Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule by Christine Satterfield RELAUNCH SALE!!

What!?  Another cleaning book!  Yes, Christine has created a wonderful resource for amping up your cleaning strategies to create the perfect cleaning schedule.  She gives reasons why we need a cleaning schedule and why we need to create our own.  She has 5 easy steps and templates to make your planning go smoothly.

Here's the exciting news!  Christine is having a relaunch sale of this great new ebook which works great for PC, Mac and iPad.

This Thursday, September 1 at 9:30am CST, a graduated pricing structure will be announced:
  • 50 copies will be available for $.50
  • 100 copes will be available for $1.00
  • 200 copies will be available for $2.00
  • 300 copies will be available for $3.00
  • 400 copies will be available for $4.00
  • 500 copies will be available for $5.00
  • The rest will sell for $5.99
Check the Facebook page for the promo codes.




Buy Now


 **As an affiliate I get a small percentage from your purchase.  Thanks!**


Be sure to check out the new website: http://perfectcleaningschedule.com/

Friday, August 26, 2011

Tropical Traditions Glass and Surface Cleaner Review and Giveaway


I clean, clean, clean.  If I see a mess or grubby marks or smudges, I like to get rid of them.  This Glass and Surface Cleaner is a great product because it not only cleans, but it has no ammonia, alcohol or harsh substances.  Most cleaners have an overpowering smell, but this is clean and fresh and virtually odorless.  I used it on my counters and windows.  I still have yet to clean my windows without streaks.  My windows must be extra dirty because I still had streaks even using this, but your experience might be different.    This product can be used on walls, floors, glass, countertops, stoves and you name it!  I love a cleaner that gets the job done on many surfaces.

If you would like to buy Tropical Traditions products, here is some more info: 
When you place your order use this link: Tropical Traditions .  (Thank you!) You can also obtain your own complimentary copy of Virgin Coconut Oil book. The book will be automatically be added to your order.  I encourage you to look through the website for some great products.  I have already tried the Lavender Natural Deodorant (aluminum free), the Organic Shredded Coconut, the Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil, Coconut Peanut Butter, Raw Honey, Unscented Coconut Soap, Powdered Laundry Detergent, Skin Exfoliator, Liquid Dish soap, Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Coconut Cream Concentrate, Oxygen Bleach and Anti Oxidant Natural Greens.  Be sure to sign up for their newsletter to get updated information on products and sales.

If you need any help in placing your order please click here: http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/customerservice.cfm.

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product.




Win it:  One reader will receive 1 gallon of Glass and Surface Cleaner .  Giveaway ends Sunday, September 11.















To enter: Be sure to click on all the links before filling out the entry form.  Thanks!


1. Be a follower on my blog 
2. Visit Tropical Traditions and tell me another product you would like to try.
3. Subscribe to my blog by email. 
4."Like" The Knowlton Nest on Facebook (link on my blog). 
5. "Like" Tropical Traditions on Facebook
6. Follow Tropical Traditions on Twitter
7. Sign up for the Tropical Traditions Newsletter.
8. Post about this giveaway on another site (your blog, facebook, twitter, etc) (1 entry for every site) 






Warrior Prayer Challenge Guest Post by Brooke McGlothlin


Are you the mother of boys who often finds herself ready to wave the white flag in defeat?





Do they drain you, overwhelm you, steal your heart, break your heart and cause you more anxiety than you ever dreamed possible?

Maybe you only have one boy amongst a sea of estrogen and you just can’t figure out how to respond to him in a way that affirms all that is good about his masculinity.

You're not alone.

Last May, over 1300 women and a few dads in SEVEN different countries joined together to pray purposefully and passionately for the hearts of their sons in a challenge called 21 Days of Prayer for Sons. 21 Days is based on the best-selling eBook Warrior Prayers: Praying the Word for Boys in the Areas They Need it Most.



Even our best parenting efforts don't come with a guarantee. As much as we might wish we could change their hearts of stone to hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26), we can't. But we serve a God who can. Knowing this, it becomes quite clear that there is only one thing we can do…

Plead with God.

Pray.
“The fervent prayers of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:17.
It’s our hope.

The next 21 Days of Prayer for Sons challenge starts September 6 and ends September 26, 2011. How can you participate? Easy!
  1. Purchase your own copy of Warrior Prayers: Praying the Word for Boys in the Areas They Need it Most (just $5.97 as a PDF download or on Amazon Kindle!) You could, in theory, participate in the challenge without a personal copy, but your experience will be much deeper and richer with it.
  2. Commit to praying for your son(s) or grandsons 10 times a day for 21 days straight. This is a huge commitment, so if you feel God leading you to participate, pray and ask Him to give you the strength and endurance you need.
  3. Consider leading your own group on your blog or in your community!
  4. Sign-up HERE!

Get inspired by recent participants!

“This challenge…has given me my joy back in mothering” ~LaToya

“Thank you for giving me a tangible method for transformation in my family!!” ~Anne

“Thanks, Brooke for your help. I’ve always known that God was listening; I just didn’t know what to say!” ~Laurel

“So many heart changes are going on in our home and I’m just so thankful…” ~Ashley

************************

Brooke is a mom of two young boys who leave her desperate for God’s grace. Her pursuit of being a better mom has left her at the foot of the cross, knowing that if God doesn’t show up … nothing happens. This dependence upon God to turn hearts of stone to hearts of flesh leads her to her knees in prayer. She’s the author of the best-selling eBook Warrior Prayers: Praying the Word for Boys in the Areas They Need it Most, creator of the 21 Days of Prayer for Sons challenge and co-founder of the well-loved online community for mothers of boys, the M.O.B. Society. She offers hope for change to the hearts of women at her main blog, A Life in Need of Change.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Route 66: A Crash Course in Navigating Life with the Bible by Krish Kandiah Book Review

Route 66: A Crash Course in Navigating Life with the Bible

Prepare to take an 8 week journey in discovering the Bible with a fresh perspective in Krish Kandiah's Route 66: A Crash Course in Navigating Life with the Bible.  This 8 week study contains an overview of the Bible in 8 themes.  The 8 themes are: Living faithfully (the narrative literature), Living distinctively (the law), Living poetically (the Psalms), Living discerningly (the wisdom literature), Living prophetically (the prophets), Living infectiously (the gospels), Living purposefully (the epistles) and Living hopefully (the apocalyptic literature).  At the end of each day's reading is a travel journal for personal study (read a few chapters from the Bible and answer questions).  At the end of each week there is a group discussion guide for group study.  At the end of the book there is an 8 week plan for reading the whole Bible.

I was thoroughly intrigued by the format and content of this book.  I'm a "big picture" person and this book gave me a taste of how to study that big picture of the Bible in small bites.  Krish has an outstanding and powerful writing voice.  He related many interesting stories with humor and wit that excited me to dig deeper into the Bible.  I really like his use of analogies such as "Route 66 aims to be a 'crash course' in driving through different terrains of Scripture that will launch you into discovering more of the Bible for yourself."  I'm excited to digest this in an 8 week time period.  Krish doesn't just whet your appetite for God's Word, he makes you salivate!

Check out his website: http://krishk.com/route66/.
Here's an excerpt from week 1: Route 66 Excerpt


*This product was provided to me free of charge for purpose of this review. This is my honest opinion of this book and no monetary compensation was received for my opinion.*

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Amish Values by Suzanne Woods Fisher Book Review

Suzanne Woods Fisher is thrilled to announce the release of Amish Values for Your Family, her latest non-fiction release. "It offers loving ways to bring your fractured home back to life-Amish style. Read it and apply generously! It’s a beautiful book-funny, charming, soulful, and beautiful." -Mary Ann Kirkby

Read the reviews here.

