Thursday, May 16, 2013
10 Years and Counting
In approximately an hour, Mark and I will have made it to the 10 year mark of our marriage. A milestone that I personally feel is worth celebrating and taking the time to reflect.
To say that 10 years has flown by would be a cliche' yet, it is really true. It feels like yesterday that we were getting tuxes, buying flowers, trying on dresses and walking down the aisle. Something in me wants to scream, SLOW DOWN life, I am not ready to be 10 years in. I want to stop, savor, every moment, because it is going by so fast.
But the reality is, the past 10 years have also been a long, slow journey of learning more of who I am, who Mark is, but perhaps most of all, who God is.
Mark and I met through friends and one of the first nights at the BSU that he was there, I knew. I went home the weekend after and told my mom that I met the man that I would marry. She laughed of course, especially since we didn't get together until 4 months later! We would date for a year and then he asked me to marry me! We got married 5 months later the day after I graduated college. Life since that day has never been the same. We have grown up a lot in the last 10 years, we have had a business, gotten jobs, lost jobs, changed jobs, had children, opened our home, lost a business, invested in friends together, fought, made up, reached a crossroads, laughed, cried, lost family, gained family, bought homes, sold a home, ministered in church together, and just in a nutshell, lived life together.
I have gotten everything I ever wanted when I married Mark and then God, just said, for fun, you get so much more. When I don't feel like laughing, Mark is there with a witty remark to make me do my roll my eyes laugh and smile. When I don't want to do the right thing, he is there to remind me that we HAVE to do the right thing. He loves the kids and is a super great dad. He loves me when I don't deserve it, and when I do. He has supported me in times that are beyond explanation.
I could go on forever of his awesomeness, there is one thing however that I knew about Mark when we were dating and I didn't know at the time how much I would come to love this about him. It's his integrity. There are few men in the world of compromise that have the ethic and integrity that Mark has. I never have to worry if he will do the right thing, if he will be honest, if he will keep his word, if he will fight for me or the kids. I never have to wonder if he will lie or if he will be there. He just is and will. This is the one thing that no matter how bad or frustrating things in our marriage get, total overshadows the faults that may lie within. He is an amazing man and I can't believe I get to have him.
When God created marriage, He made it to be a reflection of who He is, how we are to relate to Him. I have learned more about God through marriage than any other relationship in my entire life. Marriage has a way over time of exposing the ugly, and I have learned that I have it. The other side is that is also will refine the ugly into something beautiful. There is definately parts of me that have been refined and I am better than I was 10 years ago. The exciting part is that I am only a few years into the refinement so I know that God will do so much more in the next 10 years of marriage to keep smoothing the edges.
Yes, I look forward to many more years committed to each other and living all the inbetweens. Thank you to all the friends and family that have been in our lives to bring us to 10 years. Without you and God, we would not have made it.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
A House Doesn't Make a Home
Another chapter of the Carlton life is coming to a close. Our First House will turn into someone else's house on Friday. I thought after our almost year journey of fixing it up and selling it, I would be rejoicing and so happy. However, I was not expecting the emotion that hit me like a freight train this week. So indulge me a little as I take you on this house's journey. .
Mark and I bought this house in February 2004 after being married only 9 months. We bought it after looking at about 6 houses that day and it was the last. I don't remember what exactly drew us other than it did not have green shag carpet or a knights armor on the wall. In our minds it was ours and that was all that mattered.
Over the years we have changed jobs, had kids, had a business, lost a business, and made life changing decisions all inside those walls.
About a month after we moved in, our home's real journey began. We took in our first house guest. I am still amazed at what providing a bed, shelter, and food can do for a person but most importantly what it can teach you. Carrie would be a house guest from time to time over the last 8 1/2 years and it was a privilege to have her each and every time. She taught me what love with no strings was all about and has become not only a sister in law but a friend.
Another house guest early on was Kevin. We provided that transition place for him at a time that he needed that support. Kevin taught me to look past failures and forward toward possibilities.
