The Hidden Art of Homemaking

By Edith Schaeffer, wife of Francis Schaeffer

The first chapter, entitled, The First Artist, is really an exposition of Psalm 19. In reading it, I feel somewhat more connected with a lost generation of women for whom homemaking was taken seriously and with a degree of pride. Not the pride which leads to one's downfall, but the pride that is unashamed, as in proclaiming the Gospel. This chapter is so eloquently laced with vivid word pictures that the reader cannot help but to recall every beautiful moment of natural scenery ever once eluded to even in passing. And you reflect, "Wow! God really is magnificently majestic in all His wonders of creation!" Very few modern works will cause you to come away from such a text immediately worshiping God in your heart and attitude.

I am thrilled to continue reading such a creative and encouraging book.

What's on your current reading list?

Created To Be His Help Meet

This book by Debi Pearl of No Greater Joy ministries is intended for women desiring to have a joyful and glorious marriage.

I consider that this book works very well to target and address the wife's attitudes and responses to her husband. However the content is a somewhat watered down version of The Excellent Wife. The gimmicks in this book -- different text fonts, pictures, and lots of eye-catching pop outs -- turn me off.

There are many critical points with which I agree with Pearl. Throughout the work, Pearl is attempting to plea to women to change their attitudes and their responses to their husbands. Regardless of what kind of treatment the women receive from their husbands, as believers, we honor Christ when we honor our husbands, whether they believe or not. Our attitudes should be filled with joy, gratitude and appreciation for what he does do. When we serve and obey our husbands we do so as unto Christ.

Another strong point she makes is that our role as help meets is to come along side and help our husbands in the vocation to which they are called. This means that we are not to make our husbands pick up a vocation we would prefer for him or ourselves, but to aid him in what he is doing, in his dreams and aspirations. And she also makes a good point about each of our marriages being designed by God, that it is no mistake that you are with your husband even if you were in rebellion when you decided to wed. And therefore, you should serve him now as unto Christ.

My main criticism with this work is the interpretation of certain Scriptures. For example, at Creation Debi considers Satan to have fallen by the time God had completed the work of Creation and declared it all to be "very good." The Hebrew indicates that this phrase has a very strong particular emphasis to mean extremely good or perfect, without schism, fault or imperfection. How could God declare all of Creation (which includes the heavenly beings also) "very good" if Satan and 1/3 of the angels had already fallen by that time? In another instance, she states that Bathsheba was a cunning seductress looking for the perfect opportunity to lead vulnerable, near perfect King David astray when the Biblical text does not indicate anything of that sort. She is a very controversial Biblical figure, but to imply something that the text does not explicitly state is deceptive.

Because of this, the wise and discerned reader should take this work with a grain of salt.

The Excellent Wife is much more appropriate for the mature, wifely audience it's designed for. It is not filled with gimmicks. There is a more wholistic, nouthetic, Biblically systematic approach to the role of the woman in the context of marriage. The Excellent Wife can be a difficult read because it is convicting and rightly divides and applies the Scriptures. If you would like to read Excellent Wife, but feel that you need to wade a little before jumping off the diving board: read Help Meet. If you want to go straight for the deep end: read Excellent Wife. Both are convicting and both will basically say the same thing, but for many women The Excellent Wife is written with more straight talk and less filler. Previously I've heard mixed reviews from friends about Help Meet and nothing but praise and conviction about The Excellent Wife.

Best Books & Doc of 2011

This past year I was able to read several books and the following were the best:

Books:
Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp
This parenting book really delves into the motives and goals of parenting as it explains how all behavior is an overflow of the condition of the heart. In all of the parent's dealings with the child, the goal is to cause the child to see his or her inability to do a Christ as commanded, his need for forgiveness and atonement, and a changed heart that seeks to do God's will. Every disciplinary session is geared toward correcting the sinful behavior by targeting the heart. This book is highly recommended by David Powlison, John MacArthur, Elisabeth Elliot, and David Welch.

The Heart of Anger by Lou Priolo
This parenting book is subtitled, "Practical Help for the Prevention and Cure of Anger in Children." It exposes all the ways that parents provoke their children to anger and gives practical applications as to training up the child in the way he should go. It doesn't only correct wrong behavior and motives in the child, but teaches them to think and do what is right. As I read it, I began to understand not only the ways I provoke my children to anger, but it's even greater source, how my parents provoked me to anger. This is an excellent resource that should be read several times during a parenting journey, in the same way as Shepherding a Child's Heart. I would say that it is a very necessary companion to Tedd Tripp's book.

Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan & Sarah Edwards by Elisabeth Dodds
This has been one of the best books on marriage Jeramy and I have ever read. It is not a how-to book for marriage dummies, but a real example of a couple seeking to live for Christ and how they make their marriage glorify Him in the midst of early 1700's difficulties and trials. During this time most families were very self-sufficient. The Edwards owned animals and sheared their own sheep, made their own fabric and thread to sew their own clothes. They chopped their own wood, built their own house, hand washed all their clothes, traveled by walking or horse, cooked daily, cultivated a garden, canned their own garden foods, and home-birthed 11 children of which none died before reaching adulthood. They also endured many pressures from being a family in the spot light of ministry in a small, rural town. Jeramy and I learned a lot from this couple's interaction with each other and their children and how they made all this work together towards an incredible legacy. It is endorsed highly by John & Noel Piper.

Documentary:
IndoctriNation: Public Schools and the Decline of Christianity in America by The Gunn Brothers Productions
This documentary came out last year but I didn't get to view it until recently. It is incredible. It seeks to answer several very important questions, but the two prominent ones are: what is the history and progression of the public, government school system? (In other words, what are they really teaching these kids?) And can Christians be salt & light in this environment? Colin Gunn drives his family of 9 across country in a retired yellow school bus answering these questions by as he interviews several Christian teachers, administrators, parents and students who have been in the government school system for years.
If you remember Voddie Baucham's DVD sermon lectures entitled, Children of Caesar, you will recall that he addresses the issues of origin and whether Christians can truly be salt & light in this government school context. Gunn is able to spend 100 minutes delving into these questions that leave the born-again Christian parent with no other alternative but to forsake the government schooling and take responsibility for their child's education. Here is a memorable quote by RC Sproul, Jr., "If we're sending evangelists into the mission field and they return as atheists, then we need to consider that something is terribly wrong." (Something to that effect.)

I highly commend these to you. I've written some content and fresh reviews on this blog previously, simply do a search and those entries will arrive at your fingertips.

Currently I'm reading Created to Be His Help Meet by Debi Pearl and The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto. Gatto's book is particularly enraging as I learn about the goals and purpose of the government school system and how much of my time and vitality it wasted. Debi Pearl's book has a good content, but is a little too gimmicky for my taste. Many women have read it and told me to take it with a grain of salt.

C/S Trip Day 5: Heading Back

Sunday morning we began our long drive back home. We left Colorado, then Kansas, then Missouri and after a long day, we settled in a hotel in Mt. Vernon, Illinois.

So, what did you do on the long drive?

We passed the time talking about almost everything. We spent a little time listening to music. It may have been more time, however our CD player is broken and batteries for a boom box are expensive. There was plenty of passenger doze off. Jeramy did some Hebrew/Greek flashcards. And while Jeramy drove, I would read aloud.

A few weeks ago Jeramy bought a book for me at my request, Marriage to a Difficult Man, by Elizabeth Dodds. This is somewhat of a double biography of Jonathan & Sarah Edwards in relation to normal married & family life. It is endorsed by many influential evangelical leaders of our day: John Piper, Doug Phillips, Don Whitney and R.C. Sproul just to name a few. This is an excellent marriage book because you can see how two sinners saved by grace covenanted together in marriage with 11 children made it work 300 years ago. This is a powerfully encouraging book because the reader sees their daily example. It's not just a typical marriage book that outlines 7 keys to marital bliss, but here you see their struggles, pressures, concerns, trials, triumphs and short comings. This is a very real couple. We were blessed to read and discuss almost half the book together on our trip. I highly recommend it for every married couple.

Book Review: Attitudes of a Transformed Heart

Martha Peace presents a true Scriptural approach to different attitudes that should characterize the believer in Christ. She doesn't beat around the bush or allow excuses when we adopt other ungodly attitudes, although she does show compassion, guidance and truth in love to steer the reader towards repentance of ungodly attitudes. Martha Peace provides the perspective of a High and Holy, Lofty and Exalted God and we as His children who are called to obey, love, honor and take joy in our Creator, Redeemer God. It juxtaposes faulty views that secular and evangelical psychological models provide with that which the Scriptures provide for counseling towards better attitudes .

This book has really been helpful in that it connects the Scripture which we read daily with the application of how it should be manifest in our daily thoughts and actions, much like a sermon or a personal counseling session. It is written from a woman's perspective with the intent of a female audience. Although any man would greatly benefit from such a read, he might be forced to create personal examples to which he can relate.

This book would be a great small group study because of the broad volume of Scripture all throughout the text. Within each chapter there are charts to help show the opposing views between the negative and positive attitudes. At the end of every chapter there are study/reflective questions that could foster group discussion. Also at the end of the book there are Salvation Worksheets that cover the Person and Work of Christ, the Doctrine of Sin, the Assurance of Salvation and the dynamic of Putting Off and Putting On.

My only criticism of this book would be that perhaps it did not pass through the editing process as finely as most other modern works. There are quite a few grammar mistakes, although the intent is not lost in the process.

Overall, I give this book an enthusiastic two thumbs up. And commend it to any other women who seem to struggle with applying the Scripture to a specific area of habitual sin with which they battle daily.

Click HERE for a few quotes from this book.

Her more popular books include: The Excellent Wife and Becoming a Titus 2 Woman.