Marriage as women

I'm so excited about this particular blog post because of how marriage plays such a major role in understanding our relationship with Christ.  I also know as women we experience marriage differently than men.  That's the way God designed it.  It is so beautiful.  Keep in mind that our husbands are the head and represent the role of Christ to the church, in our homes.  I'm still absorbing this truth from God's word, but the more I line myself up with this truth in my marriage, the more joy I have in my marriage. One of the major things that the Holy Spirit has kept on my heart concerning marriage is to allow my expectations that I place on myself to line up with my husband.  There have been many a times where I have overwhelmed myself with demands.  Those expectations I have placed on myself did not come from God or my husband.  But when I relax and allow my husband and God to be my guide in terms of the demands I place on myself, I never get overwhelmed.  I am learning to rest in my husband just as I rest in Christ.  I am learning to enjoy my relationship with my husband as I enjoy my relationship with Christ.

Very important to appreciate being able to experience these relationships uniquely as a woman.  A women's physical body speaks proportions about how a women responds to relationships and the way she responds to life in general.  It's definitely worth some exploration.  We are fearfully and wonderfully made.  Why not explore that???  What is one major thing physically that makes us different from a man?  I would say the fact that we can carry, nourish and give birth to babies from our bodies is pretty major.  One thing that has been on my heart in terms of not placing unrealistic demands on myself, is to operate how God designed me to operate naturally.  What do we do well, naturally, as women?.  We carry things on the inside of us.  As women we can carry a lot more weight on the inside of us than men can.  We are designed that way physical and therefore we are designed that way spiritually as well.  Men, are physically designed to carry more on the outside.  Women are designed to carry more on the inside.  Men, when presented with a problem or issue, they are naturally inclined to want to fix it right then and there.  While women, like to think about things, ponder things.  It takes us a little longer to make decisions.  God designed us that way.  If you read in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  You will notice it says on a few occasions that Mary, the mother of Jesus, carried things in her heart.  It didn't say Joseph did that, it said Mary did that.  We as women, nurture things and ideas that reside on the inside of us.  Just like we nurture babies as they grow and develop on the inside.  That's why men don't understand us, because many things happen on the inside of us, where nobody can see.  We don't even show right away as a baby is growing inside of us.  Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean that there is nothing there.  Exercise liberty to allow things to marinate, brew, and be nourished on the inside.  When it's time for others to see it, God will bring it out.

I want to stay with the word "nourish" for a moment.  We are designed to nourish and feed things.  This is starting to change the way I do everything, even teach my kids.  As women we have a enormous capacity to understand the unique needs of individuals.  Because God designed us to "nourish"  it is part of our purpose as women.  In marriage,  I'm trying to step back and focus more on nourishing my family than anything else.  I'm praying and asking God to help me to begin to walk totally and completely in my power, natural & supernatural ability to nourish.  When my husband comes home from work, he should get nourished by me in whatever way he needs everyday.  I should be able to feed him in so many capacities.  I should be able to give him what he needs to continue to grow and blossom in the Lord.  Continued tomorrow................