Myrenda came to prepare for her journey to college for a month. Myrenda reminded me what starting a new chapter in life was all about just as Laura was coming and I would be beginning one as well.
Tim would stay with us from time to time as well. Tim taught me what loving people through the tough things in life was all about.
My last house guest was Brooke and she taught me more than all the others combined. She taught me what unconditional love was all about. What breaking down walls meant, what true transparency meant, what serving without boundaries meant, and is not only my baby sister but my very best friend.
We never went without all those times of having people in our home. Our kids may have rearranged their world a bit at times, I may have had to move a few pieces of furniture, but we were never completely out of space. I might mention that our house was only 1000 sft. God did amazing things with space and closets that I never knew was possible. In the last year there we had someone there almost the entire time. God stretched the house to meet all our needs and as you read above, taught me more than any inconvenience any of it may have caused.
Mark and I know that while we may not be overseas missionaries, we definitely have a mission in our home.
I remember the place I found out we were having Laura, the letter I wrote to Mark, and the weeks of sickness that would ensue.
We had Laura in August of 2005 and I brought her home. I still remember the first night she was home and how rough it was. The black chair (which I still have) that I rocked her and spent many a sleepless night in. Laura took her first steps there, she spent the first 6 years of her life there. The house is full of memories of her doing all the firsts, all the big things toddlers do. I will remember the front door fondly as the time out spot. Laura began her love of crafts at our kitchen table and hasn't stopped creating since.
I remember the exact place we were laying in the living room floor when I told Mark that Lane was on the way. Lane too was brought home there. Also rocked in big black chair and took many of his firsts there and spent the first 2 1/2 years there. I remember bringing him home from both surgeries on his ears and crying many a night because I couldn't help him feel better. I remember the morning he was so sick and we thought we were going to lose him. How a suctioned his nose and mouth and just prayed. He gave me all the trials a second kid might give their mother there.
I remember the conversations in those walls, the friendships developed, the marriage foundation built in that house. I remember the exact place we sat as we heard my step dad passed away. I remember the exact place I wept when my aunt had her heart attacks and I thought we would lose her. I remember mourning lost jobs with Mark. I remember celebrating gained jobs with Mark. Mark and I were able to live, love, and laugh there and that's what makes a home.
The simple house at 2654 W Blackburn was not just a house. It was a home. A home built on love and the realization that God was bigger than the 1000 sft and fixed income. We definitely did not do everything right but I know at the very least we were obedient.
I remember the exact moment that we decided to move out of 2654 W Blackburn. The events that surrounded that decision were not necessarily the happiest but it was an opportunity of a life time. One that I am well aware we did not and do not deserve but one God provided none the less. We spent a long time repairing what a few years will do to a house, sold it, and will close this Friday.
I do not know at this time what exactly the future will hold. My prayer and current plan is to buy a different house. One that too has a legacy, a story, and a set up that will allow us to serve and minister to many more people in our lifetime. We have been able to live there the last year and want nothing more than to stay. Even if God has something different in our next chapter of life, I can be assured it is for my good and His Glory and I can be even more assured it will be bigger than I ever dreamed.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Letting Go In Faith
Letting Go in Faith
While it has been awhile since I wrote, I never knew how prophetic a simple name of a blog could be. I have been hiding from this place, hiding out of tiredness, excuses, but most of all fear. Letting Go of Me to lay at the feet of Him. Not sure where the journey may take me but confident it will be for my good and His Glory. Really? One only writes such a name when their life is going well. It is rare one would make that bold of statement in the midst of a storm. Looking back I wonder if I spoke that and a dark cloud began looming as if to say “We’ll see”.
