Homesteading: A Woman's Journey

Interesting Sermon I Listened to

Recently, I have been listening to sermons that I ordered through the Charity Gospel Tape Ministry (http://www.charityministries.org).  It is an Anabaptist Ministry that provides sermons on various topics in both tape & CD format.  The sermons are free.  If you are able to send a donation, they are very grateful. A donation is not required though.  They also have a free publication, The Remnant, that you can subscribe to.

The sermon I listened to last night, I ended up listening to again today.  It really has touched my heart.  The sermon is titled:  "The Hidden Woman" presented by Brother Denny Kenaston.  The sermon taught things that many modern churches no longer address.  The focus being on the role of the woman in the home.

There were several points made that touched my heart.  The first being the importance of the woman's role as wife & mother.  Many look upon the women who live the principle of submission as being weak or oppressed.  That is probably one of the greatest false teaching that society has been promoting.  Anyone who has read Proverbs 31 can see that the woman has much strength and importance in the family.  She looked after the running of the home, raised the children, and saw to the needs of her husband.  As her husband's helpmeet, a wife encourages him, prays for him, supports him, and honors him. 

Brother Kenaston gave many examples of how a woman gives help and blesses those around her --- most of the time in a way that is unknown to those around them.  They are quiet and humble in their service, never boasting about the things that they have done. 

Another area he spoke of is the great need of a wife to show reverence for her husband.  Husbands work hard to provide for the family.  Many times, they can become weary in that responsibility.  Women have complained long and loud over the years of feeling unappreciated by their husbands in the home.  Think of hte number of times a woman has complained of a husband who takes no notice of the efforts she has made to care for the children, the home, make meals, and the other many household tasks.  We have all heard at least once in our lives a woman complain about this.  Maybe at some point in our lives, we have been guilty of this ourselves.  Do we treat our husbands the same way?  Do we allow them to go about their work without us ever telling him how proud of him we are?  How much we appreciate the way he provides for the family? Or do we focus on only the things we see lacking?  Maybe complain about the lack of money instead of being appreciative and doing all we can to live within the means of the income our husband provides?  How frustrating would it be to a husband to work as hard as he can - doing his best - and have a wife who only complains that the husband is not making enough money?  Our husbands NEED to feel that we see their efforts and appreciate what they do. 

Another point that Brother Kenaston spoke of was the affect it has on a husband when a wife honors him.  The more a wife encourages and shows appreciation to her husband, the more the husband will try to be the Godly husband that he was intended to be.  Think of how you have felt in your life when others built up your self-esteem and showed how much they believed in you.  When someone praised you for the efforts you made in an area of your life.  What about the teacher in school who saw you struggling & told you how much they believed in your ability to learn and excel in teh areas you struggled with?  Didn't those situations bring about a conviction in you to try harder to become the person they believed you to be?  Being praised over your acheivements brought about the drive to continue to press forward and become ever better.  It didn't matter if it was a class in school, a sport, a job you struggled with, a new lesson that you were trying to learn.  Whatever it was, the belief of others and their faith in you would give you strength.  How much would this affect a husband who had a difficult job? 

One of the simple ways that a wife can honor and revere her husband is to take care in the keeping of the home.  It is an outward symbol of your appreciation for what your husband provides - that it has meaning to you.  A home is a haven to the family from the influences of the outside world.  Turn it into a place where your family can relax and feel peace.  Show reverence to your husband.  Think of how important your husband would feel he is to you if you were to show him respect and honor him!  How many times does your husband talk to you and you have tuned him out?  Show him the same respect that you would have him give to you. 

In some cultures, a wife shows her appreciation and respect to her husband by preparing herself (and the children) before he comes home.  Some women will take a quick shower, put on clean clothing & fix their hair so that when their husband comes home, they can greet him at the door.  Instead of greeting him looking frazzled and worn out, greet him as you would have when you were dating and you were excited to see him!  I know life can get in the way and make this hard to do at times.  But make the effort whenever possible.   Take interest in his day.  Greet him as if he were the most precious person to grace your home.  Do this with an honest and humble heart.  It has such a positive affect on your husband.  Just like us, husbands are not perfect.  They have bad moods and can make mistakes.  They can say hurtful things.  But if you continue to love them, pray for them, encourage them, honor & revere them, it can bring about such a wonderful blessing to your family.  It will lighten his load.  Uplift him.  Bless him.  Give him the strength he needs to meet the responsibilities and demands of his Godly role as husband, father, provider & protector of the family.  Showing him unconditional love and reverence, praying for him, will bless your family & marriage.  If you treat him as a king in your home, he will in turn treat you as his queen.

You don't do these things to change him or to manipulate him into becoming what YOU want him to be.  You do these things because you have a true and deep love & reverence for him. 

A change can come about in your own life as you do this.  If you only see the faults in your husband, you can become bitter towards him.  Your love that you had on your wedding day can sour.  But, if you focus on how much you love and appreciate him - praising his strengths, praying for him, and doing what you can to show your love for him - you will find that any faults that he may have are unimportant.  You only will see the good in him.  What blessing would this be to your marriage if you only focused on the positive attributes? 

There is much more in "The Hidden Woman" sermon.  This is only a portion of what I learned through listening to it.  I am so grateful that I have received and listened to this sermon. It is such a blessing to me and has taught me much. 

I pray that you are encouraged by this blog.  May the Lord bless each of you.

Sounds Interesting!

04:52, Sunday, November 25, 2007 .. Posted by Amanda

I enjoyed reading about the sermon that you listened to. I am in the process of trying to be a better wife to my husband of 19 years. The Lord has really changed my heart as of late. I know that the things you heard from that sermon are the things that the Lord wants me to do. Always a work in progress with Him at the Head!

Amanda <><