ATTN: women who give their all for others - msg from Brenda Waggoner

[mirror]

I went to the city yesterday and stopped at a bookstore. Remembering the conversation on the author of Velveteen Woman, I decided to look for the one that sounded especially good to me: "Fairy Tale Faith".

At first, the only one I found was one called "The myth of the submissive Christian woman - Walking with God without Being Stepped On by Others". That one sounded good too! Then I discovered a package offer - Buy "Fairy Tale Faith", get "The myth..." free! So I came home with both! After a long drive and all day in the city, I decided my mind wasn't ready to really absorb "Fairy Tale Faith", so I opened "The myth"... and in it I found amazing answers to questions I didn't even know I had. I found a writer who had been ME! As she describes the errors she used to believe, I saw her describe me perfectly! I'm not even halfway through the 1st chapter, but I can recommend this whole heartedly!

Some parts I've underlined in the introduction include... "Many women are unable to live in the freedom that Christ gives them to be what He created them to be because they have mistaken perceptions about what biblical submission looks like... They hide their pain because they think good Christians should 'get over it' but they don't know how. In their attempts to be submissive, they unknowingly submit to other authority figures above God Himself. Their behavior is mistakenly "Christianized" -- it appears biblical on the outside, but internally these women are living a false empty version of the purpose-filled fruitful life God has planned for them... misperceptions about what God's Word teaches have caused some women to numb their hearts to their own needs, to doubt themselves, and to distort their proper priorities... these women begin living a devalued, diminished version of the abundant life God has invited them to live. Many have lost their sense of self-respect and giftedness. Ironically, the sacrifices they make often seem biblically correct. But subtle distortions of the truth bind these women's hearts and actually hold them back from serving Christ above everything and everyone else."

And that's just a little bit of the introduction! I also want to share with you what's written on the back of the cover: "God didn't call you to be a doormat! Yes, Scripture calls us to die to self -- self absorption, self-centeredness, self-righteousness, and self-indulgence -- but nowhere does Scripture tell us to abandon all of the wonderful God-given gifts and talents that make us who we are. In the Myth of the Submissive Christian Woman, Brenda Waggoner dispels the myth that biblical submission requires that women reject who they are and become passive in their relationships with God and others. Along the way, Brenda also shatters the misconception that good manners, niceness, and passivity equal godliness and reveals that true biblical submission does not mean submitting to everyone else's wants, needs, and opinions while ignoring your own. Instead, it means living truthfully by putting God first, submitting yourself to His will and living your life according to what He desires."