To celebrate the release of Amish Values for Your Family, Suzanne has teamed up her publisher Revell Books to giveaway a Kindle, and with Bill Coleman (the amazing photographer used on Suzanne’s book covers) to give away a signed Bill Coleman original.


One Grand Prize winner will receive an Amish Values Prize Package (valued at over $200) and includes:

* A brand new KINDLE
* A Signed Bill Coleman original
* Amish Values for Your Family (for KINDLE)

Click on one of the icons to enter. Winner will be announced on 9/2 at Suzanne’s blog. Be sure to stop by the blogs on Suzanne’s blog tour – many have copies of Amish Values for Your Family to give away.

But, wait there's more! Suzanne is running a Bill Coleman caption contest during the month of August on her blog. Title one of Bill’s gorgeous photos for a chance to win a print from Bill’s Amish Photo site and/or a copy of Amish Values for Your Family.

Here's my review:
Reading Amish Values for Your Family: What We Can Learn from the Simple Life by Suzanne Woods Fisher really brought me to a place of needed simplicity.  After each chapter that showed a glimpse into Amish life, there was a short insert about getting those values to translate to our modern lives.  I really liked the story called Laundry Day.  Hand washing and hanging clothes out to dry can take a tremendous amount of time in an already busy day.  But Lena and Wilma's mother used her time wisely by praying for her children and refused the offer of gas powered washing machine.  Why?  That wasn't time she wanted to cut back.  This made me think about how I could use mundane tasks such as folding laundry to pray for my children.  I think next time I'm washing my baby's bottles or making my son's sandwich I can say prayers for them.  Suzanne makes a good point to "look for an open moment in your day that can become a habit of prayer."



*This product was provided to me free of charge for purpose of this review. This is my honest opinion of this book and no monetary compensation was received for my opinion.*

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Good Morning Girls Fall 2011



I have done many Bible studies over the years in small groups, one on one and by myself. As you know I thoroughly enjoy studying the Bible and I have a lot of fun interacting with other women and learning from then. I have been through many seasons in my life and right now I have 2 little ones at home. I like to do a lot of activities with my children that occur through the week like library story time, a free preschool program and various other things. I try to a lot of my outings during the day so that I can spend the evenings with my husband. Last winter I discovered Good Morning Girls which is an online accountability group. What a found really unique is that we study God's Word in a very personal way with the SOAP method. Right now I want to free up my mornings for my kids, so I have chosen to only do this Bible study this Fall. I'm so excited that we will be studying 1 John. I have a group of girls that I interact with on Facebook. I just want to invite you to check this out and get involved. You will really enjoy the way that Courtney and Angela have formed this Bible study. So watch this video and go over to Good Morning Girls and take a look around. Here are some posts to check out if you are interested:

*The Unveiling of the Fall Bible study
*Details about the 1 John Fall Bible study
Be sure the watch the videos in these posts!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

HOMEmakers's Challenge with 31 Days to Clean starts Sep 1




Homemakers Challenge

Are you ready to CLEAN?!  As you have seen in my many posts this is an area where I want to be accomplished, but I never seem to get there.  I guess with 2 little ones I shouldn't be too hard on myself, but I just can't seem to do the important things I want to do if my house is in utter disarray.  I can't find anything and life just feels chaotic.  I know that when my world is clean I can do a much better job of doing those activities that I really want to do well: meal planning, playing with my kids, budgeting, lesson planning, relaxing, etc.  do you feel the same way?

Well, HOMEmaker's Challenge is doing a 31 Days to Clean Challenge starting September 1.  Read this POST for further details and sign up.  Get your 31 Days to Clean - Having a Martha House the Mary Way today and get ready for the challenge!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Kitchen Stewardship Ebook Sale ends Monday!





Kitchen Stewardship in the Big Woods- Family Camping Book
Wonderful resource for camping with little ones.  Great recipes, great tips!!


Healthy Snacks To Go Ebook
Super easy healthy snacks to make and pack in school lunches

The Everything Beans Book
What do you want to know about beans- its here!

Now that Katie's baby is born the sale has changed to:
21% off all Ebooks
Coupon code: BABYTIME


These are great books to make healthy recipes!


**As an affiliate I get a small percentage from your purchase.  Thanks!**

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The Grace Card DVD Review and Giveaway

The Grace Card

The Grace Card is the story of Mac, a police officer who loses his young son in a drive by accident leaving him with a wife, another son and an angry and bitter heart toward God and the world.  The man who killed his son was black.  Years later he is paired up with "Pastor" Sam Wright who just happens to be a man of color.  Mac's wife wants to go to family counseling and his teenage son is trying his best to live up to the loss of his older brother but always fails in the eyes of his father.  Sam doesn't know why he is partners with a man who hates him until another accident occurs leaving Mac and Sam to extend grace to each other.  This is a powerful story about forgiveness that brings hearts closer to God and mends relationships.

I love how the "Grace Card" was used in this movie.  The Grace Card was an old letter that Sam's great grandfather wrote.  Sam uses it to teach his parishioners about God's grace and Mac gets to practice using it in real life.  This is a great movie that made me cry in many places and also made me thankful for God's grace.

Find out more at:
The Grace Card
DVD Release Date: 8/16/2011


“Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services 
mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I 
only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. 
I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: 
“Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”



Win it:  I am having a giveaway for this movie.  Open to US only and giveaway ends Sunday, August 28.

To enter: Be sure to click on all the links before filling out the entry form.



1. Be a follower on my blog
2. Subscribe to my blog by email (link on blog)
3."Like" The Knowlton Nest on Facebook (link on my blog). 
4. "Like" The Grace Card on Facebook
5. Post about this giveaway on another site (your blog, facebook,twitter, etc) (1 entry for every site) 



Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Fun-tastic Online Jewelry Party from now until Aug 28!!


From now until Aug 28 I'm having an online jewelry party with Erin's Jewelry Creations.  I found her through Sampler Village and the first thing I noticed were the elegant and unique designs of her creations.  But also, she has fantastic prices!


Right now
*For spending $25 you will receive a coupon code for free shipping on your future holiday orders and you will get a custom pair of earrings.

*For spending $50 you will get a custom made bracelet and 2 free shipping coupon codes for your next orders.

*For spending $75 or more you will get a custom made jewelry set          (necklace, bracelet and a pair of earrings).

If you have any questions , there is a contact link on Erin's website.

Visit Erin's Jewelry Creations and start shopping.  

This is a great time to stock up on birthday and Christmas gifts as well as find a little something for yourself.

There are bracelets, necklaces, hand jewelry, earrings, non-jewelry (bookmarks, stitch markers) and hair accessories.

Her prices range from $3-$16!  Not bad for jewelry!

So please take a look!

When placing your order, let her know that Shonda Knowlton sent you.  Thanks.  :)

A Woman's Secret for Confident Living by Karol Ladd Book Review

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!



You never know when I might play a wild card on you!





Today's Wild Card author is:



and the book:

Harvest House Publishers (August 1, 2011)
***Special thanks to Karri James, Marketing Assistant, Harvest House Publishing for sending me a review copy.***



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:



Karol Ladd is a gifted Bible teacher and a bestselling author. Her more than 20 releases include A Woman’s Passionate Pursuit of God (book and DVD) and The Power of a Positive Woman. She is a frequent guest on radio and television and regularly posts positive messages and videos on her website, www.KarolLadd.com. Her most valued role is that of wife and mother.



Visit the author's website.



SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:





Bestselling author Karol Ladd shares powerful truths from Colossians and reveals an exciting path to confident living through God’s grace. With an inspiring belief in God’s purpose for each woman and insightful study questions, Karol helps individuals and groups experience their God-confidence through transformed perspectives, relationships, thoughts, and dreams.













Product Details:



List Price: $12.99

Paperback: 224 pages

Publisher: Harvest House Publishers (August 1, 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0736929657

ISBN-13: 978-0736929653



AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:




Where in the World Is Truth?



“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”



Romans 12:2



“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”



A.W. Tozer







When our daughter told us she wanted to major in philosophy at college, I was a bit concerned. Philosophy? What does a person do in life with a philosophy degree? I pictured men with long hair and beards sitting around on stone benches discussing the meaning of life. Having never taken a philosophy class in all of my years of schooling, I wasn’t quite sure what a degree in philosophy really looked like, so I went to the bookstore and picked up a few books on the topic. Philosophy for Dummies was actually my favorite—quite an insightful read and very helpful in my incredibly intellectual pursuit of understanding philosophy. Unfortunately, the books I read never did answer the question about what a person does in life with a philosophy degree, but at least I was able to carry on a slightly coherent conversation about the Socratic method with my daughter.



I do want you to know that our daughter’s college experience had a positive outcome. During her years of study at Baylor University, she became increasingly sensitive toward the needs of the impoverished families in the city of Waco. More importantly, she recognized the common condition of the poverty of the soul (I think that’s a philosophical term), and so she began to reach out and serve the children in her community through the connection of visual arts. She went on to start Waco Arts Initiative, an afterschool art program for the kids living in the government housing projects. There you have it—there’s one perfectly wonderful thing you can do with a philosophy degree!



So what is the study of philosophy all about anyway? The term philosophy actually means the love of wisdom and knowledge. The Greek root word philos means loving and sophos means wise. In a broad sense, philosophy is an investigation into the principles and laws that regulate the universe. More specifically it refers to a system of belief or doctrine about truth, existence, natural laws, theology, and morality. Our personal philosophy colors the way we understand the world, how we think about ourselves and, most importantly, what we believe about God.



Thousands of years ago Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle made philosophical waves in their own community, and the ripple effects of their ideas are still felt today. Throughout the ages, philosophers concerned themselves with the existence of God and His influence on creation. In our postmodern culture it may seem like philosophy is distant and irrelevant, but the significance of knowing what we believe and why we believe it has never diminished. Our pursuit of wisdom and knowledge must be grounded in truth and not in the winds of current trends or popular ways of thinking. As we dive into Colossians, we find that the believers were battling the influence of popular philosophies of their day, and Paul was deeply concerned about their knowledge of the truth. He wanted them to know with certainty the truth about Christ. Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians in order to strengthen their understanding and philosophy of life based on Christ and the truth of God’s Word. We too need to establish who we are and what we believe in order to develop a foundation for our confidence.



Colossal Confusion



Recently for my fiftieth birthday (and I can’t believe I just told you my age) my husband, Curt, decided to take me on a celebration trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Have you ever been there? It is quite a cross section of people and beliefs. Although Christianity seems to have a strong presence, with several beautiful cathedrals in the square, New Age mysticism and Native American traditions also dominate the culture. The city is what I would call a bouillabaisse of philosophies and ideas. Now my friends always laugh at me when I use the word bouillabaisse because it’s not a term people use every day. I perhaps overuse the word to describe anything filled with variety. Bouillabaisse is actually a French word that describes a stew or chowder made with several different kinds of fish. It’s the perfect word to describe different concepts and ideas blended together in one place.



Interestingly, the city of Colossae back in Paul’s day had some similarities to modern-day Santa Fe, as both cities seem to be Meccas of merging ideas. Oddly, both cities were known for their merging roads as well as their merging ideas. In its early years, Santa Fe served as a crossroads for two major trading thoroughfares: the Santa Fe trail, extending from Missouri to Santa Fe, and El Camino Real, which was a supply route from Mexico City. In a similar way, in the fifth century BC the city of Colossae was significantly situated at the junction of the main trade routes in Asia going east-west and north-south. By the time Paul came on the scene, the main roads had been rerouted to the nearby city of Laodicea, which led to the gradual decline of Colossae. The Colossians lost most of their commerce and industry, yet they still remained at the crossroads of philosophical ideas.



It’s All About What You Believe



So what in the world does philosophy have to do with you and me and our lives today? It comes down to this—what we believe about God affects how we function in this world. If we think of God as an angry and demanding dictator, then we function as fretful and hopeless slaves. If we see Him as a careless Creator who keeps His hands off what happens in our world, then we tend to see life as purposeless and haphazard, and ourselves as insignificant. Yet if we recognize God our Father as the High King of heaven and Creator of all, the One who cares about the details of our lives and sent His only Son to give His life on our behalf, then we value our lives as holy and dearly loved children. We also value the lives of other people as well.



If we want to live with confident hope, then we must be firmly established in our philosophy of God. We must know what we believe about Him. Typically, I’m not a big watcher of television reality shows, but one show recently caught my interest. The premise of the show is built around the CEO or president or head honcho of a major corporation working incognito in the lower ranks of their business. Picture this: the CEO of a national waste management company cleaning out porta-potties with the service guys, or a president of a popular hamburger chain flipping burgers at the restaurant. Usually the boss returns to the corporate offices with a great appreciation for what the workers do day in and day out, and they also begin to implement changes and improvements in the field.



My favorite part of the show is at the very end, when the field personnel are called into the corporate offices and are told the truth about the identity of their mysterious co-worker. The employees are usually shocked because they had imagined the upper-level management to be a bunch of stuffy, distant slavedrivers who didn’t understand them. But once they got to know the head of the company, they felt differently about working for them. Suddenly they felt like they had hope, and that their daily challenges were recognized. They felt understood, and they realized the leadership of the company wasn’t so bad after all.



It makes all the difference when you know the one at the top. It changes everything! In the reality show, hopeless employees were transformed into hope-filled employees who were proud to work for their company. In a similar way, the apostle Paul desired nothing more than for believers to know the God of all the universe in a personal way. He wanted them to know Christ—not just know about Him, but to really know Him. Paul recognized that as the Colossians grew to know Christ, their lives would be transformed from hopeless followers of popular ideas and beliefs to hope-filled followers of Christ. We too have the opportunity to get to know the God of all creation. As we come to know Christ personally our lives can be transformed with a confident hope.



Simply Radiant



When I first met Ellen, I was struck by her radiant smile. At first I didn’t notice her cane, but as she gracefully made her way over to meet me I could see that she walked with a slight limp. Ellen told me that she had been diagnosed with spina bifida at birth. Yet she was able to walk, and she was still thriving at 70 years of age. Ellen is literally a walking miracle because back then most children with spina bifida were not expected to live into adulthood. Ellen was able to be the recipient of a very experimental procedure at a young age, which enabled her to walk. When I told Ellen I wanted to write her story she said, “Well, make it all about Jesus, not about me.”



Ellen’s focus is not on herself; it is on the God who loves and cares for her and continues to shine His light through her. Ellen views her physical limitations from a positive perspective. She recognizes that her challenges offer her an opportunity to reach out and serve other women who have disabilities…and we all have disabilities of some sort. Ellen is a beauty consultant and uses the platform of makeup and outward beauty to talk about the importance of the inner beauty that comes from knowing the Lord. Here’s her mission statement:



Making a DIFFERENCE in women whose lives have been touched by disability, assisting with their choice for their eternal destiny, one lipstick at a time!



