Introduction - Preface

I’ve been reading a book entitled, “Passionate Housewives Desperate For God” by Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald. I am really excited about how God has been using this book to challenge me in ways I didn’t know possible. Just when I think I understand it all, (haha!), I read the next chapter, and BAM! I get knocked in the head with yet a deeper truth that further challenges and convicts…and like the layers of an onion being pulled back one by one, I am coming to grips with so much deep-rooted pride in my heart that I didn’t notice before.

I would love to encourage all my “mommy” friends to please get a copy of this page-turner. I guarantee you will not regret it, and you will not be able to put it down.

I would love to share with you daily, (or as often as I can), snippets of what I’ve read in hopes that you will be encouraged…and even challenged a bit. Feel free to “reply all” and comment with your thoughts!

Preface: Dispelling the Myth – by Stacy McDonald

…Instead of treasuring women and properly utilizing their gifts, our culture has attempted to discard the beauty and uniqueness of biblical womanhood and create an emotionally androgynous power-woman whose worth is measured only by the degree of her ambition, the shape of her body, and her money-making potential. Rather than women renouncing this affront to their dignity, amazingly, the slaves are demanding their slavery!

Finders, Keepers!

…While today’s women may be bombarded with more media streams than their counterparts of previous generations, biblical femininity has always been an unusual quality. This is what led King Lemuel’s mother to observe, “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies” (Proverbs 31:10). Virtuous women have always been rare, and oh, how precious they are!

…How does a woman, or girl on her way to womanhood, truly understand her rightful calling as a daughter of the King? The answer is this: that in Christ “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3); and He has given us “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:4) in the pages of His Holy Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17). And this includes the mysterious secret of what it means to be a virtuous woman of God – and to be a happy keeper of the home.

What a Godly Keeper at Home (Or Housewife) is Not

A godly keeper at home is absolutely not a lesser human being, a mindless robot, or a placid doormat under submission to all men; rather, she is created in the very image of God and of equal worth and value compared to man (Genesis 1:26-28). She is the crown of her husband (Proverbs 12:4), a helper suitable for him (Genesis 2:18). Because she trusts God’s wisdom in establishing perfect order for His creation, she willingly submits to her own husband as unto the Lord (Ephesians 5:22-24).

In God’s economy, the godly housewife is no man’s slave or personal piece of property; for her worth is “far above rubies” (Proverbs 31:20). Nonetheless, she eagerly admits to being Christ’s slave, which paradoxically makes her free indeed (1 Corinthians 7:22). She laughs when she hears rumors that she is an oppressed victim of a male-dominated dictatorship, because she knows that God’s will is perfect and His Word timeless. Her place in society isn’t ruled by the culture, but by God’s unchanging and eternal Word. By God’s grace, she has no desire to question His ways (Isaiah 55:8); on the contrary, she rests in them.

Desperate Housewives

Still, there are more myths we need to dispel. In this book, we take the long-venerated ‘50s housewife, wearing high heels and pearls to vacuum the floor, and send her back to the land of fantasy where she belongs. Real women need to know that being helpers to their husbands, raising godly children, and properly managing their homes takes real work, but the rich reward a woman receives by diligently tending to the ways of her household is well worth the effort.

Yet even as the 1950’s cardboard caricature of the perfectly polished housewife must be upended, so too must the equally subversive notion of the “desperate housewife” which has made its way into the minds of most Americans.

Hollywood would like for us to believe that a woman who stays home serving her husband and children is not joyful and content, but desperate. Today we have television programs that divulge all the spicy details of what’s supposedly going on behind the closed curtains of those seemingly happy housewives. According to modern thought, although she may be smiling when she checks the mail, the cheerful mom across the street lives a life full of secret disappointment, anger, lust, adultery, insanity, and even murder. “Poor desperate housewife…if only she had a fulfilling career. If only her family didn’t drag her down. If only she would do something for herself for a change.”

This foolish image of sensual despondency on the part of the housewife is a twisted perversion of the beautiful picture of the wise and chaste keeper at home described in Proverbs 31. While every homemaker at times falls short of this scriptural ideal, when the godly keeper at home is faithful, her husband and children rise up and call her blessed (Proverbs 31:28), and her own works praise her in the gates (Proverbs 31:31). The joyful and satisfied life (Proverbs 31:25) that God gives a woman who is surrendered to His will is rich and fulfilling - yes, even passionate!