Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Great Read

I am currently reading a book called "Created to be His Help Meet " by Debi Pearl (Debi and her husband Michael have a ministry called No Greater Joy that can be accessed at www.nogreaterjoy.org).  While we were living in NH my husband's friend ordered us a bunch of their literature knowing that we are Christian's (it was free for military if you requested it, not sure if it still is).  We listened to one of Michael Pearl's sermon's and WOW...I could immediately tell that the No Greater Joy ministry was extremely "old school" aka conservative. This was not "feel good" religion.  This was Biblical straight talk like I hadn't heard before.  I told my husband to turn it off... I couldn't listen to it.  Not because I disagreed with what Mr. Pearl was saying, but because it was too harsh...too raw.  I wasn't mature enough to handle it.


In the package we received there was a book called "Created to be His Help Meet" that Debi Pearl had written about the biblical role of a wife.  The back cover read that the book would transform your marriage.  At the time, our marriage was at a rough patch, but at the time I was too stubborn to accept any wrong doing and so after reading the first chapter of Debi's book I literally threw it across the room.  That was 3 years ago.

We got through that rough patch and our marriage is great thanks to the Lord's blessing, an awesome support system and a great church family.  But a year ago I felt an internal stirring.  I wanted to not only to have a great marriage, but a Godly marriage.  I wondered how God really intended marriage to be.  What could I do to have the best marriage possible?  Last fall I came across "Created..." and I am a little more than half-way through it now (in addition to reading it I am reading 2 other books and raising a family... I'm taking my time with it).

I read the first chapter through different eyes the second time around.  This book has resonated with me in a way that continues to surprised me.  Although I don't agree with everything in the book, there are so many "ah ha!" moments throughout it.  I have a better marriage because of it.  I have a clearer understanding of my role as a wife and I am better at loving and serving my husband because of it.  

No matter the state of your marriage I recommend this book.  It will give you a different perspective on marriage and a woman's role in that union.  It will most-likely challenge you, since we are women of a new era and mind-set, but considering the rising divorce rate in our country, it may be beneficial to become a little more "old school" and examine what God really intended marriage to be.

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