Ellen realizes that no one is perfect, and our imperfections lead us to a perfect God. It is in Him that we experience strength and joy in life. Ellen’s understanding of who God is makes a significant difference in her life. One more thing I must tell you about Ellen is that she loves to pray. She looks to the Lord as her strength day by day, moment by moment, as she visits with Him through prayer. Several times as I was engaged in conversation with Ellen she stopped to say, “Let’s go to the Father in prayer about this.” Right then and there she prayed. And what a beautiful prayer it was, filled with love and trust and joy in her heavenly Father. Ellen is an example of a woman who lives with a confident hope in the Lord. She lives with a perspective of thankfulness for the opportunity to serve God with her disability. She also lives with a heavenly focus, knowing that this world is not her home and that one day her earthly body will be transformed into a glorious one.



Perspective is everything, and it is a choice. We can view our frustrations and our disappointing circumstances with anger toward God, believing that this life is all we have. Or we can view difficulties from the perspective of “Lord, my eyes are on You. Use me in these circumstances for Your glory. Help me and give me strength along the way.” With an eternal perspective we can live with confidence, knowing that this life isn’t it. We can look forward with confident hope toward heaven and place our confident hope in the God who will care for us here. Ellen is a radiant woman with an eternal perspective. I want to view the world like Ellen!



What’s Your Worldview?



One of the big in-vogue words today is worldview. The term worldview in some ways comes down to our own personal philosophy in life, meaning the way we view the world in terms of the nature of God, man, morality, knowledge, and even death. For believers in Christ it is important to be aware of other people’s worldviews, but what is most important is to know our own personal worldview. Pastor John Piper wrote, “Wimpy worldviews make wimpy Christians. And wimpy Christians won’t survive the days ahead.”   I want to be a confident Christian, not a wimpy one. How about you? Churchleader.net described the importance of our worldview in this way:



Worldviews act somewhat like eyeglasses or contact lenses. That is, a worldview should provide the correct “prescription” for making sense of the world just as wearing the correct prescription for your eyes brings things into focus. And, in either example, an incorrect prescription can be dangerous, even life threatening. We are faced with a smorgasbord of worldviews, all of which make claims concerning truth.  



It may not be on the top of your to-do list this week, but it is important to consider your personal worldview. What do you believe about God and how He interacts with creation? Have you considered what your purpose is in this world and what God has created you to do? Have you considered where you go from here? Just as the early philosophers began their speculations of life with their view of God, so our journey to significance begins with our view of God. We must seek the truth about Him.



I believe the truth about God is revealed in the Bible. In this matchless book we not only discover the attributes of God, but we also learn how He deals with mankind and what His relationship is with creation. My worldview begins with the Bible. I have a biblical worldview, which means I see the world through the lens of what God revealed in His Word. The Bible is a rock-solid foundation to stand on when it comes to seeking knowledge about life and God. As a young girl I memorized a short verse in the Bible that said, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”** Philosophies, religions, and cultural beliefs will come and go, but not the precepts of the Bible. It has stood the test of time and will stand as a sure foundation for a worldview throughout all generations.



From the Old Testament we can sense David’s biblical worldview:



The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul.

The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,

making wise the simple.



The precepts of the Lord are right,

giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the Lord are radiant,

giving light to the eyes.



The fear of the Lord is pure,

enduring forever.

The ordinances of the Lord are sure

and altogether righteous.



They are more precious than gold,

than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey,

than honey from the comb.



By them is your servant warned;

in keeping them there is great reward.



If you are seeking wisdom and knowledge; if you hope to find meaning and truth; if you desire to know who God is and how he wants you to live—begin with the Bible. It will light your path and lead you along your journey in life. Paul wrote to Timothy, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”**



The philosopher Immanuel Kant is quoted as saying, “All the interests of my reason, speculative as well as practical, combine in the three following questions:



What can I know?

What ought I to do?

What may I hope?”  

The Bible firmly answers each of those questions. What can I know? In the Bible I learn the truth about God and how He relates to His creation. I know I am loved and have a purpose in this world. What ought I to do? In the Bible, I learn how God wants me to live, and how He wants me to relate to others. I learn I ought to love Him with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love my neighbor as myself. I learn that if I want to be great in God’s kingdom, I must learn to be the servant of all. What may I hope? This question is addressed throughout the Bible. I have hope for a glorious future in heaven one day. I have hope that a God who loves me will give me strength and comfort as I walk through the challenges of life. I have hope that He will never leave me alone. I have hope that He knows my needs and hears my prayers.



The Bible answers a lot of questions, doesn’t it? So what about you—do you have a biblical worldview? I like how Myrtle Grove Christian School in Wilmington, North Carolina, describes their worldview:



One of our chief aims at Myrtle Grove Christian School is to instill in students a biblical worldview that is based wholly upon God’s Word, the Bible. By worldview, we mean a person’s mental framework for understanding the “big picture” of reality, based upon conscious and unconscious assumptions about God, creation, humanity, morality, and purpose.



We believe that the Bible describes the world as it really is. In other words, the Bible answers not only man’s religious questions but also the major philosophical questions for which man has always sought answers. The student with a biblical worldview has a system of thought that is unified, logically consistent, and relevant to every area of life. The propositions below provide a brief description of a biblical worldview.



GOD

There is one triune God who is eternally existent in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is infinite, personal, sovereign, all powerful, all knowing, and perfect in love, justice and mercy. God is not silent but has revealed Himself to mankind through the Bible, creation, and the person of Jesus Christ.



CREATION

All things were created by God and are sustained by God. Creation consists of a physical realm and a spiritual realm. All of creation was originally good but is now in a fallen state due to the sin of man.



HUMANITY

Humans were created by God in His image and likeness. Consequently, all human life has intrinsic value. At the same time, man lives in a fallen state as a result of sin. Man’s sinful condition alienates him from God and renders him unable to worship God properly, live righteously, understand spiritual things, and recognize that all truth in creation reveals the Creator. People can be restored to relationship with God through Jesus Christ.



MORALITY

Morality is based upon the character and nature of God, not upon the consensus of society or culture. It is absolute, not relative. God’s moral law is revealed in Scripture, and God commands our compliance with that law.



PURPOSE

God has commanded mankind to have dominion over the earth. Believers are to seek for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven and are to be witnesses of Christ to their culture. History is linear, not cyclical, such that humans have only one life to live, and their decisions in that life will affect their eternal destiny.



Now there’s a school that knows what they believe! I applaud them for stating it clearly and boldly. Despite the plethora of philosophies rolling around in our culture today, we too can have a clear foundation of what we believe. We must examine everything and hold it up to the light of God’s Word to separate God’s truth from man’s ideas. Just as the Colossians faced the intriguing influences of their culture, so it is tempting to buy into the religious concepts du jour. What’s on the menu today?



One of the prevalent schools of thought in Colossae during Paul’s day was the early forms of Gnosticism, which emphasized a special, secret knowledge that only a few elite intellectuals possessed. (The Greek work gnosis means “to know.”) Those who followed the early stages of Gnosticism believed that God was good, but all matter was evil. They didn’t believe that Jesus was God, because all created forms are evil, so they declared that Jesus was merely one of a series of emanations descending from God. In their belief system, Jesus must be less than God. They believed in a secret and higher knowledge above the Scriptures. We see similar belief systems in our culture today, yet knowing the God of the Bible can bring clarity to our lives. As you study Colossians, you will grow to know what you believe and be able to walk in a confident knowledge of who you are in Christ.



