Helpmeet--Ch. 11 & 12; Jen

Chapter 11
"She (Eve) was meant to be Adam's helper but she helped herself to spiritual knowledge and acted independently, becoming his downfall instead of his help meet."

"Vulnerability is a woman's greatest natural asset and the point of her greatest weakness."

Both of those were powerful statements to me, reminding me that God made us women by nature to be the weaker vessel. When we recognize that and embrace it we suddenly realize that it's an asset as well as a weakness and the difference is easier to recognize. I really liked that Debi points out that Eve was "easily deceived" because she was a woman. I think the world teaches us that we are so equal that we read the story of Adam and Eve and we fail to recognize that they were not equal in their vulnerability. The funny or sad thing is that the world doesn't want to accept the idea that women are more vulnerable which means the world is unwilling to recognize some of women's greatest strengths!

page 109 was incredible to me....and into page 110. Again the point being that women are more easily deceived and I tell ya, I'm not kind to my own sex because I already was thinking this way but I've just never seen this in print! Fabulous stuff. As I read this section I could hear in the back of my mind several Christian women screaming their heads off in rebellion to the truths that Debi shared on just these two pages! I had to read it out loud to my husband it was so good and he quickly pulled up the cover of the book to see what crazy book it was I was reading. LOL. I wish more Christians would go back to the basics and stop accepting what has become the norm and familiar to them in roles. When we look at the roles God created for men and women, suddenly things like women not teaching over men is very clear and make perfect sense!

Chapter 12
I really liked the last paragraph on page 117 where she says that "in all of this submit-to-your-superior talk, remember this: God is focusing our attention on the heavenly pattern. The emphasis is not on women submitting to men, but rather on women showing, here on earth, the heavenly pattern of the Son submitting to the Father." So important to keep myself focused on this goal. In our culture in American today, this WILL be noticed...if I truly submit I will be different and it will be an opportunity to witness for Christ!

At the end of this chapter there were questions and I went through them. I'll share a few of the things that I listed for the "Getting Serious With God" section....not all of them though cause some of them were personal in nature.
say "no" to more activities so that I'm less busy.
be more responsible financially
keep the house under better control
not talk over him
not snap at him
provide more planned home cooked meals
pray more specifically for him
praise him more (privately and publicly)
make improvements on our home from our "fix-it-up" list
be more creative financially (frugal creativeness)
ask him first about a decision before making my own decision (give him preference)
don't put him down
allow him to talk
be his support without making decisions for him