The past few months have been marked with one crisis and a whole lot of trials along the way. The big crisis of an unsuspecting illness has waned and now that my aunt is in Texas, I feel as if a big hole is left. The fact she has been in and out of the hospital there for a week or two has made the hole bigger but God has been sustaining. It’s the minor trials that seem to be sticking like glue to my world. In fact to many and even myself a few months ago, I would say, what trial? No major tragedy, immediate illness or the like. No, I have come to learn that those strike a minority in comparison with the rest of us. Sure, we all have times when we are in that one thing that causes everything to uproot. But most, most of us live out day to day with not just one trial, but many that sit on the proverbial plate of life and we are one pea or carrot away from a melt down.
These are the people that you can tell something is off, but you just don’t know what and you may even ask and they say I’m fine. They probably are by the Christian standards of if this or this isn’t wrong then you have nothing to be complaining about. We view the struggles with mundane of life to be complaining or not grateful enough or you aren’t seeing all the great things. Most of us do know what is great in our life, we get it, we are appreciative of it all. It’s just that there are a view items on our plate that are turning sour or peas are trying to escape or mashed potatoes are being heaped on. Therefore, we feel like we are in a pressure cooker and believe me at that moment. Gratefulness and positive thinking doesn’t do us a whole lot of good. It’s not supposed to. These, these my friends are the trials and struggles of life that are to keep us grounded. These are the “I’ve got so much going on” statements that flow that are true. And I for one am one that lives in that state because just when you get the peas in line, the carrots start to get unruly.
I have lived in bondage that there is something wrong with me if my peas and carrots are out of line. No, it just means that because God has chosen to send them in this direction, I am not going to take on your heap of mashed potatoes thank you very much. I have been reading a book called Smart Women know when to say NO. Now, you can debate me all you want that we say no too much in our society. But in my life, in what God has taught me is, there are some things in life that you really can say No too because he’s given you some peas and carrots to reign in. It’s ok to say No to more mashed potatoes. It’s Ok that you have enough on your plate. As long as it’s the portions and choices that God has placed there, it is OK that you say a big fat NO and then not let the guilt layers pour on the gravy which causes just as much issues as the potatoes.
We also forget that blessings sometimes rush in add more to the plate of life. They are good things but may require a brief season of sacrifice. We will call these lettuce. You can see how quickly a nice blessing, mixed with some unruly peas and carrots, with a spoonful of mashed potatoes looming and some gravy being poured, you quickly have a plate out of control.
My epiphany for the week has been that if you let all these things crowd out the meat (God), then you have more than a plate out of control, you have a hopeless plate out of control. And then, that is when you know you are being tested. When in the midst of circumstance, you forget not that God is there, but that He is big enough, that you don’t need a bigger plate, you need more of Him and less of all the other stuff. If you forget to view Him as THE PORTION, not just a Portion, then we fail the test miserably. Now once you realize you failed the test, the meal is not over. You get to get back in the meal and rearrange it all. Nothing may going away, nothing may change, other than as God becomes bigger, the rest lies in the shadows. For me, sometimes making that portion bigger seems to require more out of me. In truth, it just means you find rest that comes from Him. You hang out with Him more. You share the burden. You stop, breath and take one step forward. So maybe, just maybe you don’t fail the test, you get back in the game and succeed.
While it has been awhile since I wrote, I never knew how prophetic a simple name of a blog could be. I have been hiding from this place, hiding out of tiredness, excuses, but most of all fear. Letting Go of Me to lay at the feet of Him. Not sure where the journey may take me but confident it will be for my good and His Glory. Really? One only writes such a name when their life is going well. It is rare one would make that bold of statement in the midst of a storm. Looking back I wonder if I spoke that and a dark cloud began looming as if to say “We’ll see”.
The past few months have been marked with one crisis and a whole lot of trials along the way. The big crisis of an unsuspecting illness has waned and now that my aunt is in Texas, I feel as if a big hole is left. The fact she has been in and out of the hospital there for a week or two has made the hole bigger but God has been sustaining. It’s the minor trials that seem to be sticking like glue to my world. In fact to many and even myself a few months ago, I would say, what trial? No major tragedy, immediate illness or the like. No, I have come to learn that those strike a minority in comparison with the rest of us. Sure, we all have times when we are in that one thing that causes everything to uproot. But most, most of us live out day to day with not just one trial, but many that sit on the proverbial plate of life and we are one pea or carrot away from a melt down.
