Let Me Be A Woman YOU MARRY A MAN / Elisabeth Elliot / Mothers Day Series / WHAT'S NEXT?

Let Me Be A Woman by Elisabeth Elliot

Chapter 24:  You Marry a Man

In our country today and around the world, there are those who choose to deny what God has taught and men marry men, women marry women.  It is a sad state of affairs that even our government is trying to change the legal definition of marriage to be this way.  I know and have known men and women who think and believe this way, some of whom have repented and become believers and are happily married to the opposite sex.  My heart breaks  for those  people I know who remain convinced that their sin is "right" and "that God made them that way" and I often pray for them.    

This chapter begins with the sentence to Elisabeth's daughter Valerie,  you marry a man, not a woman, so this discussion will be about that.  It is easy for women to  expect their husbands to  be women, to behave like us, to do what we expect (what we know other women would do).   Men are just being themselves and generally, behave as men, although some admittedly, behave as boys.    You really have to read this chapter as she describes the differences between men and women in their mannerisms and behavior.  :)

We women sometimes get exasperated with them, whether we are married to them or not.  But thankfully, God made us different.  If he's acting just like a man, be thankful, rather than condemning of him or ungrateful to God.   Men will never totally understand women and vice versa because they are not of us and we are not of them.   After 23 years of marriage I am still surprised every now and then by my husband and I'm sure that he is surprised by me as well.   Hopefully, more in a good way than bad.  

Elisabeth refers to King Solomon's visit from the Queen of Sheba. The Bible says that the queen told him all that was on her mind AND he answered all of her questions.  Not many men could sit patiently and listen for hours, answering all the questions a woman might have.  Most would not even try.  Men were  not made to hear all our thoughts and all our worries and all our details. God is here for us to talk to as much as we need to and most likely, He has provided multiple women friends to whom we can go to chat.   

Bottom line...Know your man. Know that there are things that make him different from you.  His masculinity will help to explain some of them.

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In anticipation of my next book to read with you, this series fittingly ends today with this chapter.  I know we're only halfway through the book.  There are forty-nine 2-3 page chapters in this book.   I hope this discussion has prompted you to read the whole thing.  The entire book can be read in an afternoon or a day at the beach or you could continue on reading one chapter a day for another month.  

During June, since Father's Day is coming up, I will be reading Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul by John Eldredge.  Actually I prefer its sequel The Way of the Wild Heart, also by the same author, but I don't own that copy.   I may or may not finish the book during the month, but again, keep reading and learning.  It is a book that I wish I had read when my sons were young; or even when I was a single woman.  Once I read it, my thoughts on men changed dramatically and I actually felt like I understood them more!  I encourage every woman to read it whether married, single, young, old, with or without sons, to read it.  Hope to see  and hear from you in June.