A Testimony

I posted this link over at the Stomping Ground a month or so back. Please take a moment to read it. Tis very moving. She had known of men in only one way: crudeness. We can become arrogent to women, as if we are somehow better. As if they were our punching bags, either verbaly, emotionally, or physically. This sister in Chrst, Clemntine, that is how she knew men to be growing up.

Everyday Mommy asked a question today that I'm anxious to answer. She wrote, "So, today I’d like to ask you to share your thoughts on the practical application of Biblical submission. In other words, how do you do it? What’s at the heart of this instruction, for you, personally? How has God worked in your heart as you’ve learned about submission? What has been your husband’s response to it?"

Well. Let me just tell you THIS: I was born in the '60's (The Age of Aquarius), grew up in the '70's with my sister and our divorced mother (I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar), and came of age in the '80's (Girls Just Want to Have Fun). I learned a lot.

I learned that men can't be trusted. That husbands have their mail sent to someone else's house, and that it was never too early for a Pabst Blue Ribbon. I learned that Daddies are dangerous and that the truth doesn't matter, but keeping Grandma in the dark does.

I learned to go to bed early and keep quiet when my mother "entertained". I learned to make rum and Coke, and to clean the bathroom after our "guests" had exceeded their alcohol tolerance. I pulled my mother's unconscious body out of the backseat of a man's car. He knocked her out when she climbed in his car to keep him from leaving. I thought she was dead.

I learned to cry without making a sound.

Men leave. They use, abuse, ignore, deprive, and lie.

I became a Christian in the 7th grade. The first thing I was sure of was that I would serve God in singleness. I wouldn't marry. Then I wouldn't be subject to a man. Ever.

Fast forward to 1987. I met him through a friend. He was handsome, smart and kind. And he liked me. He loved me.

He loves me.

He has taught me since then how Jesus sees me. He has encouraged me, corrected me, instructed me. He leads me in paths of righteousness for the Lord's sake. I will gratefully follow him until the Lord calls one of us home.

I am his helper. He is my head. I submit to him, he lays his life down for me. He is healing me by washing me with water through the Word and he is in control of this family. I am provided for, cared for, cherished and honored. My children are safe and loved. God's ways are not ours. I will never stop thanking Him for that.

I was born female. I am becoming a Lady.

http://clemntineschronicles.blogspot.com/2007/03/lady-inside-this-woman.html