These are the people that you can tell something is off, but you just don’t know what and you may even ask and they say I’m fine. They probably are by the Christian standards of if this or this isn’t wrong then you have nothing to be complaining about. We view the struggles with mundane of life to be complaining or not grateful enough or you aren’t seeing all the great things. Most of us do know what is great in our life, we get it, we are appreciative of it all. It’s just that there are a view items on our plate that are turning sour or peas are trying to escape or mashed potatoes are being heaped on. Therefore, we feel like we are in a pressure cooker and believe me at that moment. Gratefulness and positive thinking doesn’t do us a whole lot of good. It’s not supposed to. These, these my friends are the trials and struggles of life that are to keep us grounded. These are the “I’ve got so much going on” statements that flow that are true. And I for one am one that lives in that state because just when you get the peas in line, the carrots start to get unruly.
I have lived in bondage that there is something wrong with me if my peas and carrots are out of line. No, it just means that because God has chosen to send them in this direction, I am not going to take on your heap of mashed potatoes thank you very much. I have been reading a book called Smart Women know when to say NO. Now, you can debate me all you want that we say no too much in our society. But in my life, in what God has taught me is, there are some things in life that you really can say No too because he’s given you some peas and carrots to reign in. It’s ok to say No to more mashed potatoes. It’s Ok that you have enough on your plate. As long as it’s the portions and choices that God has placed there, it is OK that you say a big fat NO and then not let the guilt layers pour on the gravy which causes just as much issues as the potatoes.
We also forget that blessings sometimes rush in add more to the plate of life. They are good things but may require a brief season of sacrifice. We will call these lettuce. You can see how quickly a nice blessing, mixed with some unruly peas and carrots, with a spoonful of mashed potatoes looming and some gravy being poured, you quickly have a plate out of control.
My epiphany for the week has been that if you let all these things crowd out the meat (God), then you have more than a plate out of control, you have a hopeless plate out of control. And then, that is when you know you are being tested. When in the midst of circumstance, you forget not that God is there, but that He is big enough, that you don’t need a bigger plate, you need more of Him and less of all the other stuff. If you forget to view Him as THE PORTION, not just a Portion, then we fail the test miserably. Now once you realize you failed the test, the meal is not over. You get to get back in the meal and rearrange it all. Nothing may going away, nothing may change, other than as God becomes bigger, the rest lies in the shadows. For me, sometimes making that portion bigger seems to require more out of me. In truth, it just means you find rest that comes from Him. You hang out with Him more. You share the burden. You stop, breath and take one step forward. So maybe, just maybe you don’t fail the test, you get back in the game and succeed.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Only He Can Satisfy
I must admit I have struggled with this chapter. Not because I don't agree with it but because it was just a lot of history and information. I have waited for a word about it all rather than moving on to the other chapters. This chapter spoke about the feminist movement--Where we came from and where we are now. There is lots of history and I think we can all agree that 50 years ago, life was very different. Some things have changed for the good, many for the bad but the ironic thing to me is that women are still searching.
Part of being a Godly woman is realizing that only He can satisfy our deepest longings. By saying Yes to Him, we are saying No to the world and to self. There was a question raised in the 50's that sparked the feminist movement... "What is going to bring Women happiness and fulfillment and ultimately joy in life?"
This leads us to believe that depending solely on a husband or children or our homes still left women wanting and empty. there is not a man in the world that can satisfy ALL our needs and being a mother is a great privilage but it still doesn't get to our hearts. They were searching, so when it was presented to them that there was something better they grabbed on. We have also been left wanting when we look to ourselves, sex, our careers, and self fulfillment. Both are striving for what was considered the "ideal" for thier time.