Paul challenged the Colossians to live lovingly and boldly, and to reflect Christ in what they did and said. I think we could stand to have that reminder as well! All in all, Paul wanted the early Christians to be set apart by their sure faith and unwavering hope in Christ alone. I’m going to make an assumption here, but I’m pretty sure you don’t want to lead an empty life based on meaningless philosophies and ideas. I’m guessing you want to live a fulfilled and purposeful life based on truth, God’s truth. That’s one of the many important lessons we will glean as we journey through this book together. Religious relativism leads us only on an endless search for hope and purpose, but the foundational truths of Christ and His Word lead us to the true source of hope and purpose.





Confident Steps



Additional Reading: Psalm 119—The transforming power of God’s Word





Battle for the Truth:



Confidence Defeater—I have no absolute truth on which to base my life.



Confidence Builder—Confidence is established when we base our worldview on the sure foundation of the Bible.





Choices:



Seek the truth about God in the Bible, not in current philosophies.

Examine what you hear and read and hold it up against the light of Scripture.

Be alert and aware of cultural influences that tend to do battle with your confidence.

Discover who you are, by getting to know Christ and what He did for you on the cross.

Live with a heavenly perspective.

Know your own worldview and what you believe.



Deliberate Plan: Write out your worldview.



Take some time to reflect on your own worldview. Consider the worldview provided in this chapter and write your own statement of belief below.



What I believe about:



God—







Creation—







Humanity—







Morality—







Purpose—


Here's my review:
A Woman's Secret for Confident Living: Becoming Who God Made You to Be by Karol Ladd is an extremely rich Bible study on the book of Colossians.  Her book is packed with great stories, good questions and explanations of the Scripture all wrapped up in a friendly, readable book.  Each chapter begins with a quote and Bible verse.  It ends with a section called Confident Steps: additional Bible reading, Confidence Defeater/Confidence Builder statement, Choices (bullet points of key learning) and a Deliberate Plan.

Karol's book was much more than I expected.  There was absolutely no fluff, but rock solid teaching on a personal level that made me feel like we were chatting in my living room.  Her heart is obviously in tune with women's needs and she graciously asks tough questions to challenge our lives.  I can't wait to work through this study at a much slower pace.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Heavenly Homeakers Ebook Sale until Friday Aug 19!!!

Well, if you haven't guessed it by now, I love Heavenly Homemakers.  And right now Laura is having a special sale with everything in her shop for 20% off.  Read on!

Now through Friday, Aug 19, you’ll receive a whopping 20% off every single item in the Heavenly Homemakers Shop!  Everything.  That includes 20% off every Ebook, every discounted Ebook Package, every Downloadable Recipe Card Pack, every Kids Character Chart, all of our Hand Crocheted Items and yes…even  Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve Curriculum Kit!!!  There are also two new books about cooking- Teach Your Kids How to Cook and Learn to Cook.  There are also printed books of some of these ebooks that would make GREAT gifts to give!  Just enter the code HHM20 as you’re checking out and you’ll receive a 20% discount on everything in your cart!
This sale will run from now Friday, Aug 19.


Sale facts at a glance:
  • Everything in the shop is 20% off
  • Enter the code HHM20 for the discount
  • The Heavenly Homemakers Shop is HERE
  • Sale ends Friday, Aug 19
Don't miss out on this sale!!

**As an affiliate, I receive a small percentage from each sale.  Happy shopping! 

    Thursday, August 11, 2011

    When a Woman Inspires Her Husband by Cindi McMenamin Book Review

    It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!



    You never know when I might play a wild card on you!





    Today's Wild Card author is:



    and the book:

    Harvest House Publishers (August 1, 2011)
    ***Special thanks to Karri James, Marketing Assistant, Harvest House Publishers for sending me a review copy.***



    ABOUT THE AUTHOR:



    Cindi McMenamin, an award-winning writer and national speaker, is the author of When Women Walk Alone (more than 100,000 copies sold) and Letting God Meet Your Emotional Needs. As a pastor’s wife, director of women’s ministries, and Bible teacher, her passion is to bring women into deeper intimacy with God. Cindi lives in Southern California with her husband, Hugh, and daughter, Dana.



    Visit the author's website.



    SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:







    This book is about how a woman can be the encourager, motivator, and inspiration behind her man becoming all God designed him to be—by understanding his world, appreciating his differences, and encouraging him to dream.









    Product Details:



    List Price: $11.99

    Paperback: 192 pages

    Publisher: Harvest House Publishers (August 1, 2011)

    Language: English

    ISBN-10: 0736929487

    ISBN-13: 978-073692948



    AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:




    Understanding His World



    Hugh walked into the store past the men in suits who were waiting to show him the latest cell phone. “I just want something that I can make calls on,” he mumbled to himself under his breath. “No Internet. No texting, no music. Just give me a darn phone.”



    Then his eye caught a rock-like flip phone that he practically had to pry open. “Feel how heavy this is,” he said as he picked it up and admired it.



    I found myself thinking, Wouldn’t a light phone be better, especially if it’s in your pocket? Hugh continued his admiration of the heavy, durable “man-looking” phone.



    Just then a man, soiled from head to toe, came into the store in a rush and out of breath.



    “Dude, that is an awesome phone,” he told Hugh as he saw him holding the model this guy apparently owned.



    “I just dropped mine from a height of thirty feet on a construction site and it landed in a puddle of water. The face cracked a little, but it’s still working!”



    That was all it took to sell my husband that phone.



    “I’ll take this one,” Hugh said to one of the suited up men he originally didn’t want to address.



    I looked at Hugh, wondering what planet he came from. Not only did my husband want a phone that felt like a rock or a heavy tool, and that he had to pry open, but I’m sure he also wanted to go out and drop it 30 feet into a puddle of water just to see how durable it was as well!



    “It’s a man thing, Mom,” my teenage daughter said as she observed the expression on my face.



    And she was right.



    Men are not from Mars. But they do act and think differently than women. Certain things make your husband tick that you will never understand. I’m not going to elaborate on the differences between men and women. There are hundreds of books already written on that topic. And you are aware of the differences between your husband and yourself more than anyone else. This book, rather, is about understanding your husband’s world. And you start doing that by understanding, accepting, and embracing the fact that your husband’s world is different from your own simply because he’s a man.



    I want a light, pretty cell phone, preferably pink and sparkly. My husband wants one with visible screws holding it together and a manly name like The Boulder.



    I want it attractive; he wants it functional. I want the prettiest color; he wants the best price. I want to talk it through and really make sure it’s the one I want; he wants to buy it and get out of the store.



    And that’s only the picking-out-a-cell-phone part of our day! Add to that our differences on how we like to spend our evenings, what kinds of movies we prefer, and what our idea of an adventurous weekend would be like, and I’ll have enough evidence to present the case to my girlfriends that my husband is indeed from a different world than I am.



    What Husbands Can Teach Us



    My, how we’d like our husbands a lot more if they were more like women. We don’t really believe that, and we don’t actually want that, but it’s the way we think at times. We want a man who is tender, yet we also expect him to be tough. We want sensitivity, but we also expect strength. We want understanding from him, yet a practical side to balance out our emotions. We want a man who is both male and female at heart. Yet most men don’t come that way. And they aren’t made to become that way.



    Yet admit it. You, too, have found yourself thinking…



    If only he’d be more sensitive.



    If only he’d be more interested in what I’m interested in.



    If only he wouldn’t make such a mess.



    If only he’d just listen to me!



    If only he weren’t so loud!



    If only he’d be more romantic.



    If, if, if. What we’re really saying is, “If only he were more like…well, me!    ”



    My friend, Edie, is a licensed marriage and family therapist. In her first couple years of counseling she saw more than her share of women who were unhappy with their husbands.



    “So many women want their husbands to be more like women—to shop with them and go to a chick flick with them,” Edie said. But one of the ways a woman can most powerfully influence her husband is to accept that he’s a different person than she is and those differences are intended for her growth.



