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Tuesday, February 9, 2016

book review: "the peaceful wife" by april cassidy

In today's workplace, women are often rewarded for having type A personalities: driven, demanding, ambitious, and strong. Yet when it comes to their marriages, those same traits can backfire. After all, no one goes into marriage hoping for a promotion. What is a wife to do?

April Cassidy knows the struggle firsthand. She thought she was a great Christian wife and begged God to make her passive husband into a more loving, involved, godly leader. Instead, God opened her eyes to changes that she needed to make, such as laying down her desire for control and offering genuine, unconditional respect - not just love - to her husband.

Cassidy's conclusions may be as startling to readers as they were to her, but she and many others have learned to reorient their lives to biblical commands - resulting in healthier, happier marriages. In the end, you'll find The Peaceful Wife a powerful path to God's design for women to live in full submission to Christ as Lord.  

I wanted to read this book even though I'm not married. I'm a firm believer in preparing for my future husband. A few years ago I came across the book, Praying for Your Future Husband by Tricia Goyer and Robin Jones Gunn. It really changed the way I looked at this time of being single. My prayers changed from praying for a husband to praying specifically for him, that God would be working in his life, getting him ready for me. As I began praying for him, I started seeing changes in my own life. God began working in me while I was praying for the man I'll one day meet. I choose to enjoy being single but I want to use this time to become the wife my future husband will need. April's book has been a big help in that! The biggest take away from this book is being respectful. "My level of respect and biblical submission toward my husband is a direct indication of my level of reverence for and submission to Jesus Christ." That statement is so powerful to me! And what's just as powerful is the result of a woman who respects her husband: "Husbands tend to eventually respond to a wife's radiant faith by becoming better, more responsible, more trustworthy men. As a husband feels the weight of his wife's beautiful feminine trust, faith, admiration, and cooperation with his leadership, he is most encouraged and motivated to become more and more the man God calls him to be." So as a wife learns to respect her husband, it moves him closer to who God wants him to be. I love how vulnerable April was by sharing her own shortcomings and how she's striving to do better. I like the ways she includes to show respect just to get you thinking. I enjoyed this book - it helped me not only see the importance of wives respecting their husbands but the need for it! This is a book to really slow down and read, letting the words sink in. And I like how she includes her husband's thoughts as well. Being able to hear a man's perspective in all of this is helpful - since men and women think so differently. "A wife's obedience to God motivates her husband like nothing else can to open his heart to want to hear and obey God."

I received a copy of this book from Kregel Publications for my honest review.
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