The question then is what is God's ideal? We've missed the point all these years but that doesn't mean we can't turn the ship around. God's too big for that. So what then is the right thing?
My personal conviction is that we look to God first. What does He say? Not our interpretation but what He says. Embracing His ideas, His gospel, His plan and perhaps most importantly, allowing Him to direct our path.
Where are you? What are you looking at for satisfaction? If your identity and happipness is dependent on your family, your home, your career, your goals, your dreams, or your plan, then you are off base. Only our creator, our God, and our King can fill the God shaped hole in our hearts. When we please Him first, the rest will fall into place.
Part of being a Godly woman is realizing that only He can satisfy our deepest longings. By saying Yes to Him, we are saying No to the world and to self. There was a question raised in the 50's that sparked the feminist movement... "What is going to bring Women happiness and fulfillment and ultimately joy in life?"
This leads us to believe that depending solely on a husband or children or our homes still left women wanting and empty. there is not a man in the world that can satisfy ALL our needs and being a mother is a great privilage but it still doesn't get to our hearts. They were searching, so when it was presented to them that there was something better they grabbed on. We have also been left wanting when we look to ourselves, sex, our careers, and self fulfillment. Both are striving for what was considered the "ideal" for thier time.
The question then is what is God's ideal? We've missed the point all these years but that doesn't mean we can't turn the ship around. God's too big for that. So what then is the right thing?
My personal conviction is that we look to God first. What does He say? Not our interpretation but what He says. Embracing His ideas, His gospel, His plan and perhaps most importantly, allowing Him to direct our path.
Where are you? What are you looking at for satisfaction? If your identity and happipness is dependent on your family, your home, your career, your goals, your dreams, or your plan, then you are off base. Only our creator, our God, and our King can fill the God shaped hole in our hearts. When we please Him first, the rest will fall into place.
Monday, July 26, 2010
It's Not About Me?
What? The world does not revolve around me and my wants/needs? If I am in trouble, surely it is not my fault. Hmmm, funny how we learn as we live that the world is not about us. Some of us learn this earlier than others and some learn a harder lesson than others. But the principal of "it's not about me" is a painful yet necessary realization in our lives. Once we put ourselves out of the equation, we have perspective, a deeper sense of what this life is all about. We learn the 2nd chapter principle of True Womanhood. I am cheating a bit in the next few statements in that I am copying from the book but I struggled with what to add to such poignant truth. Thoughts that left me sitting my chair speechless and created the sandpaper that continues to smooth my rough edges.
1) From Him are all things---"Every circumstance that touches your life and mine....comes through the filter of His sovereign hand. To resent or resist the current circumstances of your life is to ultimately resist and resent God. A true woman accepts His plan as good, though it may not the way "she" defines good. So lean on Him.
2)Through Him are all things---"He upholds the universe by the word of His Power." So when you feel like you just can't hold things together any longer, guess what? You can't hold Anything together-not even for a second. BUT HE CAN!!!! Live a God Centered Life, one who in the midst of heartache can measure her problem against the vastness of God and realize that He can take it. Be "enthralled" with God and let that let that be your comfort. By this you can have hope-true hope."
3)To Him are all things---When we forget that it's "not about me", He lovingly disciplines us until we are back in line with the way things really are. He is our supreme purpose. He is our Goal. "A True Woman recognizes that her life is not her own. She lives instead for the Glory of God. By saying "yes" Lord, she allows Him to lead her life and embraces her role and God given design. She lives INTENTIONALLY, not just drifting from one thing to another."
There are many things above that are peices and paraphrases of the chapter but once again I picked out the truths that affected my life the most.
So take some time to reflect on these truths. How will they change your life? How will you respond as a woman to live these truths out?
Kristin Carlton
2nd "My Thoughts" installment of the series "The Voices of True Womanhood" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and friends. This is chapter two. See Biblical Womanhood post to see how this whole posting got started.