    Our husbands’ differences are intended for our growth?



    Exactly.



    By coming up against an attitude, behavior, or personality trait we don’t like, we are forced to confront our own ability to be loving, patient, understanding, and forgiving. It’s our opportunity to practice Philippians 2:3-4:



    Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.



    Therefore marriage—that arena in which we are bound to another who is so different from ourselves—is our opportunity to grow. Marriage shows us how selfish we can be, how much more godly we can be when it comes to loving our husbands, and how very much we still struggle with wounds we are expecting our husbands to heal.



    I’ve heard some call marriage a “divine conspiracy”—that God uses the marital union to transform our lives. I believe it, too. I’ve seen, in my own marriage, God’s plan to change both me and Hugh by showing us ways in which we know a little of God’s love for one another. And God shows it to me the most when I see ways in which my husband is unlike myself.



    But God definitely knew what He was doing when He designed men and women differently.



    As a wedding gift to her daughter, Valerie, and son-in law, Walt, author Elisabeth Elliot placed her book Let Me Be a Woman into her daughter’s hands on her wedding day.



    The book, subtitled Notes on Womanhood for Valerie, provided instruction on femininity in a marriage—and was written in the mid-1970s as feminism was in full swing. In the early 1980s, when I was 16 years old, my older sister placed that book in my hands and said, “Cindi, you need to read this. It will change your perspective on what it means to be a woman and a wife.” My goal at that time was to graduate from college and be an independent career woman in need of no man. I had no desire to marry. I thought a man would simply get in the way of my plans for my life.



    Then I read Elisabeth Elliot’s book, and it changed my life. Life wasn’t about me. It was about serving God. And if He should call me to be a wife, it was about serving my husband too.



    It still took quite a few years of marriage for me to realize that life and marriage weren’t all about me. They weren’t about getting my needs met or finding my personal fulfillment. Rather, they were about dying to self, giving up my preferences for another, learning what it means to truly love. And doing those things, in return, became personally fulfilling as I was obeying God’s commands to love.



    And yet at times I complain, like many wives, that my husband isn’t more like me.



    As Elisabeth Elliot wrote to her newlywed daughter:



    You marry a sinner. There’s nobody else to marry. That ought to be obvious enough but when you love a man as you love yours it’s easy to forget. You forget it for a while and then when something happens that ought to remind you, you find yourself wondering what’s the matter, how could this happen, where did things go wrong? They went wrong back in the Garden of Eden. Settle it once for all, your husband is a son of Adam. Acceptance of him—of all of him—includes acceptance of his being a sinner. He is a fallen creature, in need of the same kind of redemption as the rest of us are in need of, and liable to all the temptations which are “common to man.” 



    There are so many times I forget that my husband is a sinner. Let me rephrase that: There are so many times I forget that I, too, am a sinner. When my husband does something that is inherently male—or just plain human—I sometimes see it as imperfection, as rude, or as unspiritual. It could be all of those things. But it could also be normal.



    Elliot goes on to say,



    You marry not only a sinner but a man. You marry a man, not a woman. Strange how easy it seems to be for some women to expect their husbands to be women, to act like women, to do what is expected of women. Instead of that they are men, they act like men, they do what is expected of men and thus they do the unexpected. They surprise their wives by being men and some wives wake up to the awful truth that it was not, in fact, a man that they wanted after all.



    Through this book you now have in your hands, I want you to be very glad that you married a man…and your man, at that. I want you to begin to celebrate the ways he is different than you and affirm him in areas he never imagined you would. I want you to discover a whole new way of living with your man and loving it.



    And if your husband is an unbeliever, or he’s just not where you’d like him to be spiritually, I encourage you to stick with me. As you begin to understand his world, become his cheerleader, ease his burdens, make his home a sanctuary, give him breathing room, encourage him to dream, entice him to pursue, and let him lead, you will be allowing him to see how loved he is in your eyes and in God’s. (I will specifically address a man’s spiritual life—or lack of it—in chapter 9.)



    I called this chapter “Understanding His World” because there is much to understand and appreciate about it. Yet there’s always the woman who says, “But we’re in the same world. His world is mine, and mine is his.” Yes, to a certain extent. But in a very real way, he is still in a different world than you are. And he always will be. How? He’s a man. And therefore, his world—generally speaking—is a bit messier, and he’s fine with that. It’s louder, and he doesn’t notice (women have more sensitive hearing than men). Some parts of his world smell badly and he doesn’t seem to notice or care (you have a more keen sense of smell than he does, too, by the way). In his world there are only a few colors (and many more men than women are color blind), but in your world there are ten different shades of red, a myriad of blues, and even lots of different greens. (That’s probably why he tends to have only a few pairs of shoes in the closet—a pair of sneakers, a pair of work boots, one set of black dress shoes, and one set of brown casual shoes. You, on the other hand, are likely to have shoes in every color of the spectrum—and that doesn’t even cover the sneakers!)



    Although studies now show that men and women both speak about 16,000 words per day (debunking the long-lived myth that women outtalk men nearly 2:1), it is also a fact that men and women experience the same level of emotion. What’s different is that women tend to be more expressive about their emotions than men.



    We as women are all about relationships. When you meet another woman and want to get to know her, you will probably ask if she’s married, if she has children, and what her children’s ages and interests are. By contrast, when your husband shakes hands with another man, he is more inclined to ask what the other man does. In a woman’s perfect world, she is loved, cherished, and romanced. In a man’s perfect world, he is respected. A woman’s desires revolve around how she feels. A man’s desires revolve around responses to what he does and who he is in the eyes of those around him.



    Take a look at this chart for just an overview of how the two of you, generally speaking, differ when it comes to communication, just because you are a woman and he is a man. These findings, by the way, posted on the Internet by Speechmastery, included the following disclaimer: “The list below is general and based on research. Even so, each individual may have qualities that are of their opposite. Some men will put the lid down, ask for directions and read the instructions.”



    Women





    Seek out relationships with others



    Relate to others as equals



    Prefer interdependency, collaboration, coordination and cooperation



    Make decisions based on mutual agreement



    Desire closeness, togetherness and affinity



    Care for the approval of peers



    Express themselves more in private



    Are more open to share problems



    Tend to focus on details of

    emotions



    More concerned with feelings



    May mix personal and business talk



    Tend to ask for help, advice and directions



    Offer sympathy



    Display empathy



    Desire to understand problems



    Tend to take a more sober look

    at challenges





    Men




    Tend to seek standing and

    position



    Relate to others as rivals



    Tend toward independence

    and autonomy



    Choose or resolve by force,

    persuasion or majority rule



    Desire space



    Tend to seek the respect of their peers



    Express themselves more in public



    Keep concerns to themselves



    Tend to focus on the details

    of fact



    Often will not ask for advice, help or directions



    Freely offer advice and analysis



    Are problem solvers



    Tend to look at challenges as a game unless lives are at stake





    You may find it helpful to know some of these basic male-female differences when it comes to understanding your man—or at least the components about him that you shouldn’t take personally because they are part of his construction, not his attitude!



    Incidentally, as I’ve been writing this book, my husband has enjoyed, on occasion, pointing out to me some of the male tendencies he has that I bristle at, and saying, “That was a man thing. Write that in your book!”



    His Perfect World



    As you begin to understand that your husband’s world is a bit different than yours, the question to ask him is, “What would make your world a perfect place?”



    This is how my husband answered that question: “A perfect world for me would be working at a job I completely enjoy, having time for rest and relaxation, and knowing that the people closest to me respect, me, honor me, and love me.”



