5.3.2016 TO ALL THE PROVERBS 31.10-31 WOMEN IN MY FAMILY, past, present and future....from my dear, departed mother and her foremothers to mikaela and allegra all our mothers to come until Jesus returns

who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
the heart of her husband does safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
she will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
she seeks wool and flax and works willingly with her hands.
she is like the merchants' ships; she brings her food from afar.
she rises also while it is yet night, and gives meat to her household and a portion to her maidens.
she considers a field and buys it: with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
she girds her loins with strength and strengthens her arms.
she perceives that her merchandise is good: her candle goes not out by night.
she lays her hands to the spindle and her hands hold the distaff.
she stretches out her hand to the poor; yes, she reaches forth her hands to the needy.
she is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
she makes herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
her husband is known IN THE GATES, when he sits among the elders of the land.
she makes fine linen and sells it and delivers girdles unto the merchant.
strength and honor are her clothing and she shall rejoice in time to come.
she opens her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
she looks well to the ways of her household and eats not the bread of idleness.
her children arise up and call her blessed; her husband also and he praises her.
many daughters have done virtuously, but you excel them all.
favor is deceitful and beauty is vain: but a woman that fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her IN THE GATES.

truly, the hand that rocks the cradle RULES the world.

we hear, 'Christianity oppresses women by making them submit to their husbands!'

the Bible does say, 'Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord',  but it also instructs, 'Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it' (Ephesians 5.22,25).  a man who understands that Jesus Christ sacrificed His life's blood for the Church will likewise love his wife sacrificially and passionately. he will honor her, respect her, protect, love and cherish her as much as he does his own body, as he is instructed to do (Ephesians 5.28). he will never say or do anything to harm or demean her. it is in this atmosphere of love and security that a godly wife willingly submits herself to the protective arms of her husband. she does this not because he is better than she is, but simply because this is God's order for His creation.

a godless world rejects the God-given formula to make marriage work. it thinks it knows best and suffers the heartbreaking consequences of destroyed marriages and ruined lives. the Christian ideal of marriage is not one of an authoritarian and chauvinistic male holding his cringing wife in submission like an obedient dog. it's the very opposite. while most of the great religions treat women as inferior to men, the Bible gives them a place of dignity, honor and unspeakable worth, expressed so evidently in proverbs 31.