1) From Him are all things---"Every circumstance that touches your life and mine....comes through the filter of His sovereign hand. To resent or resist the current circumstances of your life is to ultimately resist and resent God. A true woman accepts His plan as good, though it may not the way "she" defines good. So lean on Him.
2)Through Him are all things---"He upholds the universe by the word of His Power." So when you feel like you just can't hold things together any longer, guess what? You can't hold Anything together-not even for a second. BUT HE CAN!!!! Live a God Centered Life, one who in the midst of heartache can measure her problem against the vastness of God and realize that He can take it. Be "enthralled" with God and let that let that be your comfort. By this you can have hope-true hope."
3)To Him are all things---When we forget that it's "not about me", He lovingly disciplines us until we are back in line with the way things really are. He is our supreme purpose. He is our Goal. "A True Woman recognizes that her life is not her own. She lives instead for the Glory of God. By saying "yes" Lord, she allows Him to lead her life and embraces her role and God given design. She lives INTENTIONALLY, not just drifting from one thing to another."
There are many things above that are peices and paraphrases of the chapter but once again I picked out the truths that affected my life the most.
So take some time to reflect on these truths. How will they change your life? How will you respond as a woman to live these truths out?
Kristin Carlton
2nd "My Thoughts" installment of the series "The Voices of True Womanhood" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and friends. This is chapter two. See Biblical Womanhood post to see how this whole posting got started.
Monday, June 21, 2010
The Purpose
"What is Your Purpose?" Most of us have heard or learned at some point (at least if you were in church during the "purpose driven life" phenom you should) that our pupose is to Glorify God. Personally I spent many years trying to take this concept and figure out what it looks like from day to day. While the first chapter does not give us the specifics how what this looks like, it does go one layer deeper to tell us what this looks like for Biblical women.
We are privilaged to display the Glory of God through biblical submission. Yes that is for married women the submission of us to our husbands which in John Piper's definition is "the divine calling of a wife to honor and affirm her husband's leadership and help carry it through according to her gifts."
Note: Singleness is also addressed as a different picture of Christ's relationship to us through submission to Christ. I do not go into specific detail about this in this post but if you would like more information on this picture, I will be happy to give it to you.
As my generation has gotten married and had children or are at least preparing to do so, this concept of submission has gotten twisted, turned, and most of us view or viewed submission as a negative. It is something to be squashed, stiffled and surely not relevant to our time. For the world views this to be true, as if submission takes something from you and makes you inferior. We were taught to question authority, be ourselves, help no one, only help yourself, and many watched unhealthy marriages unfold and dissolve right before our eyes. It's no wonder we get married and struggle with submission. All of these are reasons on why we struggle but unfortunatly does not excuse us from the command.
One has to approach submission in light of truth. Truth is how submission looks in every marriage is a little different. There is no "one plan fits all approach". (I have to say that is completely freeing) John Piper's definition says that submission is carried out "according to her gifts". That means that I can't tell you the specifics in HOW to respect and affirm your husband and his leadership in your home. We are commanded to seek God in this and work out what this looks like in our homes to fulfill our "Purpose".
I can however affirm the importance of it and that you are equipped to do so. It will change your life and your home. It does not stiffle, it frees you. We have the power to not only turn the generation in which we live but to train the next generation in true Biblical Womanhood and submission.
I have come to understand that I can not call myself a follower of Christ and claim that I submit to His authority-- but NOT submit to His plan of putting a leader in my home and NOT submit to my husband. The two are directly related and not exclusive of one another. You can't reap the benefits of one and ignore the other. God doesn't do ala carte. It's full course or nothing. It changed my life when I "got this". I still struggle at times and fall. My husband has a lot of patience. I am so grateful for that but even more grateful that so does my King. It's all a process and the important thing is that you remember truth and seek it.
So my closing thought is how are you doing with your purpose? Have you even thought about submission as your purpose? Are you sitting with one foot in God's throne room and the other squashing your husband? Have you determined your gifts and how you are supposed to use them to respect, honor, and affirm your husband's leadership in your home? If you're on the path of Biblical Submission, have you considered gently mentoring and teaching those around you the model?