    There it is—he wants to live from his heart and enjoy what he does, have time to play, and know he is respected and loved for who he is.



    But to understand your husband’s world isn’t just to understand the differences between a man and a woman. (And I know some of you are married to husbands that aren’t anything like what we’ve read about men thus far.) While men share some general traits, every one of them is different. The key is for you to understand your husband’s world—what makes him tick, what sets him at ease, what he prefers, where he is most “at home,” what he avoids, where he shines, and most of all, what makes his heart beat. There will be times when you need to stay out of his world, and times when he invites you to enter it. But don’t try to change it. Appreciate it, and your husband will appreciate you even more.



    According to the surveys I took of married men of various ages and in various stages of life, I concluded (with my husband’s nod of approval, of course) that in every man’s world (and most likely your husband’s world too):



    He needs to feel respected as a man

    He needs to feel successful in all he does

    He wants to feel like a king, but not be your god

    The upcoming chapters in this book will, in many ways, elaborate on these three essentials that are so important to the heart of your man. For now, let’s just look at the basics of each one.

    He Needs to Feel Respected as a Man



    Countless studies have affirmed that a man would rather feel respected than loved. We women long to be cherished and loved and pursued, but there’s a sense in which a man can live without love. It’s respect he can’t live without.



    It’s interesting to note that in the Bible, husbands are commanded to love their wives. And wives are commanded to respect their husbands.



    That passage of Scripture starts off by telling wives to submit to their husbands, as to the Lord. We would like to think that husbands are commanded first to love us and, as they love us as their own bodies, we will gladly submit. But if we look carefully, we see that in this case, the Bible breaks its usual pattern of laying the responsibility on the husband first. The wives are first commanded to submit to (come under the leadership of) their husbands. And then the husbands are commanded to love. This doesn’t imply we must earn that love through our obedience. But I believe our obedience and willingness to come under the leadership of our husbands makes it easier for them to obey the tall order God has given them: to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.



    Here’s the passage:



    Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.



    Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her…So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself…each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband (Ephesians 5:22-25,28,33).



    Have you ever thought about why a woman isn’t commanded to love her husband in return? We are commanded throughout the Bible to love one another, and that includes our husbands. But when it comes to this passage, which speaks specifically about the marriage relationship, God apparently knew a woman desires more than anything else to be loved, and a man desires more than anything else to be respected. God must have known that as we respect our husbands, we are demonstrating love to them in a way they can more easily see and appreciate.



    God’s perfect design is that as a husband is being respected, he will readily love his wife. And as a wife is being loved, she will readily respect her husband. In a perfect world—which we, unfortunately, don’t live in—that would be the case. In our world—which is marred by selfishness and sin, which come more naturally to us than sacrificial love—one of you, you or your husband, must make the first move. Yes, in the second reference of this passage (verse 33), the command is given to your husband first. But the bottom line is that we both (husbands and wives) are given the command 12 verses earlier in Ephesians 5:21 to “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Before any instruction is given to the wife or husband in that chapter, we see the words “submit to one another.” And why? Out of reverence for Christ. Show your reverence to the One who gave His all for you by giving your all—your love, your respect, your honor—to your husband. And when you do, see if his love doesn’t truly follow!

    He Needs to Feel Successful in All He Does



    For a man, being productive or successful at something is important. And if your husband isn’t, in reality, succeeding at something, he at least needs to feel like he’s winning. I noticed for a few years after we got married that Hugh would join a game of football without any persuasion. As an all-league wide receiver in high school (having the most yards per reception in the league during his senior year) and one who received letters of interest from several colleges to play ball for them, football was his game. But on one occasion, when my cousins and brother-in-law wanted to play an impromptu game of basketball, it took some persuasion to get Hugh on the court.



    “You don’t like basketball?” I asked him. He’s six feet tall. He’s athletic. I couldn’t figure it out.



    “I’m not very good at basketball,” was Hugh’s response.



    It wasn’t that he didn’t like the sport. He was simply not eager to do something he didn’t feel he could excel at. Some would call that male ego. Others might call it pride. I saw it as a man thing. A man would rather not enter an arena in which he doesn’t feel he can excel. We can learn much from that. A man will gravitate toward the areas of life in which he feels successful. If he is a master at his work, he will spend much time there. If he knows the computer well and can feel successful there, it will occupy much of his time. If he is a whiz with a wrench under the hood of a car, that’s where he’ll want to be. If gaining knowledge through reading makes him the one who can repeat the facts about any topic of discussion at a party and make him feel more socially comfortable, then he’ll keep reading.



    Men want to succeed. So what can we, as wives, do with that information? Let your husband know he is succeeding in the areas that are most important to him and you. And if what is important to you isn’t necessarily important to him, let him know every now and then that he is succeeding in that area, and it just may become an important area to him after all.



    Many a man will give up altogether and go passive when it comes to parenting if you are insisting your parental skills are better. Many a man will stop communicating if you have let him know he is a failure at communication. On the other hand, if you are praising his efforts—even if at this point they are just efforts—he will want to continue to please you. Treat him like a winner at home, and he’ll want to be there more often. Praise him for his handiwork around the house, and you’ll find him offering to be your handyman. Encourage him and tell him how good he makes you feel in the bedroom, and he’ll be more likely to initiate. Encouragement goes a long way…and making your husband feel like a winner will make him want to be around you—especially if you’re his No. 1 fan. (We’ll look more at this concept in chapter 2.)

    He Wants to Feel Like a King, but Not Be Your God



    There’s a difference between treating your husband with the respect and loyalty you would give a king, and depending on him like he’s God.



    Many women marry with high expectations, only to be gravely disappointed shortly thereafter when they discover their husband can’t possibly meet all of their emotional needs.



    Edie, my counselor-friend, sees this a lot in her practice:



    “There’s a lot of anger on the part of women toward their husbands,” she said. “We get focused on our spouse as the one who needs to take care of our needs, and the media adds to that by romanticizing relationships, and we end up projecting our anger onto our husbands for not being the way we expect them to be.”



    Because your husband is human, he can’t possibly meet all your needs. Because he’s a man, there are certain ways he will never be able to meet your needs for sensitivity and understanding like another woman. Because he’s not your dad, he can’t make up for what you might feel was lacking in that relationship. And most importantly, because he’s not God, he can’t possibly fulfill you in every way.



    The quickest way to run your marriage into the ground is to expect your husband to be God in your life—to fill your every need, to know what you’re thinking and feeling and be able to respond accordingly, to be your joy, to be your all-in-all. He is a man. He is not able to be all of that for you. He is human, and that means he has weaknesses and will let you down at times. Finally, he is a sinner (as all of us are), and that means he will disappoint you, anger you, and even hurt you more times than he or you would like. So don’t look to your husband to be God in your life, or to fulfill your every need. Instead, look to God as your spiritual husband.



    In Isaiah 54:5-6 we read God’s words to His covenant people of Israel: “Your Maker is your husband—the Lord Almighty is his name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit.”



    God’s Word frequently uses the marriage relationship to illustrate God as our husband. God desires to be a husband to us and have us respond, in return, as we would respond to a husband—to forsake all other gods and love only Him, to respect Him, to dwell intimately with Him, to look to Him for our provision, and so on. There is nothing that will free up your husband to love you more than taking your emotional expectations off of him and leaving them with God. Your husband can then love you in the best way he is able, without feeling he has an impossible task in front of him. (For an in-depth look at this subject, see my book Letting God Meet Your Emotional Needs.)



    It’s pretty simple isn’t it? Your husband needs to feel respected. He wants to feel successful. He wants to be treated like a king, but not be your God. His world is simple. Ours is the one that is so often complicated.



