Joyfully at Home: Chapter Seven

Overcoming a False View of Marriage

Jasmine Baucham writes:

...Envision yourself in your fallen state, striving--by God's grace--to uphold the precepts in the Ephesians 5:22-6:4 passage. Envision your family and other Christian families you know as they sometimes falter along this journey, purposing to honor the Lord as husbands love and lead their wives, as wives respect and submit to their husbands, as they guide their children, who are to obey them as unto the Lord.

Envision life right now as what it is:

A training ground for the dream you are holding so desperately in your heart. See your parents as disciplers who are, by God's grace, helping to mold you into the woman whose worth is "far above rubies" (Prov. 31:10), that wife who is a "good thing" (Prov. 18:22). See your household as a training ground that will teach you the homemaking skills that you will need to succeed (Titus 2:3-5). See your precious siblings in all their sin nature, and realize that whatever work you help your parents do with them is training for the work you will do with your own little "cherubs" someday (Eph. 6:1-4).

See life for all its beauties and all its hardships...

And put those dreams in their proper place.

Desire marriage in its proper context--as a vessel for God's glory--more and more, and you will grow to realize that it is nothing to sigh over. It is a battlefield to prepare for. We are God's children--we don't have to wait to fight the battle. We're fighting everyday in singleness, for joy and wholeness in whatever state the Lord has placed us.

Order a copy to read the rest! :)