Submission...

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.

(NIV)

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands,
as unto the Lord.
(KJV)

Ephesians 5:22

submit -
1.) to give over or yield to the power or authority of another
2.) to subject to some type of treatment or influence
3.) to present for approval or consideration
4.) to state or urge with deference;
suggest or propose
5.) to yield oneself to the power or authority of another
6.) to allow oneself to be subjected to some kind of treatment
7.) to defer to another's judgment, opinion, decision, ect.

As we continue on in this journey of "reversing-the-roles", I am finding the need to dig deep into God's Word and the desire to diligently seek Him so that I will know what my "role" is as Kyle's wife. This morning I pulled out my enormous King James Version Thompson Chain Reference Bible and went to the line that said, "Wives Duty". I took time to look up each Scripture that was listed and then in my journal as I looked the verses up, I documented what "role" was included. I plan to learn, study and work-out what God reveals.

Many times I wonder:

? Who am I supposed to be?
? What am I supposed to do?
? What roles are mine to own?
? What boundaries am I overstepping?
? What is God's design and desire for me as a wife?

I realize I can't be the mom God designed me to be to MaKayla and Mallary if I'm not being the wife to Kyle I was created to be. If I don't know what my role is to the most important individual in my life and therefore I'm not fulfilling that role. I always thought I knew yet as God is gently speaking and convicting, I humbly admit to Him that I have so much to learn and I have so far to go. Our society has gotten things so mixed up, turned around, flip-flopped, backwards...as Christians we all-too-often fall into "the ways of the world" not even realizing what we are doing until we till the soil of our hearts and begin to hear God speaking. It's then that we hear, we see, we know and we become enlightened. We then have the choice of what we are going to do with what we have been entrusted with...

As I sat in the quietness this morning and read various scriptures, I grabbed our commentary and looked up the explanation of the verse at the beginning of this post. I was enthralled and captured by what it said...

Having established the foundational principle of submission, Paul applied it first to the wife. The command is unqualified, applying to every Christian wife, no matter what her own abilities, education, knowledge of Scripture, spiritual maturity, or any other qualifications might be in relation to those of her husband. The submission is not the husband's to command but for the wife to willingly and lovingly offer. "Your own husbands" limits her submission to the one man God has placed over her, and also gives a balancing emphasis that he is hers as a personal intimate possession (Song of Solomon 2:16; 6:3; 7:10). She submits to the man she possesses as her own. Because the obedient, spiritual wife's supreme submission is to the Lord, her attitude is that she lovingly submits as an act of obedience to the Lord who has given this command as His will for her, regardless of her husband's personal worthiness or spiritual condition. ~ John MacArthur

I have always thought that I submitted to Kyle yet as I study, listen and open my heart to the direction of the Lord, I see where my view has been very altered. It's been my view...the view of the world...the view of the church...but is it really God's view?

As I read the above explanation this morning my heart was encouraged... I find great pleasure in submitting to Kyle for I know that when I am submitting to him, I as well am submitting to the Lord. The correlation goes hand-in-hand. When I am fully submitting to the Lord, I will desire to submit to Kyle. In turn, the submission I show towards Kyle returns unto the Lord as a sweet smelling fragrance.

What does all this mean?
*It means yielding myself COMPLETELY to Kyle...
*It means giving every part of me over to every part of him...
*It means subjecting myself to his leadership...
*It means presenting myself to him for approval...mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally...
*It means taking my suggestions, ideas, dreams and desires to him for consideration before I step-out and walk in them...
*It means to yield myself to Kyle's-God-ordained power and authority as the leader and head of our home...
*It means allowing myself to be taught and directed by his headship...
*It means taking all of my questions, fears, concerns and decisions to my Jesus-in-the-flesh whether they be about life, spiritual growth, school, relationships, parenting, health, ect., for his guidance and direction...
*It means placing myself before the lover-of-my-soul...not just in part but in TOTALITY...

It means not questioning...yet humbly submitting!

Submission isn't a lofty idea or a skin-deep aspiration. It's a humbly, determined commitment commanded by the Lord. It's all about letting go of myself and fully surrendering every part of my life to the man God graciously placed over me. It's about releasing alot of common-sense to rest in God-sense. It's about reconditioning my heart and retraining my brain. It's about giving myself over to my Creator and allowing Him to transform me from the inside out. It's about becoming a new creation.