The Blessing of Submission

That's right. Blessing and submission. Together. Written by a woman. Read on, if you dare.

I have been mulling over this post in my mind for many weeks. It's not a topic on which one can spout off opinions without considering all sides for a while. I doubt I have a concrete answer for everything yet. However, I thought I'd post it now since our 33Homes and Worship Gathering focused on Genesis 3 this past week. There was SO MUCH in this story that had never been in there before.... Ok, maybe that was just me having missed it.

Here's the basic story, but I would recommend you also read it for yourself here. (If you don't like that version, feel free to change it on the drop-down list at the top of that page.) Adam & Eve have the run of the Garden of Eden, which God "had planted" (not just created, but planted!) and placed them in. There is only one tree that he tells them not to eat from, a fruit that will take away their innocence. They were naked and happy, just like my 2-year-old running diaperless to the bath. God offers a choice: love & obey me, or don't. Then Satan shows up and confuses them. Long story short: Eve eats, Adam follows, mankind is cursed. Part of that curse: Woman will have greatly increased pain in childbirth (thank you very much!) and her husband will rule over her.

So how can submission be a blessing and a curse? It is a curse in the re-organization of creation. It is a blessing when it is honored.

Allow me to use the first aspect of the curse to illustrate the second. Having experienced natural un-medicated childbirth three times, I can tell you that pains in childbirth are ... oh... let's say, significant. (This begs the question: what was the original plan for a no-pain or low-pain childbirth??) But having come through on the other side? Oh yeah, worth it. Not just the baby, but having made it through that experience and survived made me feel so powerful! It was a role in our family that was uniquely mine, and I did it! *blessing* Did I do it alone? Uh, no. Could not have done it without my coach, leader, encourager, counter, support--my husband. He loved and led me through the entire process. (And it was, at times, not pretty....) I was able to respond to his lead to thrive in my role.

The same is true for submission. Is it a painful process? Sometimes, yes, especially when I try to assert my own will into it. I believe God created women with the same creativity to meet life issues as he created man. The curse is to reign it in to submit to someone else's plan over yours. Does a blessing come from carrying it out? Absolutely! I have learned over and over (somehow it doesn't stick the first time) that getting my own way in a matter is not always best. I have lived a much fuller life by doing things I wouldn't have decided to do on my own! *blessing* Again, I am able to do it best when I am responding to the love with which my husband surrounds and leads me. He does this, from Ephesians 5:

• 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.

We are, by no means, perfect at this! We follow in Adam & Eve's footsteps and find ourselves giving in to Satan's confusing talk. We struggle to keep God first and each other ahead of ourselves. But when we love and submit: *blessing*.

A Happy Anniversary

God has blessed me with such an amazing husband! I am proud to be the wife of such a well-respected man! One thing that blesses me is how he strives to be himself no matter who he's with--me or you. I am excited to spend many more years with him, trusting God with our lives.

So I have decided that I needed to write down all the things we have done to celebrate our anniversaries over the years. There are FAR too many that I do not remember, so if you remember something I have left out, please help me out!

• 1995--Wedded Bliss!! We married on Friday night, drove to the Mansion at Elfindale in Springfield, then flew out the next day to the Smokey Mountains in North Carolina (via Nashville) for the week. We were too young to rent a car from most companies! Luckily, Enterprise accommodated us!
  