    From His Perspective



    “We’re really simple, men are.”



    Recently, Bill gave his wife Edie—my friend who is the licensed marriage and family therapist—some wise insights into the heart and world of a man.



    “We’re really simple, men are,” he told her.



    “I like having a car. I like having sex with my wife. I like good food.”



    Bill spoke volumes to his wife—and to us about men, in general—with those three sentences.



    He likes having a car. He wants to be the driver. He likes the feel of being in control of a piece of machinery that can get him from one place to another. For some men, the nicer or more powerful the car, the better. But ultimately, he just likes having a car.



    He enjoys sexual pleasure with his wife. Men are designed, physically and physiologically, to enjoy sexual pleasure with their wives. Your husband wants to enjoy that activity and experience with you. And you are the only one he can enjoy that with and know that he is right and pure before his God. And he knows that, even more than you do. (More on this in chapter 7.)

    In Ecclesiastes 9:9, Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said this: “Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given to you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.”



    King Solomon wrote a whole book on the meaninglessness of life. And among the few things he found meaningful for a man to enjoy were a good meal and pleasure with his wife. Now think about that! When you prepare a meal for your husband, isn’t it your desire that he enjoy it? Similarly, will you prepare yourself for him, physically, as his reward after dinner? God paid you quite a compliment when He gave you to your husband as your husband’s reward. God considered you a great prize to bring pleasure—in many ways—to your husband. That makes me want to truly be my husband’s reward, not his consolation prize.



    He loves good food. And get this…enjoying food, too, is biblical! In Ecclesiastes 2:24, the wise King Solomon says, “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God.” For a man to be able to sit down and enjoy dinner—or a hearty, messy barbecue lunch!—is one of the ways God rewards him for his work here on earth. So let him eat. It’s one of the simple pleasures in life he was designed to enjoy.

    What About Your Man?



    How well do you understand your husband’s world? His preferences? His likes and dislikes? The more you understand them, the more you will be able to serve him in his world and make him want to be in no other world than the one you have entered to share with him.



    It’s easy for a wife to resent the ways her husband is different from her. But I encourage you, dear friend, to celebrate those differences.



    Michelle learned to do just that. Her eyes light up when she talks about Leroy, her husband of 17 years. But, she told me, it wasn’t always that way.



    “My husband and I met while very young. We were not walking with the Lord in our youth. In our twenties we headed back to church and got married. It is amazing the grace God has shown on both of us. We haven’t had the perfect marriage, but God has brought His wisdom and guidance at crucial times. I have learned my husband’s love language, that he doesn’t really think about anything at times, that we have different temperaments, and to be his cheerleader. In applying this wisdom to my marriage, I have learned to appreciate my husband. For example, my husband loves to be outside. He is not a homebody. That means we are never home. I have learned to love this about him because I am always experiencing a new adventure. We hike, bike, rollerblade, kayak, travel, eat at different restaurants, and basically sightsee every weekend.



    “Now some of you may be wishing this was your husband, but there is a downside to all this. Things do not always get fixed or cleaned at my house. So I think as women we have to learn to accept our husband for who he is. That does not mean you should never address any problems. On the other hand, if you are constantly nagging, you need to think and pray. God may need to change your perspective. During a funeral I attended for a young mother in our Moms group, I was reminded of how short our time can be. Live life with the man you love, not the man you think he should be. Life is too short to be unhappy over silly issues. I learned to be happy with the godly man God gave me. My car may not be clean, but I am out enjoying the adventure along the way.”



    As Robert Jeffress says in his book Say Goodbye to Regret, “God gave us a mate to complement us, not to duplicate us (see Genesis 2:22). Don’t try to become like your [husband] and don’t expect [him] to morph into a clone of you. It won’t happen. And it shouldn’t happen.”



    Rather, celebrate his differences. They make him a man; they make him who he is. Keep in mind as well that women tend to outlive men, so there’s a good possibility you will one day bury your husband. When you do, all those differences about him will become precious. And you will wish you could have them back again. After your husband is gone, the things that annoy you now—the way he shouts over a football game on the television, or he throws his clothes in a pile in the bedroom (even though you’ve asked him a billion times to please put them in the dirty clothes hamper)—you will someday look back on and think, If only I had him around again. I’d be far more patient about all those little things that really weren’t such a big deal after all.



    Live without regrets by living well now. Look for those things about him that are different from you and smile. That’s what makes him a man. And you are the one he has invited into his male world to share it with him. Love him for letting you in. Live there with appreciation. And know you are more cherished there than you realize.

    Entering His Masculine Mind



    How well do you know what makes your husband tick?



    At an appropriate time (usually after he is well fed or done with dinner at one of his favorite restaurants) ask him the following questions, and listen thoughtfully as he answers. You may discover some precious things about him that you didn’t know before.



    Ask your husband how he relates to the “big three”: “I like having a car. I like having sex with my wife. I like food.”

    Now ask your husband what he feels about the essential three:

    He needs to be respected as a man.

    He needs to feel successful in what he does.

    He needs to be treated like a king, but not be your god.

    Ask him if anything comes to mind with regard to how you can better help him in those three areas.



    In light of what you have just learned about your husband, write a sentence or two about what you will now do differently in your interactions with him.







    A Prayer for You and Your Husband



    Lord, Help Me Enter His World…Lovingly



    God, You have designed my husband as a unique person and I praise You for that. Help me to see his differences as something to celebrate—that he is uniquely made the way he is to complement and balance who I am. Show me how I can grow and become more loving, more patient, more understanding, and also to be more like You, God, through the differences I notice between him and myself. Help me to walk in his world carefully and responsibly, not trying to change him into someone who is more like me, but appreciating Your handiwork in who he is. Give me the eyes to see unique and wonderful things about my husband that I haven’t noticed before, and give me a heart to love him in ways I hadn’t thought about. Grant me words, Lord, to express to him, at just the right time, what he means to me. May I learn what it means to love him out of a love and reverence for You, O God.



    And as I begin this journey of seeking to understand and affirm my husband in a greater way, give me a steadfast spirit and an enduring heart to see this through, to complete this book faithfully, not giving up if it seems like there’s too much to wade through or he’s not noticing my efforts. Help me to face each day, each truth, each chapter as a new opportunity to bless his life in ways that I haven’t been aware of before. And may You be pleased to draw our hearts closer together along the way.


    Here's my review:
    When a Woman Inspires Her Husband by Cindi McMenamin is a must-read book for all wives!  Cindi graciously acknowledges the union of an imperfect man to an imperfect woman, but gives wives a blueprint for how to be an inspiration to their husbands despite all the imperfections on both parts.  The subtitle of the book is "Understanding and affirming the man in your life."  Cindi begins each chapter with a verse or quote followed by true life stories of her own and others that she has interviewed.  At the end of each chapter she includes a special section, "from his perspective" which was written by men.  There are also questions for wives to ask their husbands and a very special prayer to pray for husbands.  Topics include understanding his world, becoming his cheerleader, encouraging him to dream, letting him lead and loving him as God does.

    Cindi's book was very inspiring to me and gave me several new insights into the life of my husband.  She addressed areas with a unique perspective and made me realize areas where I have been less than ideal as a wife.  I felt very encouraged to pursue a deeper relationship with my husband.  I really like the questions that I could ask my husband and I can't wait to work through this book at a slower pace.  I truly want to inspire my husband and I'm thankful for Cindi's diligence to prepare a timely book.  Every wife would benefit from this book.

    Check out this free resource: The ABC's of Being Irresistible in Your Husband's Eyes.

    Take a look at Cindi's website: www.StrengthForTheSoul.com