ADVICE FOR WOMEN
The group of believing Christians are known as the church (the bride of Christ)
That said, would it stand to reason that a Christian woman should marry a man that most resembles the person of Jesus Christ?
Is it that simple?
Should a female believer agree to a proposal of marriage from someone that doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ inside of him?
As a young woman, consider your answer to these questions:
If I marry an unbeliever and have children, will it send a mixed message to the child if the mother is a Christian and the father is an atheist? Will you put the child in a situation where he or she will have to side with the father or the mother?
If you wish for your family to tithe, why would your unbelieving husband want to give 10% of his money to a “fairy tale”?
Do you have a common blue print?
Where to live (near family or away from family)?
Do you want to live in an apartment, house or condo?
Will your husband travel? How much?
Homeschool, Private School or Public School for the kids?
One income family or two income family (Who will raise your children? You, a relative or a childcare facility?)
If you concede that the Lord wants you to put Him first in your life, how can it benefit you spiritually to enter into a long term relationship with a man that doesn’t want to do the same? (And the two shall become one …..)
If your husband cheats, lies or fails to conduct himself in a moral manner, isn’t it true that he has already clearly communicated that he will not submit to the authority of God? Remember that the Gospel is a command.
Do you wish to spend every Sunday morning alone? Do you wish to share numerous prayer requests for your unbelieving spouse?
How do you know that you will marry the right “type” of man?
Which man should receive a “Yes” to his marriage proposal?
Answer: ONLY a Godly Man
So ……………. How would you define a Godly Man? (Pastor Joe Tanner encouraged his daughter to memorize this definition. I asked my daughters to memorize this definition also.)
A Godly man is a man that loves God and lives intentionally for His Glory.
He loves his family, the church, and the lost selflessly and sacrificially.
He rejects passivity, accepts responsibility, leads courageously, and anticipates a greater reward from God.
Dear God, I pray all unafraid / As girls are wont to be,
I do not want a handsome man / But make him, Lord, like Thee.
I do not need one big and strong / nor yet so very tall,
Nor need he be some genius / or wealthy, Lord at all;
But let his head be high, dear God, / and let his eye be clear,
His shoulders straight, whate’er his fate / whate’er his earthly sphere.
And let his face have character, / a ruggedness of soul.
And let his whole life show, dear God, / a singleness of goal.
And when he comes / as he will come
With quiet eyes aglow / I’ll know, dear Lord,
That he’s the man / I prayed for long ago.
- Ruth Bell Graham
“Fathers: Key to Their Children's Faith”
In short, the study reveals: “It is the religious practice of the father of the family that, above all, determines the future attendance at or absence from church of the children”
Some key statistics
If both father and mother attend regularly, 33% of their children will end up as regular churchgoers, and 41% will end up attending irregularly. Only 25% of their children will end up not practicing at all.
If the father is non-practicing and mother regular, only 2% of children will become regular worshippers, and 37% will attend irregularly. Over 60% of their children will be lost completely to the church!
By S. Michael Craven, Christian Post Guest Columnist
Moms - read this book with your daughter
5 Conversations you MUST have with your daughter
by Vicki Courtney
You are more than the sum of your parts
Don’t be in such a hurry to grow up
Sex is great and worth the wait.
It’s OK to dream about marriage and motherhood
Dare to be a virtuous woman
Oxytocin: the Bonding Effect
Did you know that neuroscientists have discovered a chemical that is involved in the bonding process?
A Practical Guide to Culture
by John Stonestreet & Brett Kunkle
Chapter 9 / Don’t Buy the Cultural Lies
“Hooking up now undermines marriage later. Eighty percent of young people see marriage as an important part of their life plans. However, permissive sexual behavior sabotages marital stability. Individuals with more sex partners before marriage report less marital satisfaction. Conversely, having fewer sexual partners results in higher marital quality. A third of marriages today began as a hookup. These couples report lower quality of marital satisfaction.”
“Cohabitation greatly increases marital dissatisfaction. The social-science data on this is clear. First, cohabitation leads to higher divorce rates after marriage. People with cohabitating experience who marry have a 50 to 80 percent higher likelihood of divorcing than married couples who never cohabitated. Second, it leads to lower-quality marital relationship. Researchers at UCLA found that cohabitations experienced significantly more difficulty in their marriages with adultery, alcohol, drugs and independence than couples that did not cohabitate. Living together is no replacement for marriage, nor is it a trial run.”
Although a crass way of making the point against pre-marital sex, “Why would a man want to buy a cow if he is getting the milk for free?”
How do I know if He’s the one that I should marry?
by Girl Defined. 7 minutes
Is the man that you are considering for marriage a “real man”?
Who or what is a “real man”?
Bottom line: A real man follows Jesus.
According to Robert Lewis, a real man embraces a transcendent cause to make his life count. His life’s pursuit should be truly heroic, timeless, and supremely meaningful.
There are 5 types of men
Which one will you choose to marry?
Wounded - a man that allows past hurts to control him.
Worrier - a man that lives in fear in the future.
Waiter (indecisive) - a man that struggles to make choices.
Whiner - a man that complains about his circumstances.
Warrior - a man that makes an impact on society and leaves a legacy of faith.
“The purpose of marriage is to serve the Lord more effectively as a team than you could as an individual.”
— Pastor Garvin Martin
6 Things every Christian Girl needs to know before getting married.
by Girl Defined
10 minutes
Why does the woman take on the man’s last name?
What’s in a name?
Should I take my Husband’s last name? What about a hyphenated last name?
Instructions for Christian Households
EPHESIANS 5
21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—
30 for we are members of his body.
31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.
33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.