• 1996--High School Church Camp, at Camp Joshua, Siloam Spring, AR. No, we didn't wait long to dive into ministry. :)
• 1997-1999--Drawing a blank here..... Surely we did something!!
• 2000--This was our first year doing Plumbline Ministres, so surely we were in a camp somewhere!!
• 2001--This is the year that we began sharing our anniversary with Jeff and Stephanie Rickert! (Right, Steph? Do I have the right year?) We attended their wedding in TX, and then ate THE BEST FAJITAS ever!! Really, we talk about them still from time to time.
• 2002--Blank
• 2003--I was 8 months pregnant with Reed. I think we went a steak house in Fayetteville, and I ate a lot and probably got heartburn later (or maybe even right away)!
• 2004--We had just moved to Albuquerque at the beginning of the year, at the same time as Jeff and Stephanie (see above), so it was obvious that we would celebrate together!! We went to Japanese Kitchen, where they cook right at your table, and that night they shared their exciting news of a baby on the way!!
• 2005--10 years! Wow! We had plans to go to a Bed & Breakfast that night, but when we woke up, we had 1000's of ants swarming our bedroom. Really. Walking and flying. Really. It was not how I had envisioned my 10th anniversary! But after we dealt with that, we were able to enjoy an evening at the Lazy K (or some other letter?) Ranch in the mountains east of Albuquerque. This was also Reed's first night away from us. Oh, and I was pregnant with Ashton.
• 2006--Ashton was 6 months old, so I know there was no overnight stay. But I don't remember the celebration at all.
• 2007--Spent the entire weekend performing in the Patriotic Musical at church. I sang in the choir, Ryan played guitar. I don't know that we even had dinner together!
• 2008--We splurged and spent TWO nights at the Route 66 Casino west of Albuquerque. We ate at all of the restaurants on site and enjoyed the great accommodations. We felt as thought we should gamble a bit, so I played a dollar in the nickel slots and won $10! Then I played some more... and finally cashed out a $4.90, I think! Oh, well! Still ahead of the game!
• 2009--We celebrated a day early, took the kids to Miss Jacqui's (Landis too!) and got a room at the Hyatt Regency Downtown. Then we ate at a WONDERFUL restaurant in Old Town called Antiquity. The Green Chile Chicken Stew was incredible and the veal I had was amazing!! And then, today, we found out the GREAT NEWS that we will be planting a church in Olathe, KS!! We could not have asked for a better anniversary gift than the affirmation of our future!!

Thank you, Ryan, for 14 great years! I am blessed beyond measure to be married to you! Thank you for treating me like a queen and showing me what it means to live by faith! I love you!

Going Public

There's something about going public with news that makes it seem real. I mean, if no one knows, then it may not really be happening. But it is. And now it's public. And it's really real.

We are moving.

Actually it isn't that easy. The words bring churning to my stomach, and a little bit of wet to my eyes (to quote Junie B.). I am not a bit fan of change. But I know when I must obey a calling.

I have actually known it was coming for years now. I knew that Ryan was not called to be a worship minister forever. Or at least not in the music ministry capacity. But I am one to ignore, or maybe just put off worry, until the time is imminent.

There was the usual discussion of dreams of the future on the trip back from Christmas with the family. But road trips do that to my husband, so I didn't worry. But this time he didn't unload these thoughts from his head when he unloaded the bags from the car. I could tell this time was different.

By mid-January, I was in full worry mode. Crying. Lots of crying. "What will the kids think? I am going to miss my two-headed shower. We have the best story-time lady 2 miles from our house. How can I leave all the people I love here? Were we ever really meant to be here? Oh, the humidity! My kids will have to learn to shut the door. What product will I use to keep the frizzies out of my hair? I love my grocery store. We have never gotten the house done where we wanted it. *groan* How will we ever get the house ready to go on the market? Man, I will miss the zoo. And Explora. Have I been holding my husband back because I don't like change? Reed will be so sad when he realizes he can't just go balloon chasing with Daddy on any early-October morning. How will we tell north from south again without the mountains in the east? The kids will really miss children's choir. (And so will I!) Are we really being called away? Didn't I just feel this way about leaving Arkansas? Why do I feel like I'm just getting settled here, getting to LOVE IT here, and it's time to go already?"

In late February, I came to a resolve: My husband has been given gifts to do explosive ministry to lost people in a hurting world. I wanted to see him set free to do great things for the Kingdom!! And I was willing to go anywhere to see that!

So, for a time, I was able to set the worry aside and be excited about the potential! I have even quit nay-saying. (I have always contended that was my job in our relationship!) One of my new answers is, "Yes, it's crazy, but I believe you would be the one who could do it!" Potential is a great place to live!

But now. Now it is public. Now it is real. Now it is imminent.

We are moving.

I am excited. I am sad. I am going.