Kristin Carlton
1st "My Thoughts" installment of the series "The Voices of True Womanhood" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and friends. This is chapter one. See Biblical Womanhood post to see how this whole posting got started.
We are privilaged to display the Glory of God through biblical submission. Yes that is for married women the submission of us to our husbands which in John Piper's definition is "the divine calling of a wife to honor and affirm her husband's leadership and help carry it through according to her gifts."
Note: Singleness is also addressed as a different picture of Christ's relationship to us through submission to Christ. I do not go into specific detail about this in this post but if you would like more information on this picture, I will be happy to give it to you.
As my generation has gotten married and had children or are at least preparing to do so, this concept of submission has gotten twisted, turned, and most of us view or viewed submission as a negative. It is something to be squashed, stiffled and surely not relevant to our time. For the world views this to be true, as if submission takes something from you and makes you inferior. We were taught to question authority, be ourselves, help no one, only help yourself, and many watched unhealthy marriages unfold and dissolve right before our eyes. It's no wonder we get married and struggle with submission. All of these are reasons on why we struggle but unfortunatly does not excuse us from the command.
One has to approach submission in light of truth. Truth is how submission looks in every marriage is a little different. There is no "one plan fits all approach". (I have to say that is completely freeing) John Piper's definition says that submission is carried out "according to her gifts". That means that I can't tell you the specifics in HOW to respect and affirm your husband and his leadership in your home. We are commanded to seek God in this and work out what this looks like in our homes to fulfill our "Purpose".
I can however affirm the importance of it and that you are equipped to do so. It will change your life and your home. It does not stiffle, it frees you. We have the power to not only turn the generation in which we live but to train the next generation in true Biblical Womanhood and submission.
I have come to understand that I can not call myself a follower of Christ and claim that I submit to His authority-- but NOT submit to His plan of putting a leader in my home and NOT submit to my husband. The two are directly related and not exclusive of one another. You can't reap the benefits of one and ignore the other. God doesn't do ala carte. It's full course or nothing. It changed my life when I "got this". I still struggle at times and fall. My husband has a lot of patience. I am so grateful for that but even more grateful that so does my King. It's all a process and the important thing is that you remember truth and seek it.
So my closing thought is how are you doing with your purpose? Have you even thought about submission as your purpose? Are you sitting with one foot in God's throne room and the other squashing your husband? Have you determined your gifts and how you are supposed to use them to respect, honor, and affirm your husband's leadership in your home? If you're on the path of Biblical Submission, have you considered gently mentoring and teaching those around you the model?
Kristin Carlton
1st "My Thoughts" installment of the series "The Voices of True Womanhood" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and friends. This is chapter one. See Biblical Womanhood post to see how this whole posting got started.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Biblical Womanhood
God is taking me on journey. One I am not sure where to exactly start and one I am certain I do not know where it will end. It all started with my husband confronting me with the ugly truth of my disrespect. I never knew I was doing this or at least realized the degree in which it was hurting him. My not realizing my ugliness did not excuse it and I was brought to my knees. I knew the theory of respect, I have preached the theory for goodness sakes, but I had no idea of the application. God led me to http://www.reviveourhearts.com/, a ministry of Life Action and led by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I was completely capitivated by the idea of getting back to what God intended by embracing truths of Womanhood. During this time of learning about Biblical Womanhood I realized that Christian Women just don’t get it. I didn’t and have caught only a glimpse. I have lots of room to grow and I am taking the “one fire at a time” approach. Overall there is a settling for mediocrity. We trample our husbands, throw God’s truth back in His face, we cause others to stumble and all the while proclaim we are Christians. We are hurting, we don't know it and the consequences are devestating. I have been challenged by God to speak truth. This ministry is giving us a challenge of blogging about this topic. Stay tuned for the journey. . . . .
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