So what are we to do? Should we start playing “Leave it to Beaver”
re-runs and tell women they’d be happy if they followed June Cleaver’s
example? Should we encourage them to start wearing high heels and pearls
while vacuuming? Should we run advertising campaigns that glorify the
value of ironing, or disparage women who can’t bake cookies from
scratch?
Our paths first crossed on a chilly Saturday morning. Her enthusiasm was evident as this elderly woman walked briskly past us, surrounded by several younger women.
I’ve been married to a youth pastor for more than ten years. I know all about unrealistic expectations, excess criticism, and the identity crisis that being a family in ministry can cause.
We often sense the Lord’s presence in places of serenity and security.
But what happens when the scenery changes—when the serene and secure
become tumultuous waves of uncertainty, doubt, or fear? When the bills
can’t be paid, or the consequences of sin run deep, or your hopes and
dreams for the future have been shattered?
Some men make multiple decisions throughout the day in their vocational
role, while also carrying a large load of responsibility, but when
entering the doors of their home they feel inadequate and fearful to make the
simplest choices.
"Seven years later, I still fall back into my worry-and-need-to-control bouts every now and then. In these times, it is so reassuring to go back to the journals I wrote during those last months in Orlando. I review my prayers, and my faith is strengthened as I look back and see how God used every delay, problem, and hurdle for good in my life. I have been able to connect the dots between seemingly isolated events, and have been able to see God’s hand through it all; like the weaving of a tapestry."
It’s fine to take all kinds of issues into consideration as you decide on a church home for you and your family. But there are more important issues to keep in mind as you determine where you should worship. Here are a few of the issues I’d put on my list . . .
In this fifteen-minute interview, you’ll hear Tim and Aileen Challies answer questions like "What should a woman do if her husband’s asking her to do things in the bedroom that violate her conscience?" and "Do single women have any hope of getting pure men?"
Meet Stacey Smith and several other prison inmates. You’ll be amazed at
how God can change everything about drug addicts, murderers, those who
want to take their own life, criminals of any kind . . . you, and me!
It’s nice to be remembered. A card on a special day, a look from a knowing friend, a new acquaintance that thinks enough about you to call you by name. What does this personal attention—this remembrance—from the God of the universe mean?
I started noticing that the incredibly encouraging emails my mom regularly sent me were full of Scripture. They weren’t just hopeful sentiments from a mom, but actual promises from God that gave me something sturdy to cling to.
While this alpha woman trend is celebrated by those who have swallowed the feminist/egalitarian claim that male-female roles are interchangeable, the reality is that the majority of alpha women are dissatisfied with their breadwinner status. It appears that an alpha woman married to a beta boy puts an unnatural strain on a couple’s marital and sexual relationship.
