By Elizabeth Elliot
Once again I found myself staring at my
bookshelf of “already been around the block once” books.
Elizabeth Elliot's book caught my eye and I wondered if it would be
time for my daughter to read it. I decided to read it myself first
and was glad I did because it will be several years before she's
ready for this book. Great for the college age girl but not the
early high school girl.
Amazingly enough it was just the book I
needed. Coming off of separate living for 18 months I've realized
that I've forgotten how to be a wife. I am a great parent, a great
independent but not so great partner.
Maybe part of why this book resonated
so deeply with me is that Elisabeth was a widow for years forcing her
to be a single parent. She is a successful author and speaker. She
is independent, strong and successful but was able to re-marry and
build a solid relationship moving back into the role of wife without
loosing her identity. Guess that's what I need.
She begins the book with placing our
identity, as women, in God then looking to how God created us very
specifically as women. Different than men. We were created with a
specific role. To be a helpmate to our husbands. Elizabeth
encourages us to maintain our femininity. It's easy to loose it in
the hustle of life trying to survive in the world, but our femininity
is what makes us unique. She recognizes that our femininity gives us
a power that we must learn to control and use properly in our
marriages.
For me these were lots of good little
reminders.
Some favorite quotes from the book:
“Let not our longing slay the
appetite of our living.” - Jim Elliot
“The fact that I am a woman does not
make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a
Christian does make me a different kind of woman.” + Elizabeth
Elliot
“Teach us, Good Lord, to serve Thee
as Thou deservest; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and
not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labor
and not to ask for any reward save that of knowing that we do Thy
will. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.” - St. Ignatius of Loyola
we've never spent that long apart - but have spent a few times 3-4 months apart and i struggle with the same issues each time... i have to learn how to step back into the role of wife and helpmeet instead of running the house all by myself.
ReplyDeletesometimes that is really hard b/c i tend to run a tighter ship in many ways... my ways (i.e. if you ask him, he might say differently)...
thanks for sharing what you are learning!