1 Peter 3:3-6

³Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. ⁴Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. ⁵For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, ⁶like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

i really struggle with this analysis thing.

its either because i don't want to do something at all so i would rather be paralyzed... or its because i want to do something the right way and don't want to mess it up by rushing in.

that being said.

i want to become (its HOW that i analyze) a woman who has such a gentle and quiet spirit that i can easily hear the Lord.  i need to never WORRY about how i appear.... 

the clothes that i wear; their expenses or trends,  

none of this matters.

obviously the "submissive" thing is what turns so many girls away from passages like this because they can't understand scripture with their presentist lens.

josh wrote a 30 page paper last semester on whether women should be allowed to be pastors and we were discussing gender roles together.

both of us like...

its difficult to read the word submissive and not get turned off... especially for him  because he has a hard time finding his identity in what is considered masculine in present day...

but what we ended up finding as we discussed is that gentleness and quietness IS desireable in a woman.

and it isn't a sign of weakness or subservience.

for 1. my luke acts professors articles on the several recent cases of women in the middle east who were murdered for a variety of reasons... Jesus is so pro woman that it was shocking to the culture he disrupted.

even the people surrounding him had difficulty accepting his inclusion of women in his gospel.

thomas' gospel that we do not accept in the canon due to a variety of reasons states that women must be transformed into men in order to enter the kingdom of heaven.  !? 

its insane.

cultures are wack.

they are broken.

so we need to be able to look at this first of all understanding culture.

but 2. when i think of all the women that i admire the most.  they are honestly... the ones who aren't pushing themselves out into the front to be seen all the time.

they are hilarious... witty... beautiful... charming... smart... and whatever...

but they take a backseat to the needs of others.

people like Bickey, Becky, Ariel, Kelly, 

they really stick out and men all REALLY admire them and pat their husbands on the back for having them as wives.

their weddings are the most beautiful.  the greatest blessing on everyone.

because honestly... they were servants.

they are submissive.

to God.  to the needs of the people he places in their lives.

and i can't help but REALLY want that for myself.

it is incredibly desirable to me.

that my sphere of influence would not LESSEN but become highly concentrated in the area of where my husband is concerned.

that he might be the face of our house in the world we live in but when he comes home he would consider me above all others for guidance and prayer and discussion.

that my thoughts would be highly valued.

and i think that concentrated relationship is a million times more valuable then the surface influence a woman has when she is out forcing herself on people.

idk ... i'm still discovering this.

its kinda ridiculous how accelerated my thoughts have been about marriage and whatnot as of late... 

kinda scary.

i think i'm starting to realize how close it probably is.

especially considering how quickly this school year went.