glorified.

It is easy to buy into that "success" mentality -- that if I keep a clean house, run everything on a schedule, have well-spoken and well-behaved and well-read children who are above-average academically (and not all are!) -- that I have succeeded as a stay-at-home, homeschool mom. I need to be reminded that, while I may be obedient in some areas, it is God who causes the growth, the success as some would call it. I need to check that pride. And in those areas where I am not obedient (i.e., still a work-in-progress), in need to remember that God can work in spite of my failures, and that it doesn't all depend on me. There is a freedom in realizing that I am not the "make it or break it" factor here! Wow! If I will just remember that, then the burden truly is light and the yoke is easy.

I'm looking forward to finishing this book, and will perhaps comment more as I go through it, but I highly recommend this book.

In Christ Alone,

Barb

Passionate Housewives Desperate for God: Fresh Vision for the Hopeful Homemaker By Jennie Chancey & Stacy McDonald / Vision Forum Filled with encouragement and words of wisdom, Passionate Housewives is written for women who aspire to live in obedience to Christ, but struggle to reconcile society's definition of womanhood with God's Word. Learn why the "desperate housewife" is a myth and discover why women should embrace their god-given role as a homemaker and helpmeet. Stacy McDonald and Jennie Chancey show how you can find true contentment in God's order and discover overwhelming joy by dying to self. 206 pages, paperback.