I started reading it and after the first few chapters it was my "New Years Resolution" to be the Proverbs 31 wife. That is a huge challenge... So huge that I sometimes think that it's not even possible to be the Proverbs 31 wife. If you're not familiar with this passage, here it is:
10-31
"A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubles.
Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.
She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.
She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong from her tasks.
She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.
In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps
the spindle with her fingers.
She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
She makes them linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.
She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
Many women do noble thing,
but you surpass them all.
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate."
Whew. That sure is a lot to take in. But I want to be this mom and wife. I want my husband "to praise me" and my children "to call me blessed".
But a the end of the book is a 10 day challenge.
She wrote a book about her challenge that lasted more than 10 days, but I'll just blog. I plan to use this all year and to do my best, but I want to blog about the 10 day challenge..
Day 1: Today, go out of your way to show love to your husband. Make his favorite meal. Call him or text him and tell him why you love him. Resist complaining or nagging about things he hasn't done (or things he has that bother you). Pray for him and tell him you prayed for him today.
Instead of making his favorite meal(because 1. I should prob find out what that is and 2. we don't have many groceries right now...lol), I made lunch with stuff we already had and baked a cake. If you know me, then you know cooking is very rare for me and it's a big deal that I even made a cake. I don't normally like sweets and I usually try to discourage Jeremy from eating them, but one cake will be ok! Today I did resist from complaining or nagging. Normally when I ask Jeremy to do something, I want it done right then, but Jeremy usually wants to do it the next time he gets up (lazy? lol). So anyway today I asked him if we would take out the garbage. He said yes but continued to sit there. Instead of complaining, nagging, etc. I just took the garbage out myself. Of course it didn't hurt me to either.
The last thing says to pray for him. I believe this should be done every day, but I have to admit I've never done it. Until this book, I never thought about praying for Jeremy. I mean I have prayed several times for things like his safety or for him to get the job at 3M (when he applied). But I have never just prayed for him.. I pray for Layla constantly. Why would I not pray for Jeremy?? So not only is this my day 1 challenge, it' s my 365 day challenge.
This book shows you that's it's the little things that we sometimes don't think about.
Will this challenge work? I don't know. It worked for this woman. Of course she's not the perfect wife or mom, but she challenges herself to be but understands there is no perfect person and she will mess up. It's the same as a Christian. We are to be Christ-like. We will NEVER be Christ, but we are to strive to be like Him but understanding at the same time that we will mess up but it's ok.
No marriage is perfect. No one is perfect. Everyone is going to argue, fight, disagree, etc. but we can eliminate a lot of non sense if we read things like this and work at our relationships instead of getting in a silly argument and getting divorced.
I definitely recommend this book. I downloaded this on my kindle app (which is free) and it was only like $2.52 but there is also a paperback version on Amazon for only $9.99 (I think).
Day 2 may not be my favorite but check back to see how it goes :)
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